Is it going to be a case of deja vu all over again with a new financial crisis about to hit Asia and many rapidly developing countries as rumors of the U.S. Federal Reserve tapering its $85 billion a month in asset purchases morph into actual facts?
Most economists would say "no," there is little reason to worry since on most of the important aspects developing countries, and Asian ones in particular, have built up better defenses, many of which were not available to them in the 1990s.
But they should heed the advice of Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who said that the world needs to build up "further lines of defense" against a possible crisis. India is clearly in the immediate firing line and vulnerable on several important points.