India is in the midst of a closely-watched election. The incumbent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is seeking a second term and there are 900 million people eligible to vote, making this — potentially — the largest exercise in democracy anywhere in the world.
How Effective Is India’s Government, Compared with Those in Other Emerging Markets?
Voters and policymakers in India face a crush of information as they consider electoral choices and the priorities that lie beyond; there are numerous report cards on the Modi administration circulating on both mainstream and social media, including those prepared by the administration itself. Unfortunately, they also face a crush of misinformation and confusion on social media. Another critical missing element — especially for a country like India with big, global aspirations — is an objective evaluation of the government’s performance in policy areas such as citizen welfare, economic growth, and functioning public institutions. Our analysis of India and some of its peers in emerging markets finds that the Modi administration has made advances on several fronts, most notably in education, skill-building, and support for innovation and it has improved trust in government institutions relative to previous administrations and relative to its peer group. There are still crucial areas where India is lagging its peers: fewer freedoms, lingering low productivity – and most significantly, insufficient progress towards building a more inclusive society.