Black and white

India must build on improved macroeconomic stability

There is virtually no debate that the Indian economy was in a difficult spot by 2013-14, the last year of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, and things have improved since. Thus, the White Paper, presented by the Union government last week, has limited policy relevance. India’s problems were exposed when the US Federal Reserve, after years of quantitative easing, hinted at reducing the pace of monetary easing in the summer of 2013. A significant widening of the fiscal deficit after the global financial crisis led to higher inflation and a current account deficit that was running close to 5