It's India's Turn Now

Summary

“It’s India’s Turn Now” reproduces the text of an address delivered by Jayant Sinha, then Minister of State for Civil Aviation, in Mumbai on 29 September 2016 to mark the Diamond Jubilee of the Forum of Free Enterprise and the Golden Jubilee of the A. D. Shroff Memorial Trust. Sinha frames the moment as one in which globalist liberalism is under siege — citing the first US presidential debate, the Brexit vote, the rise of European extremist parties and global terrorism — and argues that India, with its single-party majority and a decisive prime minister, is now positioned to take up the vanguard of a new global order and become a “Vishwa Guru.”

The address is organised around three theses. First, India’s growth model is inherently frugal and sustainable: with only 2.5% of the world’s land, 4% of its fresh water but 17% of its population, India must — and does — generate GDP with far less energy, carbon, capital and leverage than China or the United States, and so its growth is good for the planet as well as for Indians. Second, India’s for-profit and non-profit entrepreneurs, supported by a maturing innovation ecosystem (e-commerce marketplaces, payment banks, microfinance, electric two-wheelers), are uniquely placed to serve the “Next 6 Billion” at the base of the pyramid that neither traditional governments nor large companies have served well.

The third and most polemical thesis is a call to redefine the Indian state. Sinha attacks the inheritance of a “Nehruvian sarkar” or maibaap sarkar — large entitlement programmes such as NREGA, the PDS and PM Gram Sadak Yojana — as an extension of the dynastic rule of Rajas, Maharajas, Nawabs and Sultans that has failed both citizen and exchequer. In its place he prescribes a “Kautilyan sarkar”: a lean, rule-based, non-discretionary umpire that secures property and tenancy rights, strengthens regulators (RBI, SEBI, TRAI, NHAI, the new Real Estate Regulator), invests in public goods (roads, railways, digital connectivity) and coordinates with private capital to overcome collective-action market failures. The booklet closes with a peroration to the Mumbai audience as the pioneers “creating the next Indigo, the next Google, and the next Apple,” who will transform both India and the world.

Key points

• The booklet is the verbatim text of Jayant Sinha’s 29 September 2016 address marking the Diamond Jubilee of Forum of Free Enterprise and Golden Jubilee of the A. D. Shroff Memorial Trust.

• Sinha argues that with free markets and globalism under siege (Brexit, US debate, European extremism), India is the natural new vanguard for an open global order and a ‘Vishwa Guru’ in the making.

• He defends a ‘frugal development model’ using PPP GDP comparisons: India can generate growth with far less energy, carbon, capital and leverage than China or the US, and so India’s growth is good for the planet.

• Indian entrepreneurs and large companies — Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, payment banks, microfinance — are positioned to serve the ‘Next 6 Billion’ at the base of the pyramid, where both states and big firms have historically failed.

• The central polemic is a contrast between the ‘Nehruvian sarkar’ (maibaap, entitlement-heavy, exemplified by NREGA, PDS, PM Gram Sadak Yojana) and a ‘Kautilyan sarkar’ (rule-based, non-discretionary, minimum-government / maximum-governance).

• Sinha praises the Modi government’s Jan Dhan Yojana as a model of state-enabled market infrastructure — 100% bank-account coverage in 100 days — that financial inclusion is then built on by RBI/SEBI-regulated private players.

• He frames the Kautilyan state metaphorically as the umpire and groundsman: it prepares the pitch, defines rules, builds public goods, and only then steps off the field so entrepreneurs can play.

• Minoo R. Shroff’s introduction underscores the speech’s polemical contrast with the ‘Nehruvian Sarkar or maibaap’ and praises Sinha for differentiating the roles of business and government for a globalised India.