MUMBAI: If anyone had the belief that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the Indian avatar of Ronald Reagan, the former president of the United States credited with unleashing the capitalist energy that led to two decades of prosperity in the West, perish the thought. Modi is not. That is the verdict of the Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan.In the minds of the people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image was that of “Ronald Reagan on a white horse” coming to slay antimarket forces and such comparison was "probably not appropriate," Rajan reportedly told an audience in New York.At the end of one year of the Modi government many businesses are grumbling that nothing much has changed on the ground when it comes to doing business though the government claims that the ease of doing business has improved. Investors, who poured in billions of dollars since he came to power in May, are pulling out funds either due to lack of forward movement in reforms, or other markets getting more attractive than India."This government came in with tremendous expectations and I think the kind of expectations were probably unrealistic for any government," the Press Trust of India reported Rajan as saying. The government has "taken steps to create the environment for investment, which I think is important. My sense is that things are happening."Expectations from the Modi government, which came to power on the slogan of ‘minimum government and maximum governance,’ soared after policy paralysis of the previous United Progressive Alliance government headed by Manmohan Singh sank economic growth to a decade low.Rajan said investors’ unhappiness over the taxation issues could have been avoided, but once raised, they have to go through a legal process which is on. He added that India could have done a "better job" in handling tax issues, but "going forward the government says no more of this kind of stuff"."Once the tax authority levies a demand on you, there is a quasi-judicial nature of that proceeding and, therefore, it has to go through the courts before it is resolved. The government cannot intervene," said Rajan. "Legacy issues are winding their way through the courts, including issues based on laws that existed before they were changed."Rajan said that the government is sensitive to the concerns of investors and is looking into addressing economic issues. There are several areas where the government has taken more "serious and significant" advances to improve investor confidence and propel growth. On the issue of subsidies, he said petrol and diesel subsidies have gone."Going forward these subsidies will be transferred directly into bank accounts," he said, adding that already the cooking gas subsidy is being transferred directly to bank accounts.Rajan said there is a "broad consensus" for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and while he had hoped for the GST Bill to have passed in the just concluded session of Parliament, he feels there is "enough momentum" that "it will be done well in time and be rolled out by March 31 or April next year." "In fact (the government) is going ahead with the apparatus to ensure that it is actually done," Rajan said.Another key legislation that the government is focussing on is the Land Acquisition Bill, which is important from the perspective of certain public works, Rajan said.He said that since different states have their own land acquisition bills, some commentators have suggested the possibility that the states should decide for themselves as to how to implement their respective land acquisition provisions. There are tremendous plans for investment, particularly in the Mumbai-Delhi industrial corridor and freight corridors, the RBI governor said."My sense is that things are happening," he said.Rajan also called the government’s spending cuts "significant," and said, "there has been some amount of fiscal consolidation over and above what the government is owning up to."He said inflation "has come down tremendously in India" and rupee has basically stayed relatively flat since the beginning of the year.""...If you look at rupee’s volatility relative to other currencies, you’d have to argue that the rupee has been one of the most stable currencies (against) the dollar," Rajan said. "It’s been much stronger than other currencies," he said.Modi’s campaign led to expectations that he would go on a privatisation spree which could boost the revenue for the government as well as raise the availability of stocks for investments. Instead, Modi has chosen to retain the ownership, but has chosen only to sell in parts to raise funds.