Governments and institutions are rarely inactive. They announce reforms, pass laws, intervene in markets, adjust rules and defend their records. But action alone does not create credibility. Credibility comes when the parts fit together: When investment policy is coordinated, Parliament deliberates properly, monetary tools support a clear framework, central-bank actions are judged in full, and public institutions are guided by judgement as much as procedure.
Our first editorial today, “Incremental investment”, looks at India’s need to unlock more private investment. A working paper by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister has identified weak links in India’s post-pandemic recovery: The corporate profitability-to-investment link is weaker than expected, private capital expenditure has not fully responded to tax cuts and balance-sheet repair, and firms continue to face high costs from taxation, logistics, infrastructure gaps, land, approvals and trade barriers. The editorial argues that India does not need only one reform. It needs coordinated movement across multiple fronts so that investment becomes easier, cheaper and more attractive.
The second editorial, “Parliament’s democratic deficit”, applies the coherence test to democratic functioning. Parliament continues to pass legislation, but frequent disruptions, adjournments, reduced debate and hurried lawmaking have weakened its deliberative role. The problem is not simply that Bills are delayed or pushed through. It is that the institution meant to scrutinise government action is increasingly unable to perform that function fully. Democratic legitimacy requires more than numerical passage of laws. It needs debate, accountability, committee scrutiny and the willingness of both government and Opposition to let Parliament work.
Ananth Narayan’s column, “The impossible trinity, revisited”, turns to the Reserve Bank of India. The RBI is managing inflation, liquidity, government borrowing and the exchange rate through multiple interventions across markets. Each objective may have its own logic, but taken together they can create confusion, unless placed within a coherent framework. Narayan argues that large-scale interventions call for clarity on what the central bank is trying to achieve and how its tools interact. Without such coherence, policy can appear active but become harder for markets to read.
Rajeswari Sengupta’s column, “Judging the RBI by the wrong rule”, makes a related point. Monetary policy is often assessed through the repo rate, but the RBI uses many instruments: Liquidity management, bond-market operations, intervention, communication and regulatory tools. Looking only at the policy rate can misread the true stance of policy. A fuller assessment must examine the complete set of actions and their effect on financial conditions, inflation expectations and growth.
“S Y Quraishi’s eventful life”, Aditi Phadnis’ review of S Y Quraishi’s India and I: A Hundred Memories Not a Memoir looks at public life. Quraishi’s career shows that institutions depend not only on formal authority but also on judgement, negotiation, independence and personal credibility.
Institutions build trust, these pieces show, not by doing more, but by making their actions add up.
