| So the Elections are over. Now what ... !? |
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It was with great interest that we participated in this years General Election in India. The events that have led up to the elections have been unprecedented - be it the number of terrorist attacks across India, the unprecedented rise of the economy and then the equally unprecedented fall. Everyone who has been following the elections (including me) were predicting a hung parliament and then probably a re-election in a couple of years. However, all of us have been hoping against hopes that we have a single major party at the centre so that we have a stable government for the next five years (immaterial of which party won). That is the need for India. The exit polls too suggested a divided parliament and we started seeing the dirty side of politics (is there a good side?) including horse trading etc on national television. So it was with great relief that we saw one party getting a majority. At least India will now have a stable government for the next five years. Here are some random thoughts and predictions post elections: It seems that pockets of India have voted very thoughtfully. It was good to see political parties punished in states and cities where they have not done enough work and the benefits have not reached the grass root levels. It was good to see honest and thoughtful people like Shashi Tharoor, Priya Dutt and a few more winning their seats. It was great to see India voting in young uns like Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, Jyotirraje Scindia and others winning. Ofcourse, there have been a few other surprises too. Rajasthan, Orissa, Bihar and Delhi for example. They have been complete sweeps. This a thumping victory for the Congress - perhaps the first time in the last 4 elections or so where a coalition government will not be in the seat. Now that the one single party has won decisively what do we see in the future: - Everyone including the business owners are perhaps happy that they will have a stable government in such otherwise uncertain times (irrespective of the party that won) - I believe we should see the Share Markets reacting positively in the near term - Probably the net FII inflow into India would be positive - We should see the Government acting decisively towards bettering the economy - the previous efforts have not yet completed - Towards this we should see the government starting more infrastructure projects and giving more impetus to the sector - One should expect the third impetus to the economy very soon - The budget will be aggressive - hopefully we will some tough decisions being outlined in the budget - The good thing is that since regional parties will not need to be appeased, the government can seriously look at National Issues and take hard decisions (ala the left parties) - Towards this the policies of the government will be forward looking hopefully and the government will not get distracted and waste time in unnecessary appeasement and maneuvering (example the Nuke Deal) As HR professionals what does this translate to ? First, we should be seeing a recovery in the economy soon (or at least the recovery should be faster). The sentiments of the economy, the markets and the business owners should turn positive in the short term. This should translate into positive action. Hopefully, all the action on the economy should hopefully show us some light at the end of the long long tunnel that we are in.
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