Best of BS Opinion: A fuse already lit across India's every front

Business Standard

27-05-2025

We've all seen it: the candle you lit in the dark during a power cut, the firecracker fuse you dared not go near again, the tangled mess of cords behind the TV that heats up but never sparks. You sense it, the heat building just before the flare. That moment before everything shifts. A series of slow burns, and quiet tensions coiling quietly until they're no longer silent. The sparks are already there. In money, in monsoons, in mindsets, all waiting to blow. Let's dive in.
Start with America, where the House has passed a remittance tax that hits Indian H1B and F1 visa holders hardest, notes our first editorial. A 3.5 per cent fee slapped on their family support, not offsettable against US taxes. For thousands of Indian students, workers and families, it's not just about money. It's about being told, again, you're welcome to work but not to belong. The fuse is lit, in the hearts of students juggling fees and families, in global goodwill that once seemed mutual.
Meanwhile, in India's mandis, another spark is flickering hotter, temperature spikes are distorting vegetable prices more than any monsoon ever could. The Reserve Bank of India finds a 1 degree Celsius rise now triggers a 1.3 per cent jump in vegetable inflation. Short harvest cycles and lack of cold storage only amplify the volatility, highlights our second editorial. Even with a good rain forecast, farmers remain vulnerable to the heat's unseen fuse, set to burst without notice.
And then there's growth, or the longing for it. Nitin Desai points out that India's entrepreneurs often shy away from risk, opting for low-tech retail finance over building the next Samsung. Without a nudge toward bold innovation and global ambition, India risks becoming the world's back office forever. Smart minds kept safe but never sparked.
Rama Bijapurkar adds to the slow combustion: household consumption is both booming and breaking. Stock market dreams push one narrative; FMCG realities say another. The optimism, especially in rural India, may be real, but it's also reined in. When wages rise, or jobs feel secure, expect a surge. But right now, we're all waiting with a match in hand, unsure if it will light.
Even history feels like a flame rediscovered. A K Bhattacharya revisits John Matthai, India's forgotten second finance minister, whose brilliance and contradictions shine in a new biography Honest John – A Life of John Matthai by Bakhtiar K Dadabhoy. A man who quit over the Planning Commission, spoke extempore in Parliament, and whose personal story, including his son's tragic scandal, reveals both integrity and its limits.
Stay tuned!