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SAMAVESH 2004 SAMAVESH, an annual event at K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research is a 'confluence' of ideas. It aims to bring forth varied ideas and opinions on the current economic and business scenario from industry leaders, economists and academicians. It helps students develop a depth of understanding of current issues and a breadth of outlook to augment classroom learning and supplement it through application-oriented events. SAMAVESH 2004 was a two-day event spread over 9th and 10th December.. The programme was inaugurated at 10:00 A.M on Thursday, December 9th, 2004 and the Presidential Address delivered by Mr. V. Ranganathan, Former Chief Secretary Govt. of Maharashtra. He addressed the issue of India's Economic Growth through a global historical perspective. Stressing that our human capital still remains severely under-utilized, Mr. V. Ranganathan said that only rapid economic growth could bring a solution to the impending vicious cycle of low economic growth, collapse of law and order and the emergence of terrorism and subversive activities that can undermine the fabric of society. This was followed by the Inaugural address delivered by Mr. Rajesh V. Shah, MD, Mukund Iron & Steel. His focus was on the success story of manufacturing in post-reforms India. He spoke about the fundamental transformation that the manufacturing sector has undergone in post-reforms India, making it ready for global competition. However there were many issues that still needed sorting out including VAT, the establishment of special economic zones, labour policy reforms and the crippling protection to the small-scale industry sector. This cannot be done independent of the government, in his opinion and just like the industry, Government personnel from clerks upwards have to be made accountable and result-oriented if India has to grow at over 8%. The second session in the morning had Dr. D. Anjaneyulu, Consultant & Former Executive Director, RBI elucidating for the benefit of the students, the complex challenges that the RBI faces as the Central Bank in India. The variety of tools for fine tuning the monetary system at the disposal of the RBI, the measures it adopts to ensure stability of interest rates, forex rates, the various measures to deal with surplus forex reserves that have emerged were all discussed in detail. He explained that the RBI officials have had to become students in the inexact science of monetary policies as the economy opened up gradually. After the introduction, the afternoon's programme plunged headlong into the topic "Strategies for accelerating economic growth". The speakers were Mr. A. K. Lahiri, Dean, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India and Mr. Jitendra Balkrishnan, Executive Director, IDBI. Some notable points made by the speakers were that despite the phenomenal growth of the service industry notably the IT/ITES sector, if the employment problems of India are to be solved, we have to give equal emphasis to the competitiveness of manufacturing and agriculture. In manufacturing, the issues that have to be tackled include patent protection, trade and exchange rate liberalization, and the currently constricted capacity of our ports. Privatization has to be conducted in a well-planned manner rather than in the piecemeal approach of the previous government. We have to develop comprehensive long run strategies for fundamentals like infrastructure especially transport and power on 15-20 year horizons and most importantly put them into action. All this cannot be done without FDI, which has to be wooed aggressively. A fundamental issue for that is the judicial delivery processes have to be speeded up to several times their current state. Contributed by - |
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