Bye bye capitalism, Welcome Policapitalism….

As a young child, the Economics teacher told me about three forms of economy, with Capitalism and Communism being the main two poles and the third one a mix of the two. For communist economy, the pet examples were USSR, China and Cuba. The passing time saw the disintegration of USSR, Cuba being not an economy to look at, and Chinese dragon following “GOD KNOWS WHAT” economy. This was the time when advocates of capitalism were most shrill in their voices, and tried to propogate it at the top of their voices. Even a country like India with mixed economy was not spared and shown innumerable ways to move towards capitalism.

Today, I wonder if any Indian knowledgeable citizen would not like to thank Indira Gandhi. Had it been not for nationaliztion of banks, the results are difficult to even imagine. Moreover, lets remember, we Indians are never used to Hire and fire policy of employers. What happened to an Executive in Noida and to Naresh Goyal recently is known to all.

As they say the character of a man is tested in difficult times. So came 2008 with the worst Economic crisis in recent times ever( I am yet to understand meaing of word SUBPRIME CRISIS, help solicited). Stocks and heads( i mean of corporate czars) rolled like dice in a Las Vegas casino. Every day brought the news of some more tumbling. Soon, the economic crisis became the humanitarian crisis with unemployment levels at an all time high. With more and more filings for bankruptcy, the choice was limited. Perhaps the cascading effect forced the White House to react. And react in an unprecedented manner. Guess, there would be limited number of I-Banks in private hands now. Proponents of Capitalism, what is your take?

Back to India, as a naive student of Economics I never believed that our politicians will let capitalism bloom in its full manner. It one of its kind of economy, where in the ruling party, by virtue of its post, gets a stake( even if it is undertable), and each changing election has new stake holders. What started between the Ambani brothers is nothing but a small example. I remember reading Vijay Mallaya’s interview saying ” I am not exactly an orphan”. (details available at http://www.businessworld.in/index.php/I-am-not-exactly-an-orphan.html). It leaves little to imagination. We may cry hoarse,but the undertable regulation is a phenomenon very much prevalent. The war between Ambani brothers allows us a better peak, as the political hawks are forced to show their preferences, exposing themselves. Not that it did not exist earlier, but with Hawala transactions under tighter scanner and global terrorism financing leading to stricter regulations, guess poliCapitalism is the new favor of the country. Though there are still business houses who are safe from this contagious disease( trust me, it is deadlier than Swine flu), but for how long is a more important question…