Devangshu Datta: When muddling along is strategy
India is facing deflationary conditions and that changes the paradigms for both lenders and borrowers. Neither India Inc nor the government has much idea how to deal with them Indian investors have experienced a washout during the last nine months. Market indices have fallen about 15 per cent from the all-time highs hit after the Budget. Corporate revenue and earnings growth have been negligible. Exports have fallen even though the rupee has lost ground. Sentiment has been hit as the impasse on the legislative front has continued, with session after parliamentary session ending without movement on the goods and services tax (GST) bill, among other things. Most investors are also coming to terms with the fact that the government is apparently not serious about meeting stated aims like disinvestment targets (which will be missed by miles), or ensuring a pullback on harassment caused by retrospective taxation (the Cairns case, for example). There are also signs of internal dissent