What is the difference between BJP and Congress?

In 2008, a year before the general elections, Congress-UPA gave a colossal farm loan waiver.

In 2023, also a year before the general elections, BJP-NDA hikes capital expenditure by 33%, to over Rs 10 trillion 👏

🛣️ 🛤️🚄🛫🏭⚡️ The capex scale is huge:
FY20 : Rs 3.4 trillion
FY21 : Rs 4.1 trillion
FY22 : Rs 5.9 trillion
FY23 : Rs 7.3 trillion
FY24 : Rs 10 trillion

BJP-NDA has kept up investment in infra - for ex., average railways capex more than doubled between 2014-2019 (via Economic Survey).

Global business leaders and investors continue to be quite positive on India, the macro/geopolitical headwinds notwithstanding.

Remember, no matter how difficult the environment, we can still do decently if we keep doing well whatever is in our control. 1/n The global CEO of McKinsey, Bob Sternfels, said - this is not just India’s decade, but India’s century. m.economictimes.com/news/economy/i…

“India is the talent factory of the world, it has massive potential across all manufacturing industries, and it has leapfrogged on digitization” 2/n

Given unprecedented inflation in advanced economies, one has to question their policy choices through the pandemic. While the shock to energy and food prices from the European war is a proximate cause, excessive fiscal stimulus during 2020 had fragilized these countries. For example, UK could soon see inflation north of 20%. These levels are unheard of, last seen many decades ago. This will deal a severe blow to real disposable incomes and household savings. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Zero tax on long-term gains and dividends was a disastrous tax policy. The objective of taxation should be to have the tax base be as wide as possible. Exempting entire sections from paying taxes only causes those who are paying taxes to cough up at even higher rates.

https://twitter.com/dmuthuk/status/1488470467539202048

Not just that, zero taxes on listed equities - vast majority of which is secondary market purchase, not in primary issue - is a clear disincentive for financial participation in private equity, which comparatively was very heavily taxed. Private equity actually funds businesses.

Table 5 of the Economic Survey lays out in detail all the welfare measures taken through the Covid crisis, along with the results thereof. #EconomicSurvey2022

@sanjeevsanyal This has been India's approach, all through the pandemic. Strong safety nets targeted (thanks to @UIDAI and @India_Stack) at those who need it most, and an iterative approach that adapts to evolving situations.

In November 2020, a journalist wrote a piece titled "Why I Am Losing Hope In India". The screed was shared widely by the usual suspects, offering an extremely negative prognosis on how the India story might be on its last legs. Let us assess how things have turned out over the last ~15 months for India and the Indian economy.

Entrepreneurship: 2021 was a record year for IPOs and for new unicorns minted.

At @rmponweb’s recent conference, I had the privilege of being a co-panelist with former Finance Secretary Shri Hasmukh Adhia ji. Shri Adhia has had a close association over 2001-2018 with @narendramodi and described his leadership style in detail. A 🧵 for all to know and learn.

https://twitter.com/rmantri/status/1453390430322630664

Caveat: This thread 🧵 is from my notes and recollection of Adhia ji's speech - I don't think a video recording has been put out as yet. Any errors or misattributions are entirely mine 🙏

Let’s trace the events over the last 6 months.

First, opposition politicians and some media sellouts panned the vaccines, spread doubts and fears about their efficacy baselessly. Some called the vaccines “BJP vaccines”.

https://twitter.com/vikram_sood/status/1385203046506917892

Does anybody think that *any* Indian Govt. would be so irresponsible as to just launch any vaccine publicly for use by hundreds of millions of people without due process and due diligence?

Some poisonous editors, compromised journalists and vicious politicians did exactly that.

Vaccines are working: the charts that show the Covid endgame ft.com/content/d71729…

Very important cross-country analysis shows how mass vaccination ends the pandemic. More evidence that vaccination works, here are the numbers from India.

via @kushal_mehra

So approximately 550 million people aged 18-45 years will become eligible for vaccines from May 1.

~91M people have received a single dose. ~16M people have received both doses. hindustantimes.com/india-news/ind…

https://twitter.com/RMantri/status/1379470173149667332

So over ~600M people will be looking to get vaccine shots (their first or second) from May 1.

Covid19 production capacity -
Serum Institute: 100M/month (some of this would be exported under international commitments)

Bharat Biotech: 12.5M/month

This is not an accident. India has of late embarked on a deliberate policy of taxing petrol and diesel to incentivize electrification of transport. The nudge to consumers is clear - look for the electric alternatives.

The energy transition is underway. Maruti, Tata Motors, Mahindra and the high end auto brands all launching electric cars this year business-standard.com/article/automo…

Global automakers from GM to Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover have committed to shift entire product lineup to electric only.

“Nehru was a great democrat.”

“Didn’t he install his daughter as Congress party president, also dismiss the elected state government of Kerala in 1959 by abusing Article 356?” “Nehru was a liberal.”

“Why did he reform personal laws only for Hindus in 1955, leaving India’s Muslims in the hands of religious conservatives?” livemint.com/Opinion/h953KJ…

“India is building the bullet train in record time, with unprecedented support from Japan.”
“But what about bullets fired in Kashmir?” 1/n “Union Govt is dissolving the corrupt Medical Council of India, bringing a new regulator.”
“What about the dead babies all over India?” 2/n