BUDGET WISHLIST 2009

 

Hello,

Here are my wishes for you to carry it to the Finance minister.  By the way, this is good approach to the whole issue.  The least it does, is to focus on issues once a year. Please find attached my photograph and brief profile and appended to this mail is my submission.

Best regards
Venkat

S.R. Venkatapathy
Senior Analyst & Head Research - India,
ARC Advisory Group, Tel +91 80 2555 3797: Fax +91 80 2554 7115 Mob +91 94480 3072:  www.arcweb.com
USA, India, Argentina, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Dubai, Japan, Korea, & China

 

Provide Incentives and Find the right kind of Resources

“We can state our opinions in lot many ways but they all point to the same desires – investments in education, healthcare, and better infrastructure facilities.  So, what is left?  Not much really!  If any Government can manage to work on this with lot more seriousness than ever exhibited before, India will stand transformed.  But are annual budgets relevant anymore?  They probably mean lot less to the nation as a whole while it is of interest to the section of the people.  By nation, I am referring to the new phrase doing rounds in the country – the ‘aam aadmi’.

 

The budget exercise and the run-up to the D-date is however, an excellent opportunity for most of us to plead with the Government of the day to reconsider the dire needs of the nation.  Let us do it again – there is no shame in begging the politicians to do something worthwhile for the nation.  The three primary requirements of healthcare, education, and better infrastructure facilities have lot to do with the respective States than the Central Government.  So the first and foremost thing the budget should provide for and make substantive provisions is to offer performance based fiscal incentives to States.  All you need to do is to draw out metrics which can be independently verified and that which is non-partisan in practice, and then provide for “visibility gap funding” every quarter besides handsome incentives which drives performance.  Both education and healthcare need to be addressed squarely with the help of the States and this is perhaps the only way to get things done. 

 

Announcing allocations for projects that largely go unutilized or announcing newer projects which are not adequately backed up with funds will not drive infrastructure build.  Infrastructure build across the country’s landscape has also more to do with project management.  The babus in the government have no time for nitty gritty of this tough job.  It is time, the Government engages the expertise of many a public and private sector undertaking project managers.  So what the finance minister wants to do, is to make provisions for funding the hiring of the project managers with proven track records.  You want results, you hire personnel with stuff in them and they do not come cheap.  One Nilakeni recruited in the Government, does not make a summer. ”

 

 

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