Give
me more than 5
Here’s
the new Aamir Khan TV ad: Aamir goes up to the finance minister and
says, “Aapke Budget mein kitney priorities hain?” Jaswant Singh looks
at him unwaveringly, and says with conviction, “Paanch! Sirf paanch!”
I’m not sure if the original Aamir ad inspired Mr Singh, but the Finance
Minister clearly understands that the Budget is increasingly about economic
branding and positioning of the Government, and less about creating
an exhaustive, all-encompassing policy document. His stated goal is
to transform policy-making into an ongoing, year-round process, and
demystify the Budget process. As a consequence, there was less opacity
this year about what to expect in the Budget, and hence, less suspense.
The fact that the markets were flat post-Budget only validates that
expectations had already been discounted in the indices.
Brands
embody a set of key attributes promised to the consumer and consistently
delivered over time, despite the vicissitudes of the external environment.
Builders of brands are usually good communicators and storytellers,
and apart from stressing the ‘hard’ features of their product, are equally
adept at making emotional connections with their customers. They know
how to establish a theme for their brand, and focus on it sufficiently,
so as to minimize any negative features.
Measured
against this yardstick, the FM did a more-than-adequate job of building
his brand of Budget. He immediately set his emotional tone by telling
us his heart lay in poverty alleviation and that he would first focus
on addressing the ‘lifetime concerns’ of ordinary citizens. Wisely,
he reminded us that this was consistent with his very first promise
as FM, which was to put more money in the pockets of ordinary people.
Only then did he enumerate the rest of his “paanch priorities”, which
included more banal matters like fiscal consolidation and enhancing
manufacturing efficiency. The attributes of his economic brand are,
first, a sustained commitment tot eh reforms process and a greater dependence
on market mechanisms. Included in this is a critical shift in focus
to consumption-led growth. This latter approach gave him the courage
to boldly reduce excise and customs duties, and induce the expansion
of what could potentially be the second largest consumer market in the
world after China.
Second,
his brand provided a broad priortisation of his five objectives, with
infrastructure development running a close second to “lifetime concerns”,
followed by fiscal consolidation, then agriculture, and finally, the
revival of manufacturing. Lastly, the brand promises the dawn of a new
era of simplification and friendliness in the government-citizen interface.
Most of the Kelkar Committee’s recommendations on process improvements
appear to have been endorsed with enthusiasm.
Of
course, there was a small carryover from his erstwhile ministry of external
affairs brand, in the form of his statesman-like gesture of debt-forgiveness
to nations poorer than ours. A master stroke, considering that a small
gift to these nations would create great moral pressure on affluent
nations to make a moral pressure on affluent nations to make a disproportionately
costly sacrifice!..(contd)
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