Best of BS Opinion: No taper tantrum, a precarious pragmatism, and more

Here are the top BS Opinion articles of the day.

“Mudra” loans, launched six years ago, were conceived as collateral-free loans to micro and tiny businesses that would spur their growth and generate jobs. Instead, bad loans in this category have grown by leaps and bounds and job creation remains a mirage. As Debashis Basu points out here, is that India's recent economic history has shown that directed lending doesn’t work and encourages corruption, yet the government seems to see it as a go-to solution.

In other views today:

Tamal Bandyopadhyay argues that only credit growth can help banks out of their current liquidity drag, but that can happen only from sustained economic growth and not through “loan melas”. The longer that takes, the greater the risk of higher inflation, he says. Read it here...

Mihir Sharma points out that the government lacks an economic ideology, so its search for practical ways out of specific problems has led it to appear erratic and inconsistent. Read it here...

The second edit says the government must not delay a relief package for the telecom sector so that the business is not reduced to a duopoly. Read it here...

The top edit points out that international markets are unlikely to suffer the shocks of the US Fed’s taper tantrum but India still needs to address the risks to domestic financial stability. Read it here...

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Our collective decision was to record our views through the MPC minutes and not elsewhere”

 

Chetan Ghate, member of the Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee