Indian finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram is an unashamed champion of the private sector and foreign direct investment (FDI) but he is up against strong resistance. The ruling coalition, an unwieldy alliance between the Congress Party and a constellation of communist and left-leaning parties, keeps his reformist designs firmly in check. Privatisation and labour reform have already been thwarted; limits on FDI are popular.
In many ways, Mr Chidambaram is acknowledged not so much for fresh reform momentum but more for holding on to past progress. But that understates the minister of finance’s ongoing efforts to liberalise investment laws, cut bureaucracy and improve the business environment.
