A year on, a mixed report card for Modi as reality bites

ONE year after Narendra Modi has taken over as prime minister on the heels of a corrupt Congress-led administration, the sheen has begun to wear off on the high expectations he created. His regime's economic performance has, at best, been mixed.

Determined efforts to get things moving towards a high-growth path, greater ease in doing business, steps to reduce corruption and energy in decision making mark his government's achievements; the performance has been helped by low inflation, lowered oil prices that have trimmed the fiscal deficit and a bold foreign policy initiative that has renewed expectations of a larger role for the country on the world stage.

Opposed to this are poor efforts to increase investment in infrastructure, cuts in social spending, flouting of environmental norms by new projects, a legacy of stressed banks and intimidation of religious minorities by Hindutva hardliners in the ruling party.