Business in the firing line

The Sangh Parivar in its 21st century avatar appears to have acquired a psychological problem when it comes to Indian business. In 2014, a Make in India extravaganza posited India Inc as the future engine of the country’s economic growth. Over 2020 and 2021, a series of policies invited India Inc to expand exponentially by buying government-owned assets through disinvestment and/or choosing a convoluted route called the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP). Yet in the space of a month, the ruling party’s minister of commerce and industry and a publication from its mentor organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) launched coruscating attacks on two respected domestic corporate giants.

Both attacks suggest a collective irritation within the Parivar that Indian business has not