From the Editor

From the EditorThe deeper we sail into the economic doldrums,the greater is the wonderment that there is so muchlocked-up promise in India that we cussedly ignore.Politics oozes from every pore of ours;we expect theeconomy to take care of itself.Over the past few monthsI have talked in great detail with a number of seniorbusiness leaders and marvelled at their tenacity andwillingness to continue to place huge bets on the future,when they might do well to up stakes and head for thehills.For all the talk of the postPranab Mukherjee UPAreviving the economy,the comatose patient has onlybeen given a couple of electric pinpricks;there are a fewjerks and the limbs have again sunk into a stupor.It is important that we not get caught up innavel-gazing.To that end,Business Today brings you thehighest quality external perspective.Last fortnight wehad Glenn Levine of Moodys Analytics on what needsto be done,in a hurry,on reforms.This fortnight we havetwo excellent columns.Leif Eskesen of HSBC paints amoderately optimistic picture of where India could go ifit speeds up reforms(page 16),while Daniela Yu andYamini Arora of Gallup do a sobering summary of asurvey on the difficulties of Indian entrepreneurship(page 38).Let me underline a couple of numbers thatleapt out at me:nearly one in two Indians say thegovernment makes it hard to start a business.Nearlytwo-thirds of Indians“agree that corruption iswidespread in business”and this perception is evenhigher among business owners and those who plan tostart a business.Nowhere is this more cruelly evident than ininfrastructure,where it is now a tired clich to hear thegovernment say private-sector participation is crucial ifwe want to meet a$1 trillion minimum investment goalin the 12th FiveYear Plan.It is a world of rolled-upsleeves,hard hats,and harder realities.The governmentpretends to be a partner,but it is a demanding,petulantmistress.No man probably knows this better than AjitGulabchand,whose Hindustan Construction Companyboasts of building a quarter of Indias hydroelectricpower plants and half of the countrys nuclear plants,besides highways,tunnels and bridges.And,of course,the dream hill city of Lavasa,which has become aparable of zealot politician versus zealous business.Anand Adhikari wrote the analytical cover story on HCC(page 44),while Gulabchand sat down with me for anhour-long and frank conversation.Hes made mistakes,but he is optimistic and believes India is the best place tobe doing business.I think the best thing going for thiscountry is its India-rubber men and women.Every year BT runs a major cover story on innovation.Itis an exhilarating challenge.The very word“innovation”is contentious.Is it a shattering newdiscovery,or making things better imaginatively?Wedecided to find out what“quiet revolutions”are takingplace in our land.We focused on the most importantpieces in our developmental jigsaw?C education,water,energy,agriculture and health care.I am very proud ofthe package produced by the team of N.Madhavan,Anusha Subramanian,E.Kumar Sharma,K.R.Balasubramanyam and G.Seetharaman,and led byAlokesh Bhattacharyya,which starts on page 54.Youwill find these stories very inspiring;suddenly,all thebickering about reforms and policy paralysis fall awayand you are drawn into the fascinating world ofmicroeconomics.This is what makes India tick.Talking about innovation,do not miss the amazingstory about Haathi Chaap paper on page 126.The nexttime you write a love-note,spare a thought forentrepreneurs like Vijendra Shekhawat,who gives thewords“getting his hands dirty”a flavour nobusiness-school case study ever will.