Betting on the private sector to fill the space vacated by the government is unlikely to work. Fiscal austerity hits India Inc both on costs (higher fuel prices, for instance) and demand (lower demand from government projects) and they are unlikely to step on the gas.

If Europe's experience is anything to go by and the government is indeed serious about fiscal discipline, it is perhaps deluding itself by insisting that a recovery in growth is around the corner. Read More

Jyothi Shankaran

    Jyothi’s last role was as Senior Editor with the business news channel Bloomberg TV India. He also worked as News Editor at business-standard.com, the online version of the business newspaper Business Standard. Jyothi is a chemical engineer from the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar.