Supreme injusticeWHAT is a bigger threat than war, civil unrest or natural disaster? For Indian businesses there is an obvious answer: government. Consider the past few months. In November the central government scrapped 86% of paper currency, pitching citizens into a mad scramble to find alternative ways to buy, sell and get paid. In March it slipped a new rule into the annual budget bill that frees taxmen to raid or seize any property at any time with no need to explain why.
Sometimes it is particular industries that get bashed. Politicians keen to impress voters with their devotion to cows, for instance, are making life hard for producers of meat (meaning mostly buffalo), including exporters who earn India around $4bn a year. Some state governments turn a blind eye to vigilantes such as those who beat a (licensed) Muslim dairy farmer to death in Rajasthan last week; others have encouraged hyper-zealous “inspections”, followed by closures, of slaughterhouses.
This week two bigger industries have found themselves hit by another bit of the government, India’s Supreme Court. Its judges not only upheld an earlier decision to deny...Continue reading
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