The event featuring Shri. P Chidambaram (Former Finance and Home Minister of India) was hosted by the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics in collaboration with the HR College of Commerce and Economics at the Rama Sundari Watumull Auditorium on 29th February, 2020. Shri. Chidambaram spoke on the State of the Indian Economy and Jobs for the Youth, followed by a conversation with Shri. Praveen Chakravarty (Political Economist and Chairman, Data Analytics- Indian National Congress) on how the economy can be revived. The talk focused on the following issues of the Indian economy.

• The current state of the Indian economy is not too promising, given that the country’s GDP growth rate has been steadily falling for the past few quarters, with the latest quarter recording a mere 4.7% growth.
• The Budget announced on 1st February 2020 fell short of addressing necessary measures to curtail the current slowdown. It was emphasized that we should focus more on the lower pyramid of the economy rather than provide tax incentives to the corporate, whose benefits do not get transferred to the poor, and thus, will not help revive the economy.
• Restrictions on trade is another factor inhibiting the growth of our economy. For any economy to grow, it is important that it is open towards trading with other countries. Imposing restrictions on imports will adversely affect our exports too.
• Demonetization and a flawed implementation of the GST have further contributed to the current economic slowdown.
• The slowdown may adversely affect the growth of jobs in the country. We should focus on creating jobs for the bottom 80% of the country’s population, the most adversely affected section by the economic slowdown.

  The talk was followed with a conversation with Shri. Praveen Chakravarty and a question-answer session with students. The event was concluded by felicitating the guests and thanking them for an enlightening session.