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Tuesday, 27 May 2014 00:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The last five years saw the Indian economy struggling to keep pace with its growth rate targets and inflation and interest rates hitting the high side whilst the foreign capital inflows reduced. Although the former government led by Dr. Manmohan Singh who started the reform process for modern India in the early 1990s, the continuous coalition factor probably did not allow the congress-led UPF to take India into a modern market economy that it aspired to be like China and lost its momentum as a BRICS nation.
Narendra Modi ran the state of Gujarat as Chief Minister from 2001 to 2014. Modi was known as a key strategist that strengthened the BJP in Gujarat. Modi’s government has worked to brand Gujarat as a state of dynamic development, economic growth and prosperity, using the slogan “Vibrant Gujarat”. Most of us have heard in the recent past and remember how the TATA Nano plant was set up in Gujarat under Modi’s leadership.
A believer in speed and productivity and efficient government with no tolerance for corruption is the hallmark of leadership that the rest of us have heard of the new Prime Minister of India who is also known to be a pro-business friendly leader. Under his leadership the world expects him to focus on greater manufacturing and increase consumer consumption whilst opening up India for greater global capital.
Sri Lankan aspirations
India’s prosperity and growth will be Sri Lanka’s greatest opportunity. As India’s economic wheels are expected to start rolling again under 
Modi, Sri Lanka as a small but a strategically and geographically important island that is aspiring to be the regional hub for distribution of services will depend on our giant neighbour’s performance. It is important that we work with India in greater partnerships for this purpose. The Indian trade volume growth and consumer demand is directly correlated to our shipping and aviation businesses, commercial hub aspirations and the tourism sector.
Being a liberal and an open economy in South Asia our political leaders, business leaders and policy makers irrespective of political ideology must work with India in a consistent manner to build more bridges and confidence to expand trade relationships with our giant neighbour that has had great friendship with our country.
Given the fact that Modi has invited all SARRC nations’ leaders to attend for the inauguration and the swearing in ceremony as the Prime Minister, it gives new hope for our region to expand intra-regional trade. India truly can make a deference to make the SARRC region a vibrant market and a meaningful organisation.
Although Sri Lanka has a free trade agreement with India, we have seen some slowness in its take off, among many reasons to be for that, a key issue we have to solve is that before cargo can move across our borders we must ensure that both countries’ traders and businessmen should be allowed to move freely. Recently India announced that it would liberalise its visa requirement for more than 180 countries to receive on arrival visa, but unfortunately Sri Lanka which enjoys a FTA with India was left out. Probably President Rajapaksa should start here at the outset on his visit to India.
It is important that business chambers too should turn a new page and anticipate the growth of India, closer relationships with India, all its states and chambers is an important factor for our country to benefit from the Indian opportunity. Increase frequency of public-private trade dialogue and agreements is a way forward to increase trade and services between the two countries. Such understanding would strongly support the infrastructure development of Sri Lanka, where maritime and aviation services along with a commercial distribution hub will no doubt will help each country’s aspirations not only to expand each other’s trade but to make the SAARC region a better place for business.
As a columnist of the Daily FT, I hope for a new era of Indo-Sri Lanka relationships and wish the new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his government and the people of India all the best for a better future.
(The writer is the CEO of Shippers’ Academy Colombo, an economics graduate from the Connecticut State University USA, and immediate past Secretary General of the Asian Shippers’ Council.)
