A Question of Answers

It is customary for publications to look ahead at what will happen in the coming year. At Forbes India, we too have gazed into our crystal-balls to make some predictions about the future. But we have tried to do it in our own style: We look forward by looking at the questions that have been left dangling in the year that’s just bidding us goodbye. The next year often tends to be about answering the questions that need asking and which are likely to find resolution as the months unfold.

In India, 2013 has been a year of endless uncertainty and almost no answers. All through the year, we have seen the economy tumble and we don’t know if it is turning around. We have been grappling with a political class that seems permanently in election mode, and shows little inclination to govern efficiently. We don’t know if even an election will solve the pending issues of reform and fiscal rectitude. We have seen inflation soar once again after briefly coming into the Reserve Bank’s “comfort zone”, but we don’t know if the RBI governor’s medicine is working. We will know, hopefully, in 2014.

Beyond the economy, society is asking even harder questions. Will gays get their rights? The Supreme Court took a negative view on it recently, but the last word on this may well be uttered in 2014—either by the courts or the legislature. In sport, India has had a decent cricketing year in the home series, but we don’t know if we can find a true replacement for Sachin Tendulkar who walked into the sunset. Also ahead is one of the most watched sporting events in the world: The football World Cup, where Spain currently rules the roost. Will Spain beat the jinx and lift the Cup in 2014 too?

But by far the biggest question for India lies in its politics: Answers to many of the burning questions on the economy, the markets, jobs and incomes depend on who wins in 2014. Even as 2013 was drawing to a close, one man was beginning to dominate the discussions on India’s future leadership—Narendra Modi—but in December another gentleman called Arvind Kejriwal was also making his own waves. Will he queer the pitch for a stable government in 2014?

In this year-end read, Forbes India brings you all the questions you were seeking answers for—and offers you a platter of alternative outcomes from many experts. Read them, and you could make your own forecasts.


Best,
R Jagannathan
Editor-in-Chief, Forbes India
Email: r.jagannathan@network18online.com
Twitter id: @TheJaggi