What a difference a couple of months can make. In September, India's growth rate had slowed to its lowest in a decade, inflation was high, and the rupee ranked as one of the worst-performing currencies in Asia.
Suddenly, the mood has turned more upbeat. The news media brim with confidence that India has "turned the corner." The stock market rose more than 9 percent last month, to an all-time high. A few weeks ago, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said he saw many signs of "green shoots" in India's economy.
Objectively, not much has changed. Growth remains slow, deficits remain unsustainable, and inflation is impervious to high interest rates that are further subduing growth.