Amidst the backdrop of India's socio-economic landscape where investment-led slowdown, financial stress and sluggish job creation is observed, The Economic Affairs Committee of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry organized the second edition of 'India Economic Conclave 2020' at the Park on 15th January, 2020. The objective was to highlight the current economic realities of India and reforms needed in various segments like manufacturing, agriculture and services of the economy.

The revered speakers werere Dr. Ashok Lahiri, Member, Fifteenth Finance Commission, India, Dr. Alok Roy, Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals and Former President, The Bengal Chamber, Mr Sumit Bose, Former Finance & Revenue Secretary, Government of India, Prof. Rupa Chanda, RBI Chair Professor, IIM Bangalore, Dr Deepankar Sinha, Professor, Trade Logistics & Trade Operations, IIFT, Kolkata, Mr S Sivakumar, Head-Agriculture & IT Division, ITC Ltd., Prof. Ajitava Ray Chaudhuri, Economist & Professor, Jadavpur University and Member, Economic Affairs Committee, BCC&I.

The welcome address was delivered by Mr. B B Chatterjee (President, BCC&I) whereby he threw light on the macroeconomic level of India and stated that there has been a predicted economic slowdown. The Indian economy rose at a rate of 4.5% in the second quarter of the fiscal year but has been cyclical in nature. Keeping this in mind, the need to assess, evaluate and advocate policies to manage the slowdown in economic demand, on boosting productivity and growth and supporting employment creation, rises.

In the keynote address, Dr. Ashok Lahiri (Member, Fifteenth Finance Commission, India) stated, "Policies fall short of what it promises in terms of outcome. The root of the problem could be in faulty design of policies, or policies promising too much, or in ineffective implementation". He further said that the GST proved to be disruptive and messy in the short run and there were inefficiencies in regards to fixation of rules and rates of GST at central, state and integrated level but in the medium and long term, it would be an impactful reform. Examples of policies like Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, Right to Education Act, Electricity Act, etc., were cited where there has been lack of proper implementation and the major concern such as revenue deficit, lack of basic education, absence of regulatory bodies for electricity transmission still persists.

The session was moderated by Mr. Sumit Bose (Former Finance and Revenue Secretary, Government of India) while Dr. Alok Roy (Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals and Former President, BCC&I) gave a special address on Importance of Health Infrastructure in The Economic Growth of The Country. He said that in order to increase the contribution of health sector in the economy, the Government needs to build at least 200 hospitals per year and major decisions are to be taken in regards to investment in the health infrastructure, and more doctors need to be employed to meet the necessity. The following session was on Service Sector: Technology, Inclusion and Costumer Connect. Moderator Mr. Kalyan Kar (Co-Founder & Managing Director, Inqube Innoventures Pvt. Ltd. and Mentor, WEBEL-BCC&I Tech Incubation Center) commented that according to the WTO Report 2019, there are 4 expected trends in the service sector which are digitization, demographic changes, rise in income and climate changes and these would impact the sector in a large way.

Prof. Rupa Chanda (RBI Chair Professor, IIM Bangalore) stated that there has been a significant shift in the nature of service sector- from traditional to the IT, financial, business and professional services. India.s service sector has primarily concentrated over two areas- IT services, and business and professional services (consulting, management and engineering), which indicated that India does not have a diversified service economy. Immense focus has been given on the drivers of service sector which are emerging like demography, Servitization (embedded value of services and manufacturing), digital and disruptive technologies, FDI liberalization, etc. which are interlinked and interdependent.

Mr. Amitabha Ghoshal (President, Consulting Engineers Association of India) moderated the next session on Infra and Manufacturing: Keeping Pace With Future Demand where he mentioned that India has been trying to correct the inherited colonial system of infrastructure and change it according to the needs of the people. There have been issues in case of policy legislation and implementation but digitalization has had an impact in the evolving trend. The primary question remains as to how fast will the changes be implemented?

Dr. Deepankar Sinha (Professor, Trade Logistics & Trade Operations, IIFT, Kolkata) stressed that there was a need for distinct framework on the planning premise. At the macrolevel, infrastructure has been digitized like the Vahan database, Sarthy database, GSTian, Port Community system, Ice Gate system, etc. but those were not yet integrated. The ecosystem should be kept in mind before building an infrastructure so that it does not impact the Right to Livelihood of the population nearby the construction. The other pertinent factor was the capacity of the infrastructure system.

Ayudh Bhusan Dr. Rajib Chakraborty (IOFS (Retd), Former Senior General Manager, Gun and Shell Factory, Cossipore, OFB, Ministry of Defence, GoI and Member, Strategic Initiative Committee, BCC&I) stated that the tertiary service sector had a major share in India.s GDP in comparison to agriculture and industry. He lamented on the issue of social prestige where blue-collar jobs are not treated at par with white-collar jobs. He further commented that not all manufacturing components were available within India even when the major products were imported from abroad. He concluded by stating that the anticipated $5 trillion economy required 8% growth in GDP every year and this has to be a Public-Private Partnership whereby the private sector can takeover manufacturing in the niche areas.

The theme of Agriculture Sector - 'Today and Beyond' was moderated by Mr. Satyabrata Mukherjee (Chairperson, Agriculture & Rural Development Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry & CEO, Ambrosia Enterprise Pvt. Ltd) and his primary question was, "Do we need to frame something alike GST Council, an Agriculture Council which would take all the agriculture departments into a single fold?"

The discussion was taken forth by Professor Dr. Swapan Kumar Datta (Distinguished Biotech. Res. Professor, Univ. of Calcutta, Former VC, Visva-Bharati, DDG-Crop (ICAR)) who reiterated that agriculture was still being looked as Government subsidised and Government supported entity and not as Agri-industry. The primary issue which persists is food security and is projected to increase with the rise in population. He stated that the present agriculture policy does not resist food security, rather aggravates the concern.

Professor Nabinananda Sen (Former Faculty, Dept. of Business Management, University of Calcutta and Independent Project Consultant) mentioned that his focus was a two-folded concern. While production boom can be observed in the recent years despite the natural calamities, the figures of exports are misleading because of the strong ongoing MSME-rizarion process. The policies need to be thought of because while the productions are increasing, the benefits are not being distributed to those involved in the process.

Mr. S Sivakumar (Head- Agriculture & IT Division, ITC Ltd.) stated that as agriculture remains the primary source of livelihood, it is critical to look into a farmer centric perspective.

The session concluded with the discussion on Policy and Implementation: The Past, Present and Future of Indian Economy. Discussions revolved around the important aspects like public sector reforms. Mr. Sumit Bose commented that while Government subsidises in the traditional way in terms of credit, fertiliser, electricity, irrigation, etc., direct transfers are also involved due to the involvement of politics and elections. Few acts which provides unnecessary benefits and complex structure of governance.

Prof. Ajitava Ray Chaudhuri (Economist & Professor, Jadavpur University and Member, Economic Affairs Committee, BCC&I). stated that manufacturing sector has been underutilised, domestic demand is not growing, export demand is bleak, government sector is looked as the last source of demand.

The Conclave concluded with networking lunch. The conclave was well covered by press media.