That former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee made seminal contributions to lift the BJP to the forefront of the Indian polity. What is a lesser know fact is that he was also a an economic reformer. Here are a few of his top policy decisions.
He had launched National Highway Development Project and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
Golden Quadrilateral highway project – Rs 250,000 crore has been spent on this since then – and it is being financed since then through a road cess.
New Telecom Policy (NTP): NTP announced by the Vajpayee led government of India on 3 March 1999, brought the true telecom revolution to India – allowed India to move from fixed license fees that telecom firms struggled to pay, to a more rational revenue-sharing arrangement.
Fiscal responsibility Act which, by adding tremendously to India’s savings pool, was responsible for the stunning growth turnaround seen in the NDA years – from -0.8% of GDP in FY00, public sector savings rose to 2.3% of GDP in FY05 when the NDA demitted office and to 5% of GDP in FY08.
Insurance FDI, touted by successive governments including Modi’s as a great reform, was also a Vajpayee initiative.
Vajpayee incurred the wrath of free-market fundamentalists by deciding to bail out Unit Trust of India’s failing US-64 – UTI has a large shareholdings in L&T, ITC and Axis Bank.
