Foreign ministries typically seldom enjoy a support constituency in the home country. When the Indian ministry of external affairs (MEA) performs well in a crisis, as during the evacuation of stranded Indians in Libya or Yemen in times of local conflict, it wins kudos, but public memory is short. Business associations that benefit from export or investment promotion actions by embassies are appreciative, but they know well that MEA has no capacity to give them what they seek, tax benefits or reworked regulations, for which they turn to the economic ministries. Equally, the media know well that bad news sells,
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
