The Hindi Heartland Votes and Niranjan Rajadhyaksha on the Modi Economy

This week on the Grand Tamasha podcast, Neelanjan Sircar of Ashoka University and the Centre for Policy Research joins Milan for our weekly news roundup. The two discuss Neelanjan’s recent column on the epic electoral battle in the crucial heartland state of Uttar Pradesh, whose 80 seats hold the key to the next government. Milan and Neelanjan also discuss whether recent state election results are a good barometer for how those states will behave in national elections.

In this week’s interview segment, Milan speaks with Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, Research Director and Senior Fellow at the IDFC Institute in Mumbai and author of the “Café Economics” column in Mint. Niranjan is one of India’s most thoughtful economists and, in this conversation, he provides his big picture assessment of the Modi economy after five years. Milan and Niranjan discuss India’s “two-speed economy,” the banking crisis, India’s export opportunity amidst the brewing U.S.-China trade spat, and the reform agenda for the next government. Niranjan also offers his two-prong rule of thumb for making sense of India’s contested economic data.