Deepak Parekh's change of heart on NDA govt's performance

Five months after creating a flutter in the industry circles that nothing had changed on the ground in the first nine months of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the centre, there is a change of heart in Deepak Parekh's perception about the ground situation.

In his letter to shareholders, the non-executive chairman of housing major HDFC said that there have been a number of salutary initiatives taken, which will hold India in good stead."Credibility has been restored with the transparent auctions of natural resources. The thrust given to financial inclusion has been unprecedented," lauds Parekh.

Parekh was earlier very critical when he said that impatience was creeping among businessmen as nothing had changed on the ground.

The letter further says, "Today, almost all Indian households have been brought into the fold of institutional finance. The government's social security initiative of providing a pension, accident and life insurance will go a long way in deepening the financial system. Equally important has been the successful implementation of the direct benefit transfer scheme."

The 70-year old veteran was earlier very critical of the progress in ease of doing business."We have not seen any improvement in the ease of doing business," he had said. This time Parekh has complimented the government for making efforts to simplifying the process of starting a business.

Parekh also talks about government's move to streamline and raise the threshold limits for foreign direct investment (FDI) as significant, since it will speed up approval timelines. "Key sectors like defence, construction, railways and insurance have been opened up and benefits will accrue in the ensuing years as more FDI is encouraged. Clearly for India, reforms will be incremental, not big bang."

Parekh has always been open about his comments on the state of affairs of the country. In fact, he was among the very first industry stalwarts to speak up on the policy paralysis and governance issues during the Congress-led UPA government. A spate of scams in coal, telecom, CWG etc led to delays in decision-making as everything came to standstill.