More reforms, not less

Finance minister P Chidambaram hit the nail on the head when he told Parliament that what India needed was more reforms, not less, that what the economy needed was less restrictions and not more, that it needed a more open economy and not a closed economy. This is especially important at a time when there is greater clamour, including from the ministry Chidambaram himself heads, to put higher import duties to curb imports; or to keep high export tariffs to restrict, for instance, the export of iron ore on grounds the domestic steel industry will benefit from this. The rupee has already paid a heavy price as investors felt the government and RBI were, together, going to impose capital controls—the finance minister has repeatedly pointed out that India has never imposed capital controls on repatriation of profits for instance, and ........

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