Will private firms step up to maintain India’s investment splurge?

By Simon Cox, China economics editor, The Economist

Narendra Modi, India’s 15th prime minister, is no great fan of the first person to do the job. Jawaharlal Nehru, who led India from its independence in 1947 until his death in 1964, was an urbane socialist who once wrote that the spectacle of organised religion filled him with horror. To him, “the temples of modern India” were dams and other marvels of infrastructure. All of this is antithetical to Mr Modi, a Hindu nationalist who revels in religious showmanship. But in their approach to the Indian economy, the two prime ministers share a striking similarity: a heavy reliance on public investment.