Dissecting the slowdown, evaluating the response

The second part of the series in which top economists and thinkers offer their views on how to revive the economy

To appreciate India’s current economic challenge, one has to only realise that if growth in April-June prints below 6 per cent again — as we expect it will — this would be the first time in almost seven years that growth has printed below 6 per cent for two successive quarters. The last time this happened was in the run-up to the 2013 taper tantrum, when India’s internal and external imbalances ruptured and dragged activity down. 

It’s tempting to characterise India’s slowdown as either “externally induced”, on the one hand, or “structural”, on the other. The first would imply there