1 Growth in the time of

This article challenges a prevailing view that diminished electoral prospect of the incumbent UPA government is the result of neglecting growth to launch populist welfare schemes. We look at a wide range of economic indicators to show that compared to the NDA regime, the UPA period has been characterised by faster growth, higher savings and investment, growing foreign trade and capital inflows, and increased infrastructure spending in partnership with private capital. The UPA’s political troubles arise not from policies that hurt growth but from an inability to tackle the consequences of accelerated economic growth – increased conflict over land, rent seeking and corruption in the booming infra-structure and natural resource sectors, inability of public education to keep up with increased demand and rising aspirations, and poor delivery of welfare schemes made possible by growing revenues. The traditional branding of BJP as the party of market reforms and UPA as a centre-left coalition more committed to regulation and redistribution must be re-examined.