How Covid crisis exhausted what Mr Modi had in plenty all these years

The three things that derailed the economy in the past - war, drought and oil - were mostly absent during his regime, but with the Covid crisis Mr Modi's luck seems to have run out, writes T N Ninan

Next week it will be seven years since Narendra Modi was first sworn in as prime minister. Much can be said about this period, but one point stands out: The three things that in the past have derailed the economy have been mostly absent. The first is war. There have been no major ones after the three in the 1962-71, all of which extracted their price through inflation, currency crises and recessions. In the Modi years, the face-offs with the Chinese have had no impact on the economy. The government has been sufficiently relaxed about the situation to continue shrinking