‘Tying reforms, incentives helped widen adoption’

PM cites States’ extra FY21 borrowings

India has moved from a model of ‘reforms by stealth and compulsion’ to a new model of ‘reforms by conviction and incentives’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, referring to States being granted additional borrowing limits last year under a reform-linked window. Raising enough resources for public welfare while ensuring sustainability is proving to be one of the biggest challenges for governments during the pandemic, the PM pointed out, but Indian States were able to borrow an extra ₹1.06 lakh crore in 2020-21 (FY21). “For a large nation with complex challenges as ours, this was a unique experience. We have often seen that for various reasons, schemes and reforms remain unoperational, often for years,” he said in a post on the job search and social networking portal LinkedIn.