Indian commission on development to convene
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting of the Policy Commission of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI).
NITI, a government think tank within the Planning Ministry, develops long-term plans for Indian development and economic growth. The Policy Commission includes the prime minister, cabinet ministers, state chief ministers, economists, and other policy experts. The commission is slated to discuss agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing, human resource development and the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Specifically, Modi is likely to bring up the issue of local government spending after the Reserve Bank of India found that parsimonious state government budgets may imperil the effect of the recently unveiled union budget and prevent Modi’s goal for double-digit growth in the next year.
It is not clear what Modi’s government is able to do to offset this problem. State governments are unable to borrow money to sustain a fiscal deficit like the federal government, which is investing heavily in infrastructure and health care. Expect the Modi government to stay on its course, hoping that federal stimuli will be enough to achieve its economic goals.
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