Recently, Businessworld Magazine had carried a excellent and timely cover story on the growing black economy in India.
It is true that there is no political will as the political-bureacratic class are also involved. Some guesstimates indicate that the Black Economy is larger, deeper and wide-spread across the socio-economic strata. How many people we meet in a day? How many of them actually account for their earnings and pay taxes? Under-reportting of income is an accepted norm for doctors, contractors, builders, cable operators, restaurant barons, event managers etc. We are not speaking here of not-so-poor fruit vendors, petty traders and beauty parlor owners or officially illegal trade such as drugs, trafficing etc.
The surprising thing is the ‘crawl when asked to bend’ approach of financial authorities. It is no wonder that legitimate Indian businesses are setting up operations overseas and talented Indians are migrating. After a point, patriotism sounds a cruel joke when we look at the politicians.
Yet the India Story remains intact. The power of young Indians remains in place. Only the pace and direction might see some correction.
Some of my comments have been published in the latest issue of Businessworld.
