Narendra Modi: is he changing India for the better?

It is a year since Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was swept into power on the back of an energetic, presidential-style election campaign. Promising 'achhe din', or better times, Modi took the reins amid enormous expectations.

Do commentators believe that India's 15th prime minister has delivered?

The New York Times says that the prime minster is suffering from his own hype. It argues that "outsize expectations that he would sweep away constraints to growth in India" are his "most formidable" problem.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

It adds that from overseas "India is now seen as a bright spot, expected to pass China this year to become the world's fastest-growing large economy." But things are not so rosy at home where "job growth remains sluggish [and] businesses are in wait-and-see mode".

The Wall Street Journal takes an even more damning view. It declares that Modi's "euphoria phase" is over and that his record is "so far mostly hype", with the economy "merely limping along". A year after Indian voters gave Modi "a once-in-a-generation mandate for change and economic revival, messy realities are sinking in," it argues.

Several pundits credit Modi for his fight against corruption in business, a longstanding problem most believe has declined dramatically. However, the BBC says that his most eye-catching economic achievements have been down to simple luck. "Inflation has been tamed, and the fiscal deficit contained," it says. "For both, Mr Modi should thank cheap commodity - mainly oil - prices. Electricity generation has surged to a record high."

Modi has been active on the international stage and is praised for strengthening India's ties to several regions. But there have been gaffes. CNN recalls how, during Barack Obama's high-profile visit in January, Modi wore a dark pinstriped suit, with each pinstripe containing his full name "Narendra Damodardas Modi" in microprint. This bold sartorial statement backfired. It was revealed that the suit cost $16,000, some eight times as much as the average annual salary in India, prompting anger across the country.

Modi's energetic, communicative style is highlighted as a welcome contrast to his taciturn predecessor Manmohan Singh. However, The Economist believes the enthusiastic leader should learn to delegate. "Running a massive, federal country like India, with nearly 1.3 billion people and 36 states and territories, requires a different sort of leadership," it says.

Modi is often accused of being a control freak but, "however much he concentrates power in his own hands, he cannot oversee sufficient projects to transform India".

His frenzied style is noted too by analyst Milan Vaishnav of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He telld the BBC: "The present government has been almost hyperactive in its approach".

But all this talk of the PM's vigour doesn't wash with Bloomberg, which disagrees with the perception of Modi as a frisky modern man. His first 12 months, it says, "has made it starkly apparent that Modi's mind is too old for the composite mind of India".

A year into his reign, opinion polls suggest that Modi remains reasonably popular, with approval ratings upward of 60 per cent. Recently, 55 top Indian CEOs gave Narendra Modi government a score of seven out of 10, reports the Economic Times of India.

Meanwhile, the opposition is in disarray. The Congress party has yet to bounce back from last year's debacle at the polls, and remains out of touch with India's younger generation, who are the country's most formidable electoral force.

As he celebrates his anniversary, Modi has produced a 'report card' of his own on his personal website which puts an unsurprisingly positive spin on his achievements. Looking forward, he will hope that the hype which has surrounded him to date does not prove his downfall. As the BBC puts it: "He raised massive hopes of transforming India; the tyranny of high expectations can bite badly."