Best of BS Opinion: Shipbuilding dreams and the hunt for fiscal treasure

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

All of us have, at some time or another, dreamt of being a pirate, the master of the seas, the ruler of winds, the surfer beyond horizons. Childhood made it look glorious with treasure maps that always led somewhere, compasses that pointed the way, and ships that never sank. Adulthood, though, shows us the Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Carribean) truth, that the maps are smudged, the compass spins at will, and survival often depends on quick wit rather than perfect planning. India’s voyage today carries the same flavour. Let’s dive in. 

The GST system, for instance, just got its long-awaited compass: the GST Appellate Tribunal. Announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, it fills a gaping hole in the three-tier appeals process. Yet, our first editorial notes, with 480,000 disputes already onboard, this ship risks being weighed down before it even sails. Unless authorities avoid aggressive demands and infrastructure is strengthened, the tribunal could end up a ghost ship, adrift like so many insolvency cases. 

 

In contrast, shipbuilding is no longer just a pirate’s obsession but a Cabinet-backed mission. A Rs 69,725 crore package promises to modernise shipyards, create a Maritime Development Fund, and train a new generation in green technologies. If pulled off, the bounty could be massive: 3 million jobs and Rs 4.5 trillion in investments, highlights our second editorial. But the Indian Ocean is littered with wrecks of past plans, and without strong execution this, too, could sink. 

Meanwhile, R Kavita Rao shows that India’s tax-to-GDP puzzle is less about missing treasure than about missing trust. Benchmarks with other nations reveal that fewer than half of Indian taxpayers believe their money is well spent. Many taxpayers doubt their gold is spent wisely. Other countries, from Morocco to Korea, show how reforms can raise revenues, but unless credibility is rebuilt, India’s tax map will remain a riddle with no treasure. 

And Deepak Mishra points out that India’s bureaucracy resembles a crew stuck in colonial costumes, minding ceremonies instead of steering the ship. His PrIDE framework: prioritise, incentivise, decentralise, empathise—could finally give District Magistrates the tools to act like captains, not deckhands. 

Finally, as Sanjay Kumar Singh writes in his review of Mango Millionaires: Smart money management for a sweeter life by Radhika Gupta and Niranjan Avasthi, retail investors too often act like pirates chasing quick loot. The book argues that the real fortune lies in slow, steady accumulation, saving with discipline, diversifying wisely, and preparing for the long journey. It is less the thrill of a raid and more the patience of a sailor stocking provisions before crossing uncharted waters. 

Stay tuned!