The School of Economics, University of Hyderabad (UoH) organized a Distinguished Lecture by Dr. Y V Reddy, Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor and former Chairman of the fourteenth Finance commission under the UPE-2 distinguished lecture series on April 21, 2017. Dr Reddy delivered an insightful lecture titled ‘Indian Economy: New Challenges and Opportunities’, at the Sir C V Raman Auditorium, UoH.
The lecture focused on the crucial changes in the current Indian economy, namely demonetization, new monetary policy framework, inflation targeting, fiscal federalism and changes in the external sector. Terming demonetization as an unprecedented move by the government, he opined that the enforcement of stringent punishments will not decrease the flow of black money in the market. “Stringent laws are the most violated in our economy. A public policy can be effective only if the governance is effective. This debate has not come up adequately. Punishments are not an analytical solution to black money. It can only appeal to the masses,” he remarked. He also opinionated that the inter-relationship between market and the government and the dynamics involved in it should be considered.
Prof. B Kamaiah, Dean, School of Economics felicitating Dr. Y V Reddy in presence of Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, former VC of UoH
With a need for a huge administrative, technological and logistical base, Dr. Reddy termed the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) as one that would cause a short term inconvenience for the Indian economy. Emphasizing on the unequal economical growth of Indian states, he said,” When something good happens, advanced states grow rapidly. Thus, there is an unequal growth among states. Consequentially, compensation from the government to bridge this gap diminishes the scope for improvement. If both Centre and State fight for an equal headroom in regard to GST, the tax rates can go upto 40% from 28%.”
Dr. Reddy also talked about the lawless globalization of capital and criticized the public sector banks for involving in business that creates the menace of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in Indian economy. A visibly excited audience followed with a couple of questions that were met by crisp answers by the speaker. The lecture was presided by Prof. Goverdhan Mehta, former Vice-Chancellor, UoH.
Prof. B. Kamaiah, Dean, School of Economics welcomed the gathering and introduced the speaker while Prof. Debashis Acharya, faculty at School of Economics proposed the vote of thanks which was attended by the faculty, students, scholars, officers and staff of the University.
By Priyanka Richi, Department of Communication