For the Indian economy the year 2003 ended on a high - on 20 December, the foreign exchange reserves breached the $100bn mark.  Fancy shopping malls cater to newly-enriched consumers |
The year also saw Indian companies breaking into the international corporate market, making 35 global acquisitions totalling $450m.
Thinking internationally, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee floated the idea of a common currency for South Asia.
And the industrial sector is booming. Car sales in November were 41% higher than the previous year. Overall, Gross Domestic Product is expected to grow by more than 7% in the financial year ending in March 2004.
But it is easy to over-interpret this news.
Growth challenge
A sober analysis indicates that India is continuing to do well, as it has done since 1993, with 6% per annum average growth.
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This robustness, combined with the advantage of its size, means that it is a country that global players cannot ignore.
But if India is to go beyond this, to a sustained annual growth rate of over 8%, and with benefits reaching all levels of society, more needs to be done by government than whipping up electoral support by pointing to the headlines.
It is worth remembering that India has seen brief growth spurts before - its growth rate in 1988-89 exceeded 10%.
The challenge therefore, is to bring about sustained growth.
Economic interest
Consider the $100bn foreign exchange (forex) news.
The large reserve points to a good performance by the Reserve Bank - the reserve was $5.83bn in 1991.
But, in itself, this does not mean as much as the screaming newspaper headlines on 21 December suggested.
What was more significant was the fact that the news made the headlines.
Never before has dry, economic news been celebrated so widely in India.
The interest of the citizenry in such matters was reminiscent of South Korea in the 1980.
It augurs well for India as it compels politicians to divert some of their attention from politics to economics.
The forex reserve of a government is like an individual's bank balance.
The fact that it is high does not indicate economic strength and preparedness to respond to emergencies. Rather, it reflects the person's preference for keeping money in a bank rather than investing it in assets.
Indeed, there are economists who argue that India should run down a part of its reserve to increase investment.
Order first
The other big news was also one where the symbolic value outstripped the actual.
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This was the idea floated by Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee of a common currency for South Asia.
Although this is not about to happen, the suggestion shows a level of maturity that political leaders can think in terms of economic co-operation even while political irritants remain.
Moreover, the very effort to build such co-operation could serve to reduce the risk of political conflict.
To guarantee long-run strength, the Indian Government needs to:
Raise the level of investment (and that includes investment in people)
Make a fetish of efficiency
Make it easier for new private firms to start up business. India's investment rate has remained virtually stationary at 24% (with a slight fall in the last three years).
A sustained growth rate of over 8% will not be possible unless the investment rate rises to 30%. That, in turn, requires the government to put its fiscal house in order.
Sweet subsidies
On the human side, India has done better than Pakistan, but worse than its much poorer eastern neighbour, Bangladesh, in many dimensions.
In 1990, under-5 child mortality (that is, the number of deaths before age 5 per 1000 children) was 144 in Bangladesh, 128 in Pakistan and 123 in India.
By 2001 the numbers were Bangladesh 77, India 93, and Pakistan 109.
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As far as school enrolment of girls as a percentage of boys go, the figure for Bangladesh is an exemplary 103%, whereas for India it is 78 and for Pakistan 61.
India is a potential global economic power.
But for that potential to be realised, its promise must not be treated as an instrument of short-term electoral popularity. Instead, the government must invest more on infrastructure and social improvement.
For the Indian government to spend as much as it does - on subsidies and the bureaucracy - and then to wonder why the economy is not growing faster is like my father's youngest sister who in her old age lamented to me, "I don't know why I keep such poor health - I eat only sweets."
