Although India’s ranking on the ‘World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business league’ table has increased and deserves praise, the World Bank, last week, asserted that the Government of Narendra Modi needs to do much more to attract foreign investment which would give much-needed jobs. 

The virtue of contracts: 

The Government in Maharashtra has lined the ‘Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project,’ financed by Japan, and put others on hold. Earlier, the new AP Government dropped an internationally-funded project being offered in association with Singapore Government/companies, to develop a new capital city at Amravati.

Would foreign investors invest in a country where contracts are unilaterally abandoned or arbitration awards treated with arrogance? Unless our judiciary treats contractual obligations solemnly and disposes of breaches quickly, without eternal postponements, the foreign investment won’t come in, new technologies won’t become available, and jobs won’t be created.

Flexibility in labor laws

Over twenty years ago, an industrialist recommended that the government should allow the industry, the freedom to fire just 3% of the workforce, after the conventional procedure, and with due compensation. It would enhance discipline. 

Current labor laws defend those having one, at the cost of a more significant number of those needing one, because entrepreneurs are cautious of investing. 

Land records 

Appropriate land records are the number one preference for any nation. Our polity does not want this. It wants to be capable of manipulating land titles. The local official has incredible powers to warp records using a variation entry.

Provided Modi’s Government is really serious; there is a solution administered by Blockchain, to store land records in a distributed ledger that cannot be mangled or tampered with. This would make it easy to create jobs and attract FDI.

The government must also start examining the benefits of cryptocurrencies.

It is safe to believe that most politicians and bureaucrats do not understand Blockchain, and few understand cryptocurrencies. Blockheads cannot solve our problems, for they float into life looking in the rear-view mirror instead of the windscreen.

Consequently, while the rest of the world has developed the technologies needed for the future, India still dedicates leadership time over seat-sharing, caste/ culture/ religious divides, and has made slight progress on new technologies. 

Remote from preparing for 5G, our government, in its voracious greed, has destroyed telecom companies by taking a bite from gross revenue, instead of the net. Hence, discounts, etc., granted to customers, are provided by telcos. Telcos have been struck with a huge bill and had to postpone 5G by five years, and hike call rates by 40%.

In short, the blockheads have succeeded in their quest for revenue heedless of the customer, in killing 5G, knifing the customer who now pays extra for voice and data, which, in turn, smothers innovation in other areas.

Senators in Canada invited an expert in 2014, in a closed room hearing, to teach them about bitcoin and address their doubts. Australia did the same. Indian politicians, who regard themselves as gods of knowledge, don’t feel the need to take advice.