Letters to BS: Deep structural reforms needed for economy to grow faster

Govt must have been anticipating dismal growth figures and hence started taking action to combat slowdown in right earnest

This refers to two front page news items "GDP shocker" and "Mega merger of PSBs" (August 31). The announcement on the consolidation and merger of public sector banks and the release of GDP growth data for the first quarter of 2019-20 on the same day may be unintentional, but the story it presents is revealing. The government must have been anticipating dismal growth figures and hence started taking action to combat slowdown in right earnest. However the opinion is sharply divided on the efficacy of the measures taken by the government in bringing about the much needed faster growth. Undoubtedly, merger of banks is a welcome step. But then these mergers do take time to bear fruit and expecting any tangible gains in the short term may not be wise.

Whether the current slowdown in cyclical or structural or a bit of both, the lasting solution has to be structural reforms in the field of labour, land, banking etc. Any stimulus package has only a limited impact. At best, it may arrest or decelerate the slowdown temporarily given the current global situation. Putting the economy on a faster growth path requires deep structural reforms.

Sanjeev Kumar Singh, Jabalpur

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