Economy | The aatma nirbhar mantra

Nothing captured the essence of Modinomics better than two of its signature catchphrases—‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Ease of Doing Business’. The hint of the first came just four months into Modi 1.0, with an initiative called Make in India. A new twist to the old swadeshi theme of the RSS, the scheme departed from the original ideology in that it would produce not just for itself but for the world. But aatmanirbharta was also more than that. It was equally about weaning businesses and individuals away from the subsidy culture, towards learning to stand on their own feet. Thus the schemes to ignite the country’s entrepreneurial spirit via the Mudra Yojana, Stand-up India, Production-Linked Incentives, and opening up sectors such as automotive, electronics, defence and space to foreign direct investment. Skill India, meanwhile, aimed to make the country’s youth future-ready. That intent was also part of the National Education Policy, 2020, with its emphasis on skill-based learning. A National Infrastructure Pipeline was announced in 2019, in the hope that increased public spending would crowd in private investment.The government did not stray from this path of aatmanirbharta even in the worst of times, as during COVID-19. It chose instead to ease credit lines to businesses and extend sectors under PLI rather than loosen its purse strings.Ease of doing business began at the institutional level, when the 65-year-old Planning Commission was replaced with the NITI Aayog in 2015. Two years later came the revolutionary Goods and Services Tax, streamlining multiple indirect taxes under one structure. Consolidation, in fact, became a guiding mantra of the Modi years, particularly when it came to rescuing India’s beleaguered banking system. The number of public sector banks was pared from 27 to 12 between 2017 and 2020 and the toxic legacy of NPAs addressed through a ‘4R’ strategy: recognition, resolution, recapitalisation and reform..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}Distressed corporates, too, got an exit route with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which put in place a time-bound mechanism for corporate debt resolution. A further fillip for the corporates came in September 2019, when the headline tax rate was slashed from 30 per cent to 22 per cent. The clean-up extended to the real estate sector, thriving on zero builder accountability, leaving millions of prospective home buyers in a lurch. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, mandated every state to set up a Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), which would enforce transparency, fix accountability and be a formal avenue for dispute resolution.And though disinvestment drew a mixed record overall, the needle did move on two public sector behemoths—Air India and LIC. The government managed to sell off the debt-laden national airlines to the Tatas in January 2022 and, four months later, sold a 3.5 per cent stake in LIC through its first-ever initial public offering.Finally, as the decade drew to a close, India turned its attention to labour reform, conflating 29 laws into four codes: on wages, industrial relations, social security, and occupational safety, health and working conditions.As of 2025, then, India had overtaken Japan to become the world’s fourth largest economy and seemed on course to become the third largest by 2030. Its GDP growth remains among the best in the world’s large economies. Multi-dimensional poverty, too, has come down from 27 per cent in 2011-2012 to 5.3 per cent in 2022-2023.Yet, private investment lags, and inequality has grown. Agriculture reform has been a non-starter; generating jobs remains a persistent challenge, a lost opportunity for utilising the country’s demographic dividend. And despite all the government’s efforts at skilling, a majority of the country’s graduates continue to be unemployable, darkening India’s future.- EndsPublished By: Shyam BalasubramanianPublished On: Jan 3, 2026Must Watch

Download App

Mood of the Nation Offer: Use promo code MOTN2026 to get ₹500 off on all Print + Digital subscriptions

Economy | The aatma nirbhar mantra

Empowering individuals and enterprises, unleashing the animal spirits of the economy and cleaning up the business environment...these were the targets for the decade, some met, others still work in progress

PUBLICATIONS

TELEVISION

EVENTS

RADIO

GAMING

USEFUL LINKS

PRINTING

WELFARE

DISTRIBUTION

SYNDICATIONS

WEBSITES

EDUCATION