It is a mercy to escape the rants and pretentious boasts of India’s lunatic fringe politicians. Biplab Deb, Tripura’s new BJP’s Chief Minister, twitted that India had internet in the classical age of the epic, Mahabharata, much to the amusement of the twitterati, whose dismissive wit made the zany episode newsworthy. The affronted Chief Minister accused his critics of not acquiring an appropriate level of nationalism, bring to mind the priceless aphorism of Dr Samuel Johnson, the great 18 th century English lexicographer, scholar, literary critic and wit: ‘Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.’ As consolation, Deb has the company of Trump, George W. Bush, Tony Blair and their ilk and other such monuments of Madame Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors.
Elsewhere, BJP President Amit Shah and opposition Congress President Rahul Gandhi traded jibes and damp squibs to the manner born. Shah and Gandhi endure as India’s men for all seasons, not merely for the silly season.
PM Modi at Nordic Summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Stockholm for Nordic Summit talks with the Prime Ministers of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland were the serious business of state. Trade and investment topped the agenda. Of the Nordic states, Sweden and, to a lesser extent, Finland, are global economic heavyweights. Sweden earns some $280 billion from its exports, yet its population of 10 million is about half that of New Delhi.
The Indian market is of increasing importance to Sweden, from the defence sector to space, aeronautics, green energy technologies, bio-materials, smart cities and manufacturing and much else. Mr Modi and his Swedish counterpart Prime Minister Stefan Lovfen engaged in one-to-one talks on closer cooperation between their countries.
Swedish presence in India
Sweden’s economic footprint in India has grown appreciably over recent decades, there now being 180 Swedish companies operating in India. Saab is hopeful that India will opt for its Griffen fighter aircraft for ihe Indian Air Force with its fast depleting frontline squadrons. The IAF has issued its second international tender for frontline warplanes in 20 years; hopefully this will fructify in the lifetime of the present generation, although it would be risky to bet on this.
Long view
Swedish plans are generally predicated on a long-term basis. According to its Minister Mikael Damberg, co-production gives Swedish entrepreneurs and hence gives them an effective insight into local cultures, habits and preferences in the drive to market their goods and services. The results, thus far, have been impressive. Swedish companies employ a total Indian workforce of 200,000. Another 1.6, million benefit indirectly in employment. Swedish companies have established 10 research and development centres and operations unit manned by 6,800 Indian staff. With this comes protection for intellectual property rights. Sweden seeks more cast iron guarantees in this area and appropriate negotiation should enable the partners to come a satisfactory mutually beneficial agreement.
The two Prime Ministers agreed to an Action Plan covering all aspects of the Indo-Swedish relationship, to take it forward to the next level.
In conclusion, it is well worth noting that the Indo-Nordic Summit was Prime Minister Modi’s brainchild. He floated the idea to the Swedish premier during one of their telephone conversations. The other Nordic countries promptly came on board.
Sweden’s Indian Diaspora
Bicky Charaborty arrived in Sweden way back in 1966 with no wealth but a desire to succeed in life by making the most of the opportunities that came his way. Sweden provided him with those opportunities. Today, he is one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the country, the owner of an outstandingly successful hotel chain across the country. He has devoted time, money and enterprise in preservation work of decaying of heritage value, including a railway station, and churches that once flourished as community centres. Another leading Indian is Sheweta Pandit, great niece of the musical icon Jasraj Pandit. Prasant Aggarwal, former president of Delhi Dynamo football club, has set up numerous sports ventures in Sweden; also in real estate and films. The Indian community in Sweden numbers 30,000; across all Nordic countries they number 50,000.(Economic Times April 11, Hindu April 18, 19).
PM arrives to warm UK welcome
Prime Minister arrived in London from Stockholm, to a warm welcome by Prime Minister Theresa May at 10 Downing Street. They held extensive talks on Indo-British relations and discussed international issues as well, agreeing that chemical attacks under all circumstances were abhorrent. Mr Modi reaffirmed the importance on the Indo-UK relationship, fashioned by history and commonly held values and the bonding of Indian and peoples of Britain. He said India and he took pride and felt honoured to receive the invitation to visit the UK for the Commonwealth Summit from the Queen,and delivered to him in New Delhi by Prince Charles.
The occasion was marred by an unruly Pakistani-Khalistani mob at Parliament Square, orchestrated by Pakistani Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham. An Indian flag was burnt and an Indian woman reporter set upon, presumably by practiced ‘groomers’ in the black arts of their profession (For more on Indio-UK ties, see Comment Page 3).
India in top billing from Blackstone
Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private equity firm, is set to invest 60 per cent of its new $4 billion in Asia over the next five years. R Rival private equity funds have already been investing in India through their Asia funds as investment opportunities in the country have multiplied in recent years. Blackstone, which holds $430 billion globally has invested $7.5 billion in India but is planning to increase this as investment institution turn increasingly to India and away from China (Mint April 16).
TCS in 14 quarter surge
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) posted a stellar performance in profits. This was the company’s best figures in 14 quarters. TCS beat market expectations and delivered good revenue and growth figures. Certain verticles showed double digit year-on-year growth. In terms of markets, Continental Europe and the UK were the biggest growth areas in the fourth quarter. Rajesh Gopinathan, Managing Director and CEO said that increased demand in the region coupled with TCS’s digital solutions helped it capture new projects in the region. Overall, profits in Continental Europe grew 19.1 per cent and the UK 10.7 per cent, 8.6 per cent in Asia-Pacific and 4.9. per cent year-on-year in North America, the largest TCS market. TCS market capitalization is now near $100 billion (Business Line, Hindu, Economic Times April 20, 21).
Domestic air travel boom
Indians are flying as never before. March 2018 registered close to 102 million customers choosing to fly to their destinations rather than travel by rail or road. Air passenger numbers increased 28 per cent over March figures for 2017. The recent monthly increase would have been markedly higher but for an infrastructure crunch at the busiest airports of Mumbai and New Delhi. IndiGo airlines had the highest market share of 39 per cent, followed by Jet Airways with 16.6 per cent, Air India 13.4 per cent, SpiceJet 12.7 per cent, GoAir 9 per cent and Tata JV airlines 8.3 per cent. Public pockets are clearly deepening (Times of India April 19).
India’s fiscal outlook poised for reset: IMF
The International Monetary Fund has said that India’s combined gross debt, including that of the central and state governments, is set to decline by almost nine percentage points to 61.4 per cent of GDP by 2023-24. This would have a favourable impact on the economy, leading to lower interest rate regime as the government borrowing declines (Mint April 19).
National security body takes shape
India’s security architecture has long been handicapped by the lack of a coordinating body of thinkers, military men and civilian administrators to properly address the country’s strategic policies in the light of regional developments and threats to global stability emanating from combustible great power rivalries we are witnessing today. Acquisitions of foreign weapon systems and Indian sales are to be integrated into policymaking.
Composition
The committee will have a cross-ministry mandate with a national security adviser, principal secretary to the prime minister, the three chiefs of staff of the armed forces, chief of the integrated defence staff, foreign secretary as members. The need to align strategic goals with procurement and doctrine will be a paramount. Aspects of foreign policy will also come in for close critical scrutiny (Times of India, Hindu April 19, 20).
Massive exercise Test of IAF power
Operation Gangashakti 2018, has been the most extensive and ambitious force projection exercise in the annals of the Indian Air Force. Carried out over a week on India’s western and northern borders, including the Arabian Sea, and thence across the Bay of Bengal to the Straits of Malacca, the aperture from the South China Sea to the P:acific Ocean, it tested the full range of IAF aircraft, from the Sukhoi-30MKI-30, Jaguars, Tejas, heavy lift C-130 helicopters, Ilyushin-76 flight refuellers and AWACS airborne warning system; assessing new tactics to add fresh teeth to IAF capabilities (Hindu April 16, Times of India April 20).
