Modi blues

摘要

In MAY CHAMPAGNE corks popped as Mumbai's bankers, investors and industrialists feted the re-election of Narendra Modi as India's prime minister. His Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party's defeats in regional elections last autumn raised the possibility of a return to power of the left-leaning Congress party, which most of India Inc views (with some justification) as anti-business, corrupt and fiscally feckless. Mr Modi's landslide victory therefore set corporate pulses racing. The Mumbai stockmarket soared to a record high. So did expectations that he would follow first-term coups like a new bankruptcy code and a goods-and-services tax with fresh business-friendly measures. "Modi knows how to change the goalposts," gushed one respected tycoon on election night. His fellow moguls nodded in agreement.