Month: September 2011

Harsh and I have co-authored a piece on the size of the Union Government:

Food, steel, communications, aviation, agriculture, petroleum, renewable energy, shipping, chemicals, tourism, coal, power, science & technology, broadcasting, textiles, mining, and housing. These are not just some of the fast-growing sectors in the Indian economy, but also the names of Union government ministries.

Each has its own budget, its own minister, and often a junior minister too. More importantly, in a narrow bid to protect its turf, every ministry becomes the biggest impediment to reform in that sector. Worse, government-granted monopolies in key sectors such as rail transport and coal mining are an unseen but substantial drag on the growth of the economy.