Reforms undertaken during 2012 good sign: Ruchir Sharma

The troubled economic times were the focus of discussion on the second day of the Jaipur Literature Festival here today, as author of "Breakout Nations" Sharma discussed the prospects and pitfalls of development in India.

"For the first time in our history, we have six chief ministers who have been elected three or more times, all on the platform of development. That is a source of optimism," he said, adding, "Also, the reforms undertaken after a long gap during 2012 is a good sign."

But in the same vein, the Jaipur-born author struck a note of caution, listing a number of reasons why things could still go wrong for India, one of them being crony capitalism, which discourages "genuine entrepreneurs".

"In addition, one-third of people in the billionaires list consist of those who have made their money from selling natural resources, not through actual entrepreneurship. Besides this creation of wealth from commodities, the names in this list in India have almost been a constant