INDIA'S Parliament is poised to tackle thorny, though pivotal economic reforms when it reopens next week including bills to trim the tax burden on firms and fast track industrial projects.
But political wrangling could strangle hopes for swift progress.
Amongst the proposed bills are those to streamline multiple taxes now hobbling businesses nationwide, through a goods and services tax (GST) and to bolster payouts to poor villagers from industrial projects developed on rural land.
Analysts say that it's a crunch moment for India to improve its business climate and realise its vast potential. Hopes, though, for an immediate breakthrough are low.
"It doesn't appear that there is any likelihood of the Parliament being quiet and of any intelligent discussions taking place," said DH Pai Panandikar, head of New Delhi based think tank, RPG Foundation.
The Indian economy, which roared to 8.5 per cent growth in 2010/11, is showing signs of a slowdown and analysts say that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Government needs to usher in a second generation of reforms to build on growth unleashed by liberalisation of the economy two decades ago.
Despite obvious economic benefits, there remains a lack of political consensus within and outside the ruling coalition, with populist parties worried that the reforms may alienate its core voter base amongst farmers and the rural poor.
Protests and land squabbles have held up major projects from a steel mill by South Korea's POSCO to plans for tens of thousands of apartments outside New Delhi.
The land bill, along with other proposals to share mining royalties with local communities and to expand a scheme to give cheap foodgrains to the poor, is pivotal to Congress' chances of cementing its rural voter base ahead of national polls in 2014.
Despite the food bill posing a huge fiscal drain, possibly doubling food subsidies to more than £13.51 billion and the mining bill on profit sharing likely to deter investors, they're being championed by powerful Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul, seen as a prime minister in waiting.
There are signs that the Singh government may be shaking off its policy paralysis including a recent fuel price increase and moves to allow greater foreign investment in supermarkets in India's potentially lucrative retail sector.
Investors, however, want far bolder steps. "There will come a point when they will have to address those issues. Eventually there will be constraints on growth and they're probably holding back growth as of now," said Andrew Kenningham, an India Economist at London's Capital Economics.
India is also watching the fate of a tough anti-graft bill which was promised to placate popular social activist, Anna Hazare.
His April hunger strike succeeded in stirring public support for an independent ombudsman to crack down harder on entrenched public corruption after a string of scandals including a multi-billion dollar telecoms scam.
