Focusing on the current socio-political landscape in the wake of demonetisation and implementation of GST, the Bengal Chamber's initiative to stage an economic conclave aiming towards the interest of the common man got structured at the Williamson Magor Hall, Bengal Chamber premises on 14th December, 2018.

Mr. Deb A. Mukherjee Senior Vice President, BCC&I, Managing Director, Cenergist Energy Private Limited, delivered the welcome address asserting the need to address the common man in the economic panorama. He reasoned that the average living family wage of a worker in India has not significantly changed despite the progressive increment in the Indian economy.

Speaking about the agriculture sector Professor Nabinananda Sen, Dept. of Business Management, University of Calcutta, shared his concerns over declining productivity, and its consequence, migration. He said, ".yield-wise, that is, production per hectare-wise, we fall behind many other countries. We are doing so well globally in terms of total production, but in terms of productivity, we are falling back. Our performance has been gradually declining."

Dr. Partha R Dasgupta, Advisor Emeritus, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, spoke about Structural Transformation. With development taking place, people move from agriculture and to more remunerative non-agriculture professions. That is how the United States had evolved in the past and also during the industrial revolution. He added that it bothers him that so many people in India have to remain in agriculture and have remained so due to lack of opportunities. He also pointed out that the average income of an agriculture labourer is about one-third of the average income of a non-agriculture labourer.

The following session was about commodity derivatives exchange and its impact on Indian Economy in which Mr. Vibhor Tandon, AVP-Business Development, MCX India had deliberated how commodity is the fundamental component of every economy; in his explanation he showed how everyone in the economy is exposed to commodities in some way or the other. He added that major contributors to an economy, besides agriculture, would be industry; and both cannot run without commodities. He went forward to present a few studies that demonstrated the benefits that the economy has faced from the commodities futures markets. A 2012 Deloitte study shows how the contribution of commodity futures market turnover to India's GDP is close to 0.23% to the services sector GDP. Another study by IIM Calcutta, concluded that mentha oil futures facilitated the rise of India as a major exporter of processed mentha crystals. The positive effect was pronounced in the case of SME manufacturers. One more preferred standpoint he said was being able to link various market aspirants. The entire ecosystem involves stakeholders from small stakeholders such as farmers to as large as big corporates or industries.

As the conclave moved to the Service Sector - Technology, Inclusion and Consumer Connect session, moderated by Mr. Subrata Bagchi, President, TCG Digital Solutions Private Limited, Mr. C. S. Ghosh, Former President, BCC&I and MD & CEO, Bandhan Bank shared his experiences of customer building and then taking it forward digitally. Regarding banking among the rural people, he said that technology has made it possible for carrying out transactions in such sectors but it still needs a friendlier interface that would benefit the consumer's usability. He however grieved that infrastructure is still an issue in our country and that the connectivity is very poor.

Mr. Tarun Chugh, MD & CEO, Bajaj Life Insurance Co. Ltd. mentioned that technology has to establish a standardized platform relevant to all service providers in order to diminish confusion for the consumer. "Technology has to keep pace and not overwhelm the customer" he included. Mr. Chugh and Mr. Ghosh shared the same views on the importance of cyber security in the technology sector.

Dr. Suman Mukerjee, Director General, The Bhawanipur Education Society College and Member, Economic Affairs Committee, BCC&I in the conversation on infrastructure and manufacturing said that in the present regime there has been a phenomenal growth in the field of infrastructure but whether that has happened uniformly in every state has to be found out. He lamented about the delay in projects and ascribed it to be the principle issue that India faces today in infrastructure. Political issues and disparity between the states has also hindered growth.

Mr. Sumouleendra Ghosh, Director- Infrastructure Practice, KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. said that money is being spent on infrastructure and that we are now talking about finally spending significant amounts on river cleaning, creating waste water and water infrastructure but what is still lacking is translating those benefits to the final user. Creating an infrastructure should not be the end result. The benefits and the services have to be conveyed and economic outputs must be achieved.

Following Mr. Ghosh's and Mr. Mukherjee's deliberation the conclave moved to the final session of the day, Policy, Implementation and the Common Man, which was moderated by Mr. Tamal Bandyopadhyay, Chairperson Emeritus, Finance and Banking Committee, BCC&I and Consulting Editor, Business Standard Pvt. Ltd.

Prof. Ajitava Ray Chaudhuri, Economist & Professor, Jadavpur University and Member, Economic Affairs Committee, BCC&I commented that in agriculture, which has captured the majority of our population, mechanization is on the ascent. It's displacing labour. So, it's a huge task to create employment. Directed towards the common man's woe he asserted that the common man has to bribe to get anything done. Regarding increased petroleum pricing and the subsidy, he suggested that a differential pricing mechanism may be initiated with digital intervention so that only the needy gets the subsidy.

Mr. Bandyopadhyay threw light on the sorry state of the common man. With examples such as the false claims of electrifying all villages and subsidising gas prices he showed their plight and how they are exploited for political interests.

The Chamber's initiative finally ended with the conclusion of the session with lunch and networking at the Bengal Lounge.