joint letter to the then prime minister in 2009, together with abhijit banerjee, advocating, among other steps, accelerated efforts to bring out a unique id in india. perhaps, therefore, we all had a small role in the prime minister setting up the unique id authority, headed by nandan nilekani. as an aside, given how far nandan ’ s uidai has taken us towards a universal unique identity for india, it would be sad if its use were severely restricted. other countries like the united states have used unique ids, such as social security numbers, without serious allegations of violations of privacy. learning from worldwide experience, we need to see how we can satisfy the concerns of the supreme court without undermining the value of the unique id. the unique id can enable a variety of economically valuable activities that particularly benefit the bottom of the pyramid. for instance, not only can uids expand the access of the poor and young to credit as they borrow against the collateral of their future good name, it will also allow the regulator to detect and curb over - lending to individuals by asking lenders to report the ids of borrowers to credit bureaus. today, unscrupulous lenders can avoid current regulations against over - lending by simply misreporting the borrower ’ s name or address. similarly, the government has used uids to weed out duplicate beneficiaries for various welfare schemes, allowing better targeting of scarce funds to the very poor. i think c. k. would want us to find a way to move forward with uids. i do believe, as c. k. did, that india can be far more successful and influential than it is today. what do we need to do to succeed? how can we compete effectively against the best? do we need to identify our core bis central bankers ’ speeches competencies as a nation? rather than attempt to speak from the perspective of business, let me speak from the vantage point of a central banker. let me also quickly offer my standard disclaimer : for any hints on what we will do in the upcoming policy statement, please read the guidance in our last policy statement. i quote : “ significant uncertainty will be resolved in the coming months, including the likely persistence of recent inflationary pressures, the full monsoon outturn, as well as possible federal reserve actions. as the reserve bank awaits greater transmission of its front - loaded past actions, it will monitor developments for emerging

education, but without specific encouragement by the government. let me conclude. ck prahalad believed indian business was capable of scaling world heights and so do i. but there are no easy paths to the top. jugaad or “ working around ” difficulties by hook or by crook is a thoroughly indian way of coping but it is predicated on a difficult or impossible business environment. and it encourages an attitude of short cuts and evasions, none of which help final product quality or sustainable economic growth. while we should respect the entrepreneurial abilities of our business people in difficult environments, it is better for us to change the environment for the better. that is indeed what we are trying to do. all this requires patience. the current difficulties of emerging markets stem from a complicated set of reasons, but an important one is impatience to regain growth by overemphasizing old and ineffective methods of stimulus. brazil may have overspent, china may have overinvested. the world is a difficult place. let us recognize we are doing quite well in comparison – indeed, many industries in difficulty have a problem because exports are low or imports are very competitive, and not because domestic demand is inordinately weak. we cannot compensate entirely for what is happening across our borders, else we will risk acquiring the problems our fellow emerging markets have. we have to have the discipline to stick to our strategy of building the necessary institutions and creating a new path of sustainable growth where jugaad is no longer needed. for this, we need the bis central bankers ’ speeches understanding and cooperation of business, not impatience and pressure for quick impossible fixes. only then can we realize our true potential as a nation. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches