Best of BS Opinion: The missing links beyond visible progress

Progress is easiest to see in things already built: Factories producing more electronics, diplomatic visits that expand India’s reach, payment systems that move money instantly, expressways and airports that signal growth, and media technologies that keep reinventing how information travels. But the next leap may be decided by what is still missing beneath the visible achievement.

 

Our first editorial today, “Boosting manufacturing”, makes that point through India’s electronics story. The government’s decision to exempt certain inputs used in automotive, industrial and medical equipment, mobile phones and lithium-ion cells from Customs duty is welcome. Electronics exports have grown strongly, rising over 24 per cent in 2025-26 even as overall merchandise exports increased by only about 1 per cent. But the editorial argues that temporary duty exemptions are not enough. If India wants to integrate more deeply into global value chains, especially in electronics, it needs a broader review of its tariff structure. High duties and frequent revisions raise costs, create disputes and weaken export competitiveness. The missing link in India’s manufacturing push is its import competitiveness.

 

 

The second editorial, “Indo-Pacific momentum”, turns to strategy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand helped articulate India’s Indo-Pacific approach at a time when the US has become less predictable. The MAHASAGAR doctrine broadens India’s maritime engagement from the Indian Ocean to the wider Indo-Pacific through capacity-building, security cooperation and trade. Deals with Indonesia on BrahMos and Astra missiles, a local-currency transaction framework, uranium cooperation with Australia and engagement with New Zealand all show momentum. But the value of this diplomacy will depend on operational follow-through.

 

M S Sriram’s column, “The poor’s savings: Next frontier?”, identifies a gap in financial inclusion. India has made major progress in payments and credit, helped by technology, core banking, the NPCI and UPI. But savings for the poor remain neglected. The poor do save, often through informal instruments, assets or risky schemes. What is missing is a regulated, flexible, low-cost savings architecture that matches their irregular cash flows. Jan Dhan accounts could become the base for such products if banks, the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub and NPCI think beyond conventional banking.

 

Debashis Basu’s “The missing human growth factor” makes the larger economic warning. India’s roads, airports and digital public infrastructure may look impressive, but sustained 7-8 per cent growth cannot rest on physical capital alone. Human capital — education, health and skills — is the real engine that lifts productivity. Without stronger foundational learning, vocational training, public health and industry-linked skills, India’s demographic dividend could become a constraint rather than an advantage.

 

“American newspapers: From zines to roadkill”, Alexandra Jacobs’ review of Alex Wright’s Empire of Ink takes the same argument to journalism. Technologies change, from print to digital, but the human impulse to share, contest and circulate information endures.

 

Visible progress matters, as these pieces show, but missing links decide how far it can go.