Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation during Independence Day celebrations in Delhi, August 15, 2014.
Ahmad Masood / Courtesy Reuters

Early in the morning of August 15, India’s Independence Day, Narendra Modi, the country’s prime minister, delivered a forceful extemporaneous speech, calling for national unity in fighting poverty, improving sanitation, and protecting women from sexual violence. There was one area in which the speech fell short, though: economics. Contrary to Modi’s campaign promises, his address included barely any pro-market content.

It is, of course, too early to grade “Modinomics.” It would be unreasonable to expect the new prime minister to have already enacted profound reform. And members of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have, in less prominent venues,

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