Neighbors and nightmares.

In March this year the USCIRF (US Commission on International Freedom) recommended, "Designate India as a 'country of particular concern'," for violating religious freedom. US-based Freedom House described India as 'partially free', V-Dem from Sweden calls it an 'electoral autocracy' and UK's Economist Intelligence Unit labels it a 'flawed democracy'. The Global Hunger Index of 2024 has placed India at 105." Statesman. Apparently, foreigners want to drag India back because it is racing ahead. "The sovereign ratings that the big three (S&P, Moody's , Fitch) credit ratings agencies (CRA) assign a country impact its access to and cost of borrowing in international markets." India and Greece are both ranked at BBB- using flawed methodology and bias, wrote J Sinha & DN Mukherjee. They compare the two countries based on the size of their GDP and the fact that India has never defaulted on its debt while Greece has. Greece's nominal GDP per capita was $23,400 in 2023 while that of India was just $2,480.8. World Bank. So, the Greeks are much better off individually. Greece is a member of the European Union and the Eurozone (wikipedia), so its citizens can move freely and have greater opportunities for education and employment. Finally, Greece has only one enemy and that is Turkey, but both are members of NATO (Atlantic Council), whereas India is surrounded by enemies (Pakistan, China, Bangladesh) and unstable nations, namely Myanmar where a civil war has been raging since 2021 (wikipedia) and Afghanistan. Perhaps, instead of being so touchy these 'experts' should talk to ordinary Indians. To compare India with Thailand a person "requested anonymity to avoid getting into trouble with officials", wrote Andy Mukherjee. That shows the lack of freedom. In India, "At every step of dealing with the petty bureaucracy, some money needs to change hands to speed up the process." "All told, 19% of a $2.3 million factory in India is an extra burden of governance - or lack of it - that doesn't exist in Thailand." Responding to "Mahima Jalan's post about bribe demands and bureaucratic red tape," Abhinav Upadhyay wrote, "Getting GST is a nightmare." BT. If paying goods and services tax (GST) to the government is so difficult how can anyone start any business? The government has published new tax laws and, while some sections are simpler, "It does nothing to ease Indians' basic concern: The taxman will send them a demand for an arbitrary sum when they least expect it." "This hostile mindset means that compliance costs are too high and disputes too frequent. The burden is so troublesome, in fact, that it renders the country's small businesses globally uncompetitive," wrote Mihir Sharma. Manoj Arora wrote that a two-meter damage of a footpath outside his house has not been repaired in four months. "While India struggles to fix a footpath, China is busy building entire cities, manufacturing powerhouses, and advancing in technologies like AI. rail and semiconductors," he wrote. Perhaps the Credit Rating Agencies take the problems of citizens and businesses into account when assigning their ratings but consider it undiplomatic to mention them. Our experts focus on a few figures but not on the whole picture. Maybe they do not dare. Just ask the people. Anonymously.