The vociferous critics of demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) should take a breather. They have failed to grasp what International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde could comprehend: These two structural changes have put the Indian economy on a “solid track”, and that it is important to not get bogged down by short-term losses. True, the IMF did downgrade India recently — slashed the country’s growth projection for the current and next fiscal — but it has come round to appreciate the fact that temporary disruptions shouldn’t overshadow medium and long-term gains.

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Lagarde’s confidence in the Indian economy is inspiring. She has the big picture in mind where the economy will flourish after a brief spell of hiccups. With fiscal deficit restrained, and inflation down significantly, Lagarde feels that the nation, particularly the youth, will benefit as the economy would start delivering and meeting expectations. The critics of the structural reforms ought to realise that a surgery of the economy could only have happened when it was in robust health to absorb the aftershocks of the operation. Hence, the timing was critical.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sums it up succinctly: It was the best time to “really fix the roof” because back then the world economy was growing at a pithy two-and-a-half per cent, and India was surging ahead full throttle as “the fastest growing major economy”. To maintain the status quo would have been the easiest job, but the Modi government took it upon itself to transform the economy. The very critics who blast the government for temporary disruptions should know that the two unprecedented measures required enormous courage and conviction since a noisy democracy like India will always resist reforms that truly benefit the people.

Looking at the prevailing situation, one cannot deny that certain sectors — especially, manufacturing, and textile — require help from the Centre. The government has also addressed the concerns of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in its GST revisions. At every step, efforts are being undertaken to lessen the pain, create employment opportunities and restore people’s faith in the system. The detractors conveniently overlook these initiatives in their doomsday narrative. The Congress party, which had originally mooted the GST has now become its staunchest critic. Such irresponsible behaviour for petty political gains will only pose hindrances in the country’s growth trajectory. Populism, as practised by the Congress for years, was hurting the economy. Tired of corruption and nepotism, people sought change and voted the NDA to power.

Today, the BJP is tackling the very issues, such as black money, which the Congress had swept under the carpet. Both demonetisation and GST can be viewed as spring cleaning, ridding the economy of the cobwebs of deceit and duplicity and ushering in a system of transparency and accountability. The movers and shakers of the world economy realise that, making it evident in their thumping approval of Jaitley. This would now lead to increased investors’ confidence. India will be their preferred destination because the Chinese economy is floundering, having reached a saturation point. With the global economy gaining momentum — 3.6 per cent this year, 3.7 in 2018 — India will recuperate faster than expected. A higher growth trajectory is in the offing. All India needs to do now is tide over the crisis in two fiscal quarters. It will reap far more dividends than what it had in the time prior to currency swap and GST.