View on the year gone by and expectations from 2018 by Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, YES BANK

"2017: A year of Execution and Recognition

ü 2017 has been a year of ‘Execution’ and ‘Recognition’ for India. Through the year, the Government successfully implemented two landmark reforms of Goods and Services Tax and Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code and outlined the contours of the third – Recap bonds for PSBs. Concurrently, in a validation of past reforms, India received two global endorsements - 1) 30 notch up-move to a rank of 100 in World Bank’s Doing Business Rankings and 2) Moody’s upgrade of India’s long term sovereign rating to Baa2 from Baa3, after a hiatus of 14 years.

2018: B.R.A.IN impetus

ü Heading into 2018, the focus now must shift to consolidating past year’s achievements, while building ‘last mile execution efficiency’.

ü It is critical that reforms begun see palpable outcomes of a simpler tax regime, reduced costs and improved credit flows, such that the second engine of economic growth – private investments revs up.

ü Further, to ensure that benefits of growth trickle down, a fresh impetus to B.R.A.IN (Banking, Rural, Agriculture, INfrastructure) is warranted. This reinvigoration to B.R.A.IN, will ensure that India moves closer to the ultimate goal of ‘Income and livelihood security’, given the significant multipliers of these sectors.

ü A 9%+ growth will become truly envious if India can make it ‘Sustainable and Inclusive’. To this, the upcoming Budget can set the tone by outlining specific support measures to enhance labour productivity, especially for labor intensive sectors, that will spur a jobs-led growth uptick in 2018."