Hardly Laissez Faire

Each day's newspaper brings fresh evidence that economic reform in India is producing results and that India is emerging as an industrial power. Today The Times of India reports that economic growth for 2005-06 was 9%, the second highest ever. Growth was 7.5% the year before. The headline, however, was that the Tata family had purchased Britain's Corus Steel, making Tata Steel the fifth largest producer in the world. Only last year Lakshmi Mittal, another Indian, bought Arcelor Steel for $32.4 billion; it is the largest steel manufacturer in the world by far. Yesterday the news was the upgrading by Standard and Poor's of the Indian government's debt to investment quality.

There is still room for additional reform, however. Laissez faire is not the rule yet. I recently went to the website of Indian Railways to reserve seats to Agra. The site asks if any concession is applicable. Among the sixty-eight concessions listed are reduced prices for artists (lower and higher class), circus artists (lower and higher class), professional artists (lower and higher class), research scholars (that's all right, of course!), sports (lower class, national, and international), youth, unemployed youth, boy scouts, cancer patients, mental patients, doctors, nurses, students, and teachers. There is the usual senior citizen discount and a discount for polo players! The next time someone in the U.S. complains about government regulation, just smile.