Deciphering Budget 2020: Journey Towards A $5 Trillion Economy

The event started with the introduction of the panelists, welcoming the Director Dr. Ravi Kumar Jain, all the faculty members present and the students by Ms. Shalini Sharma. After the introduction, Shalini welcomed Dr. Shyamsunder Chitta to welcome the guests and say a few words about what he feels about the budget 2020. After welcoming the guests, he talked about how the Budget 2020 is not a very friendly budget for the Indian economy. Different people have different opinion on the same topic.

From left CA Neelesh V Vithlani, Mr. Naveen Khatri, Mr. Srinivas Rao & Mr. Srinivas Korlepara

Analyzing the budget is like a blind person trying to identify an elephant. After that he called upon the dais Dr. Ravi Kumar Jain, so that could share his thoughts on the topic. Dr. Ravi said the current budget is not just a budget, but it’s also a guiding force as the government has set a goal of a 5 trillion economy. After sharing his insights, Anusha came to the dais and welcomed student presenters Ameya, Gaurang and Nihil.

Presentation on Analysis of Agricultural sector given by Ameya and Gaurang

The first presentation was given by Ameya and Gaurang. Their topic was Analysis of Agricultural sector. After giving a brief introduction they started off with how water and soil are very important natural resources which need to be protected at all costs. They talked about sustainable growth. Ameya talked about how agricultural sector is too much dependent on subsidies. With PM’s direct benefit transfer scheme, subsidies are transferred but the old schemes are not stopped. According to him, instead of subsidies, government should invest in a way that develops agricultural sector as giving subsidies is only a temporary solution. Wheat and rice are available at Rs. 2 and 3 per kg but government doesn’t know how many people are benefitting from and if needy people are getting this facility at all. Food subsidy is losing its credibility and rationalization is highly required. After that Gaurang took over and talked about water management. He told that a total of 99 water projects were planned to be finalized by December, 2019 under NABARD and only 15 have been build till date. He talked about how government has been neglecting the basic needs like water. The subsidy bills are pending, urea costs are going up. No investor wants to enter fertilizer sector. Farmers’ income is a concern which is not growing. In 2015-16 annual average farmer earned only 98000. The government should focus on enhance farming technologically.

After that Shalini invited on stage, Mr. Nihil to present on whole Budget 2020. He talked about how inflation and unemployment are on the rise and people have expectations from government. In the end, the middle class got nothing. Gross domestic product is very low. India is 5 largest economy in the world. Bankruptcy code has been introduced to tackle NPAs. GST still has mixed opinion. For example, the transporters are happy because the turnaround time has come down as there is less documentation on the border checkposts. He talked about new income tax regime vs old, deductions, corporate taxes, dividend distribution tax. He gave highlights of every budget starting from 2014. He gave his opinion on LIC being made public by IPO. After that Shalini invited Dr. Ravi to say a few words. Dr. Ravi then appreciated the student presenters on their work on the topics. He talked about the budget is very important for the people and the economy. Middle class needs to plan about taxes. And the importance of the current budget as it’s the budget at the starting of the new decade. With that, he concluded his address and a 10 min break was announced.

Comprehensive presentation on budget by Mr. Nihil

In the second phase, the Panelists were seated on the stage with CA Neelesh V Vithlani as the moderator. He began with how the current budget hasn’t tinkered much but is important. He then talked about how DDT reduction is a major step along with a brief history. He then asked a question to Mr. Naveen Khatri, about his overall opinion on the current budget. Mr. Naveen gave his opinion that how healthcare is a very crucial sector for the economy. In china due COV, it had to build a hospital only for the patients of COV and how it built it in only 9 days. He expressed that, this type of infrastructure should be available in India. He also talked about pharma companies, solar companies & projects, power companies, need of capital investments needed. After that the same question was asked to Mr. Srinivas Korlepara. He talked about how budgets are prepared really well but the problem is in implementation. Numerous scholarly discussions took place in the panel on various subjects economy of states, central vs state governments, manufacturers, import export, infrastructure to make capital goods, GST, mergers and acquisition in public sector banks, monitoring in Banking sector specially NPAs, 5 trillion dollar theme, textile industry, pending subsidies which are impacting few industries upto a great extent etc. The panelists asked few questions to audience and Mr. Mohan and Mr. Salil gave their opinions on politics and bureaucracy. There were further discussions like on corruption, how technology like fastag and automatic traffic challans are helping reduce bribes, ease of doing business, investments by FIIs and domestic investors, digitization, liquidity in the economy etc.

Word of thanks by Mr. Rohit Karna, head of Mint Club

The discussion was wrapped up by CA Neelesh V Vithlani, followed by a brief concluding speech and a thank you note delivered by the mint club head Mr. Rohit Karna. The event was accomplished successfully on a happy note by Ms. Shalini and Ms. Anusha, trailed by National Anthem at the completion.