Economic reforms after polls: Basu

The government will be able to move ahead with the economic reforms programme, including foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail, with some tweaking after the Assembly elections, said Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu.

“The elections are now around the corner...Once the rush of politics is over and then with some tweaking, it is basically responsiveness to opinion across the board in the country, we will be able to take some of the things forward,” Basu said in an interview to private news channel NDTV 24X7. The Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in five states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur between January 30 and March 3.

He said the government has to go slow on reforms programme because of political compulsion. “It is a coalition government and you have to carry a body of opinion...,” he said. The government had to put on hold the Cabinet decision to allow 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail due to stiff opposition of UPA ally Trinamool Congress and Opposition parties.

Earlier even Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said the FDI in retail was very much on the government’s reform agenda and it will try to build a consensus on the issue.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has already started wider consultations with stakeholders and the Consumer Affairs Ministry is also working to bring all consumer organisations on board.

The government was keen to introduce a slew of economic reform Bills in the Winter session of Parliament which ended last week, to put to rest the prevailing notion about a ‘policy paralysis’ in certain sections.

However, it failed to push the key legislation like PFRDA and Companies Bill, in the Winter Session because of resistance from Trinamool Congress and Opposition parties.