Good news for 2015
Apropos of the column “Will cheap gas last? The answer and nine other predictions for 2015” (FE, December 16) the best news perhaps is that oil prices will continue to fall. This, indirectly, can fuel economic growth. Now, if there is more growth, oil demand will increase again, and so will prices. So a good idea is to make the best of the current cheaper times. The next most important forecast about 2015 is related to India. While it is only six months for the Narendra Modi government, and some quarters have already started criticising him for his failed election promises, let’s remember that Modi has dedicated himself to returning India to strong economic growth. That fact that he is backed by almost all India’s big corporations and most of its news media bodes well for the nation. Lastly, while journalism is getting better, but times are certainly changing. This is the age of the internet. In my society in Gurgaon, almost half of the residents have stopped buying newspapers—which knowledgeable citizen would buy loads of paper when she knows trees are unnecessarily cut for the same? The citizens today are also gradually getting to know the difference between news media and non-news media, and read news accordingly on the internet. They may not buy newspapers, but they will certainly buy news.
Bhopal Singh Verma, Gurgaon
SEZ policy
Apropos of the column “Lessons from the SEZ fiasco” (FE, December 15), certainly the lack of vision in policy implementation, weak commitment, and lack of spirit of experimentation have jeopardised India’s efforts to industrialise through SEZs. But then we also have to keep in mind that the factors underlying the success of SEZs should be grouped into two categories: international and domestic. Further, as the author pointed out, SEZs don’t offer any relaxation whatsoever from the regulatory regime. On the contrary, SEZ units face far more restrictive environment than those in the domestic economy. They have nothing special even in terms of the basic facilities such as the single-window mechanism, high-class infrastructure, and attractive and certain fiscal incentive regime. Going forward, we have to ensure that other initiatives should not meet a similar fate.
Gopal Das
Kanpur
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