For Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 75th birthday recently, there were at least 40 posts by top industrialists and corporate honchos on the social media platform X, praising him. They tripped over each other to post glossy videos and gushing posts with phrases such as “visionary leader”, “investor-friendly”, “nation builder” in a seemingly coordinated fashion. Given such effusive praise for PM Modi from India Inc, one would have thought that businesses must have made huge investments and grown enormously during Modi’s tenure. After all, investing and expanding their business is the real sign of strength and confidence for a business owner. No.

Investment by the private sector fell to 11 per cent of GDP under Modi, from 14 per cent under Manmohan Singh ’s tenure (Gross Fixed Capital Forma

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