By : Shri Hardeep S Puri
As we step into 2026, public debate in India should begin with a little New Year
discipline. We should welcome scrutiny, even sharp criticism, but we should also insist
that argument carries responsibility. A republic of over 1.4 billion people cannot be
reformed by cynicism. Jobs, productivity, exports, and inclusion are not easy at the best
of times, and progress comes through the unglamorous grind of design,
implementation, correction, and scale. A New Year is also a moment to separate
skepticism from pessimism.
In Beyond Good and Evil (§211), Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, in substance: “The
philosopher must be a creator of values, not a mere critic or spectator. He must
philosophise from the standpoint of life, not against it.” Public policy needs the same
temper. Critique is welcome, but it must be tethered to evidence and to the lived
constraints of governing a complex, diverse democracy. When scepticism becomes a
posture, it corrodes confidence in the institutions that make reform possible.
In recent years, a genre of commentary has emerged that markets doubt as
sophistication. It reduces the work of reform to caricature, treats every imperfect
transition as proof of permanent failure, and offers a familiar consolation: India is
supposedly doomed by its own policymakers. That posture has consequences. It
weakens trust in statistics and markets, it encourages fatalism among entrepreneurs
and investors, and it hands outside actors a ready-made script for pressuring India in
negotiations. Expertise must remain answerable to facts.
It is worrying to note that a few commentators, who boast of a strong professional and
academic background, have resorted to such posturing. Some, whom I have known
personally and who have anchored their identity and credibility on India are now trying
to make a career out of badmouthing the country possibly for gaining attention or
seeking relevance since they are no longer part of government.
Their charge that India’s datasets are uniquely unreliable sits uneasily with the direction
of travel. The Goods and Services Tax created a national invoice trail and a compliance
culture that simply did not exist a decade ago. In 2024-25, gross GST collections crossed
₹22 lakh crore, averaging about ₹1.8 lakh crore a month. Digital payments created
another audit footprint. In November 2025, UPI recorded 20 billion transactions worth
over ₹26 lakh crore. These are large, verifiable systems, and they expand the space for
measurement, cross checks, and course correction.
Measured outcomes in welfare and inclusion further puncture this fatalism. NITI Aayog’s
National Multidimensional Poverty Index shows almost 24 crore Indians moved out of
multidimensional poverty between 2013-14 and 2022-23, with the incidence falling
from nearly 30% to about 11%. Direct Benefit Transfer tightened delivery, with
cumulative DBT transfers crossing ₹45 lakh crore in 2025 and savings of more than ₹3.5
lakh crore through leakage reduction over the DBT period. Financial inclusion is now
mass infrastructure, with over 56 crore Jan Dhan accounts.
Reforms to financial discipline have had visible effects. The gross nonperforming asset
ratio of scheduled commercial banks fell to 2.1% in 2025, down from about 11.2% in
- This did not happen by wishful thinking. It reflects a sustained cleanup of balance
sheets, stronger supervision, and a system that has progressively reduced the space for
evergreen lending and hidden losses. When critics say the state cannot reform, this
quiet turnaround is the first answer.
The jibe that India cannot build at scale ignores what has changed in manufacturing
ecosystems. Under the Production Linked Incentive programmes, realised investment
crossed ₹2 lakh crore across 14 sectors, translating into incremental production and
sales of over ₹18 lakh crore and employment generation of over 12 lakh jobs.
Electronics is the sharpest illustration: electronics production crossed ₹11 lakh crore in
2024-25, mobile phone production ₹5.5 lakh crore, and mobile exports about ₹2 lakh
crore. These are market tests in the toughest arena, and they are being passed.
Trade leverage is built by performance and consistency, not by performative despair.
Total exports of goods and services hit an all-time high of over US$ 825 billion in 2024-
- In a world of tariffs and protectionist reflexes, partners respond to capability. India’s
posture strengthens when it is seen as a market that produces, trades, and absorbs at
scale, and when it can credibly offer diversified supply in sectors that matter. The
combination of domestic reform and external engagement produces resilience, and
resilience produces leverage.
Competitiveness is not secured by a single scheme or a single ministry. It is the
cumulative effect of infrastructure, logistics, and administrative reform. The gains are
visible in the spread of industrial corridors, improved freight connectivity, better port
linkages, and integrated planning platforms that reduce the cost of time. The point is
not that every bottleneck has vanished. The point is that the state has demonstrated the
capability to build systems, shorten processes, and scale delivery, which is exactly how
productivity improvements compound over years rather than weeks.
On agriculture and rural resilience, it is easy to list distortions and conclude that nothing
can be fixed. The policy direction has moved toward targeted support and asset
creation, while building basic services that raise productivity and dignity. Jal Jeevan
Mission has, as per official updates, provided tap water connections to more than 12.5
crore rural households, improving public health and reducing the time burden on
families.
The story of inclusion is also visible in health, housing, and energy access. Ayushman
Bharat has issued more than 42 crore cards under PM-JAY, expanding financial
protection against catastrophic health costs. Under PM Awas, almost 3 crore houses
have been completed, giving families a formal asset and a foundation for mobility.
Under PM Ujjwala Yojana, more than 10 crore LPG connections have brought cleaner
cooking energy to households that were once trapped in smoke and drudgery. These
outcomes are not abstractions. They are the practical foundation on which aspiration
and productivity can rest.
The most sweeping pessimism is often reserved for states, as if a billion people must be
governed through a single template. India’s federalism is noisy, but it is also adaptive.
Several states, especially Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, have
shown that better law and order, faster clearances, and sustained infrastructure
delivery can draw investment and formal jobs. The centre has reinforced this
competitive federalism by building national platforms that states can plug into, by
creating funding that rewards delivery, and by making reform data transparent enough
for citizens to judge performance.
India’s story is far from finished and it will always invite argument. The question is the
quality of argument we choose as we begin a new year. When eminent professionals
treat insinuation as analysis, they weaken the very institutions that make reform
possible. Nietzsche’s reminder is useful here. A serious thinker creates values that help
societies live and improve. India has chosen the harder path of execution, and it is the
results, audited in numbers and felt in households, that will outlast any brief for despair.
In 2026, India should demand criticism that improves policy, not commentary that
undermines confidence for applause. That standard protects reform, investment, and
democratic choice at home.
