SHEKHAR IYER
Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed 12 uninterrupted years in office on June 11, 2026. He surpassed the record of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Even his die-hard critics concede that this is no mean achievement —if you consider the vagaries of India's electoral politics.
It is no wonder that Modi is envied by his opponents, who abhor him because he still enjoys widespread public support.
Of course, they oppose any comparison of Modi with Nehru. They argue that Nehru belonged to a different era, when India, as a nascent nation, was paralysed by the pain of Partition. He was more of a visionary and statesman than a mere politician, even if some problems of modern India are traced to the Nehruvian model.
Every leader serves the needs of the time. Yet, no one can deny that Modi has been a visionary in his own right, as well as someone who ushered in tectonic changes in politics, governance, and development, and scaled up delivery to the people to an extent no PM has before.
Modi took the oath on May 26, 2014, for the first time after a historic mandate. By the sheer drive of his promise to change India, the BJP became the first political party to attain a full majority in Parliament in 30 years.
Since then, Modi has led three NDA governments, winning the 2019 elections with an equally impressive mandate. But he had to form a coalition in 2024 when the polls saw a dip in the BJP's numbers in Parliament.
Still, Modi has shown that numbers are no hurdle to bringing about transformation, be it sweeping economic reforms, constitutional changes, major welfare schemes, technological transformation, bolstered national security, or faster infrastructure growth, while pursuing an India-first policy.
Under his leadership thus far, Modi expanded the BJP’s rule from 7 to 22 governments, covering 78 per cent of India's population.
His reform-perform-transform formula boosted India’s economic ambitions and global standing. It won the hearts of Indians by his guiding mantra of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Preyas” (together with all, development for all, trust of all and efforts of all). As a result, India’s nominal GDP rose from Rs 125.41 lakh crore to Rs 345 lakh crore, positioning itself as the world’s fifth-largest economy by nominal terms, at approximately $4.15 trillion. The per capita income rose from Rs 86,647 to Rs 2,19,575.
In ways that gave pain, Modi dared to implement a drastic demonetisation drive to curb black money, counterfeit currency, and the financing of terrorism. A feather in his cap was that he introduced a digital payment system and the one-nation-one tax, GST, which his predecessors had hesitated to implement, fearing a major disruption.
On the political front, Modi abrogated Article 370, which divided Kashmir from the rest of India. The state was simultaneously reorganised into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Modi ensured the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya following a Supreme Court verdict that healed a festering issue that had persisted for two centuries.
A visible change in the daily lives of Indians was the introduction of a digital payment system. It was called the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Yojana, which saw India's mobile network transform into an efficient mechanism for welfare delivery and financial transactions. This transformation saw the launch of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in April 2016.
By 2025, India accounted for roughly half of global UPI transaction volume. In May 2026 alone, the platform processed transactions worth ₹29.9 lakh crore. World leaders saw this as a success story to be replicated in their countries.
Modi also stabilised India's banking system, which was burdened by heavy debt and bad loans. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), enacted in 2016, sought to break that cycle. It changed the balance of power between borrowers and lenders. For the first time, several defaulting promoters lost control of their companies if debts remained unpaid. By March 2026, creditors could recover more than ₹4 lakh crore through resolution plans. Thousands of cases were settled even before admission as promoters sought to avoid insolvency proceedings altogether. In all, more than ₹14 lakh crore in disputes were resolved or avoided through pre-admission settlements. The banking system also underwent a transformation. Gross non-performing assets, which had climbed to nearly 11.8 per cent in 2017, fell to around 2.1 per cent by September 2025.
Though some infamous defaulters remain outside the country as fugitives, it is clear to them that the Modi government will doggedly pursue them to the last pie.
In his vision to transform the lives of the poor, Modi ensured the government used direct benefit transfers (DBT), foodgrain distribution and farmer welfare schemes. The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to cushion vulnerable households from economic disruption. The scheme became the world's largest food security programme. From January 2023, the Centre began providing foodgrains free of cost to all eligible beneficiaries under the NFSA. In 2024, the programme was extended for another five years, with the government committing an estimated ₹11.8 lakh crore towards its implementation. Nearly 80 crore people now receive subsidised or free foodgrains through the country's public distribution network.
Perhaps nowhere is Modi's imprint more visible than in India’s burgeoning physical infrastructure. National highways expanded from 98,000 km to 1.46 lakh km under the Bharatmala scheme. The Gati Shakti National Master Plan brought multimodal connectivity planning under one integrated framework. Railways underwent comprehensive modernisation, including electrification, the launch of Vande Bharat trains, the development of high-speed corridors, station redevelopment, and Dedicated Freight Corridors, thereby improving logistics efficiency nationwide. The number of operational airports more than doubled from 74 to over 160, with the UDAN scheme democratising air travel to smaller towns.
Solar energy capacity leapt from a negligible 2.6 GW to over 110 GW, underscored by the International Solar Alliance, co-founded with France.
There were setbacks, too. Modi had to roll back the farm bills that championed raising farmers' incomes by expanding their selling options and encouraging private investment. However, he decided to do what he could and improved programmes such as PM-KISAN, PM Fasal Bima Yojana, PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, and the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, which would give market access and ease the strain on farmers. He also envisioned India's rise as an exporter of value-based crops and other produce, supported by modern agro-infrastructure, through schemes to establish a chain of cold storages and to promote fisheries, dairy, and animal husbandry. "Green trains" have taken farmers' produce from the farm to market even as e-marketing has become a new tool of empowerment.
To boost domestic manufacturing, Modi's government launched the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in April 2020 across 14 sectors, including electronics, pharmaceuticals, telecom equipment, automobiles, batteries, solar modules, textiles, and drones. It sought to reward incremental production and investment. By December 2025, PLI schemes had attracted investments exceeding ₹2.16 lakh crore. PLI formed part of a broader manufacturing push that also included Make in India, industrial corridors, and logistics reforms.
As economic growth slowed in 2019, Modi unveiled one of the most significant tax reductions in India's corporate history.
Domestic companies were allowed to opt for a concessional tax rate of 22 per cent, provided they did not avail themselves of exemptions or incentives. The effective tax rate for such firms stood at 25.17 per cent, including surcharge and cess. New domestic manufacturing companies incorporated on or after October 1, 2019, were offered a 15 per cent tax rate, resulting in an effective rate of 17.01 per cent.
In 2025, the income-tax changes focused on households. In the Union Budget of February 1, 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a major revision of the new tax regime. Under the revised framework, individuals earning up to ₹12 lakh annually under the new tax regime were exempted from income tax, while salaried taxpayers benefited from a higher effective threshold after standard deductions. The changes formed part of a broader effort to simplify the tax structure and increase disposable income.
That year also witnessed Operation Sindoor, which marked a defining moment in India's national security. Modi ordered India's most expansive cross-border military action in decades after the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 Hindu civilians. India struck deep inside Pakistani territory, including military installations and air bases such as Chaklala, Rafiqui, Nur Khan and Rahim Yar Khan, signalling that geographical distance would no longer guarantee immunity. It was billed as a watershed moment in India's security doctrine — one that signalled a willingness to strike beyond traditional boundaries, to leverage integrated military capabilities, and to respond to terrorism with speed, precision and strategic restraint.
Under Modi, foreign exchange reserves also climbed to approximately $670 billion. FDI inflows surged following liberalisation in defence, railways, and insurance. The Make-in-India initiative kick-started manufacturing in electronics, solar energy, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals. Startup India saw the entrepreneurial ecosystem go from a few hundred ventures to over 3.3 lakh recognised startups. Defence exports, once at Rs 1,900 crore, reached Rs 23,000 crore and were seen as proof of India’s growing strategic manufacturing capability.
Challenges ahead
On the economic side, Modi's biggest challenge as he heads into his 13th year in office is that the world’s fastest-growing major economy is no longer as attractive to global investors. While India “remains strong by global standards,” the economy is facing headwinds from weaker consumption, fragile investment sentiment, higher energy costs and more selective global capital. Foreign portfolio investors have sold Indian equities worth $29.5 billion so far this year, after selling $18.9 billion in the previous year. On the foreign direct investment front, India has attracted gross capital of over $90 billion on a 12-month trailing basis ending January 2026, up 13% year on year. But this was eclipsed by higher repatriation of capital by foreign firms and a rise in overseas investment by Indian companies, taking net FDI to a “near all-time low.”
The manufacturing sector still remains a laggard.
The advent of US President Donald Trump as a global disruptor torpedoed many of Modi's growth plans.
The US-Iran war significantly weakened the Indian rupee against the dollar, even as global oil prices rose. This created a very critical situation for India, which imports more 85% of its crude requirements. As the shocks from the Middle East crisis are being passed on to consumers, inflation is set to rise, and growth is expected to slow, further narrowing India’s appeal among global investors.
On June 12, the Reserve Bank raised its inflation forecast to 5.1% for the financial year ending March 2027 and warned that the economy is likely to grow at a slower rate of 6.6%, down from an earlier forecast of 6.9%. Of course, Modi issued a slew of measures to curb capital outflows, including exempting foreign investors from capital gains tax on Indian bonds.
These reforms are timely. But India needs to move forward with major reforms to attract global investors, experts have said.
Well-known economist Surjit Bhalla, a former member of the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council, even said Modi should use his political capital to convert the economic stress -- caused by the Middle East crisis-- into momentum for reforms.
Modi's real problems are, no doubt, rising youth unemployment and the fallout from systemic faultlines in India's education system, as exemplified by exam mismanagement (such as the NEET-UG controversies). The harsh truth is that, despite being a fast-growing large economy, India's low per capita income and stagnant real wages are seen as significant hurdles. Modi will have to address deep-seated inequalities and implement additional handholding schemes to help the poor. Merely relying on headline GDP growth will not work. Analysts emphasise that the administration must address underlying structural issues, such as youth unemployment and meet the need for greater job creation.
Critics argue that, in his eagerness to usher in changes like a women's quota, Modi may be tempted to bypass parliamentary norms. There is a danger in unilateral decision-making and purely personality-driven campaigns in an era of coalition government. The opposition, no matter how fractured, can bounce back to demand a more consultative approach. In 2024, the BJP lost its single-party parliamentary majority, making governance heavily dependent on coalition allies.
Some analysts believe that this delicate balance requires the government to focus on consensus-building rather than pushing through unilateral reforms.
When Modi faces the electorate in the next round of Lok Sabha polls, past tactics centred on historical comparisons or unfulfilled job guarantees will not work. Modi will be required to address shifting voter demands and pressing economic pressures. There is geopolitical uncertainty. Modi must navigate an unpredictable international stage. His administration faces tough negotiations over border security, shifting defence priorities, and managing relations with global powers amid rising protectionist trends. Modi is impatient for India to grow and reach to its full potential. So are our people. (end)
(The content of this article reflects the views of writer and contributor, not necessarily those of the publisher and editor. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only)
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