“Across the board, it’s going to be a very ambitious economic agenda,” he said.

Manufacturing vs services job

Much has been made of India’s push to boost manufacturing, create jobs and lure global brands looking to set up alternative supply chains in the face of trade tensions between the United States and China.

India’s “Make in India” drive, however, has done little to create jobs for the large segment of the population that is still employed in agriculture.

One reason for this is that the government’s focus has largely been on promoting higher value-added yet less labour-intensive sectors such as electronics, Alexandra Hermann, Oxford Economics lead economist, told Al Jazeera, adding that this would probably not change.

Another oft-touted reason is the lack of “big bang” reforms to land and labour rules, experts say, which are needed to bring in the type of major investment needed to really expand manufacturing.

While the Modi government has failed to make serious headway in this area – despite large majorities in parliament – experts say its coalition partners may now help it pave the way for some of those measures as jobs will benefit all voters.

Coalition partners could also help the Modi government make some progress in its so far failed efforts for land and labour reform, which have been highlighted as a necessary step to attract more investment in manufacturing.

“There will have to be some coordination with state governments… and coalition partners are regional parties that will have a lot of sway in some parts of the country and that is where a coalition government will be very helpful for Modi and the BJP,” Kugelman said.

For now, rather than relying on manufacturing, India’s growth story has largely been driven by services, which experts say will only be able to continue over the longer term and create sustainable and inclusive growth if human capital levels increase.

“Raising human capital levels on a broad basis will be crucial to create inclusive and sustainable growth over the medium-to-long-term,” Hermann said.

“Although India is home to some top technology and management universities nurturing global business leaders, it is the quality of primary and secondary education that still leave the Indian population, on average, relatively low-skilled. [But in its manifesto] the BJP fell short of committing to the higher spending goal,” Kugelman said.

Kugelman agreed. 

“Some of the fastest growing sectors are in services but the labour force is not equipped for those jobs and there’s a complete mismatch,” he said.

‘Conditions for private investment’

Ultimately, though, GDP growth and job creation are driven primarily by private investment, said Ajay Shah, an economist in Mumbai.

Private investment has not fared well in India since 2009 or 2011, depending on which measure you use, so “the organising principle for economic policy should be to create conditions for private investment”, Shah told Al Jazeera.

Part of the reason for the lack of success in this area has been excessive central planning in economic policy, Shah said.

“This,” he said, “creates policy risk. Arms of the government behave in unpredictable and personalised ways. This creates risk for private persons.”

Shah expressed hope that the incoming coalition will be better positioned to address such problems.