The School of Economics, University of Hyderabad organised the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia, 7-8 February 2025. The inaugural session presided by the Vice-Chancellor Professor BJ Rao set the ball rolling with the proposition that the deliberations should facilitate pro-people and sustainable solutions for Asia, which was rightly taken up by the octogenarian Professor T Krishna Kumar in his inaugural address who pointed out that the so-called middle-income trap is a misnomer and that Asia in general (and India in particular) should not repeat the mistakes of the West (particularly that of the United States).
Professor BJ Rao, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad sets the ball rolling at the inaugural session of the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia, 7 February 2025.
The inaugural session had Professor R Vijay, the Dean of the School, welcome the participants to the heterodox spirit of the School that encourages differing ideas, Professor Srijit Mishra, the Conference Organising Secretary, introduce the delegates to the two-day Conference pointing out that there will be ample time for discussions during the sessions and in the networking breaks,
A lighter moment after the inaugural session of the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia, 7 February 2025 (left to right): Prof D Narasimha Reddy, Prof T Krishna Kumar, Prof BJ Rao (Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad), Mrs Nirupama Rao, and Prof Sushanta Mallick while some delegates are in animated discussion in the background.
Professor Sushant K Mallick, Queen Mary University of London, emphasise on the collaborative endeavour that has brought together the Conference’s host University where the Organising Secretary is based with his own and the University of Southampton where Dr Abhishek Kumar is based, as these three, all life members of the Association of Indian Economic and Financial Studies (where he is now President), a constitutive component of the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA), are the three co-editors for the special issue of the Journal of Asian Economics, and the title of this Conference is the theme of the special issue. The inaugural session concluded with a vote of thanks by Professor Alok Kumar Mishra.
Professor BJ Rao, Vice Changellor, University of Hyderabad, in a discussion with the Conference Organising Secretary, Professor Srijit Mishra while the Conference Joint Organising Secretaries Professor Alok Kumar Mishra and Dr Krishna Reddy Chittedi look on after the inaugural session of the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia, 7 February 2025.
The first plenary, following the inaugural, was a special address by Professor Sushanta K Mallick on “Does productivity growth boost domestic savings?” which was chaired by Professor D Narasimha Reddy, former Dean of the School of Scocial Sciences, who with his remarks not only opened up the floor for discussions but steered it well that was in line with the heterodox spirit of the School of Economics and the theme of the conference. The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr Krishna Reddy Chittedi.
A lighter moment between colleagues from the School of Economics and some delegates on Day 1 of the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia, 7 February 2025.
The second plenary, a special session in honour of Professor T Krishna Kumar on 8 February 2025, to celebrate his 86th birthday, had three papers read. The paper “Quantifying Financial Inclusion: A New Index Approach with Application to Emerging Market Economies,” read by Dr Dinabandhu Sethi and Professor Srijit Mishra and discussed by Professor Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan pointed out that a measure of financial inclusion should itself satisfy axioms that are equity conscious and, unfortunately, the now oft cited popular measure does not. The second paper “The Nexus Between Inflation and Exchange Rate Pass-Through: The Role of Expectations,” read by Professor Saikat Sinha Roy (based on a co-authored work) and the third paper “Commodity Price Shocks and Non-Performing Assets in the Indian Banking Sector” read by Dr Abhishek Kumar (based on a co-authored work) were discussed by Professor Sushanta K Mallick and this deliberation brought forth some intriguing dimensions of the Indian macroeconomic scenario.
First plenary of the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia, Professor Sushanta K Mallick (speaker) and Professor D Narasimha Reddy (chair), 7 February 2025.
The session ended with reminisce for Professor T Krishna Kumar by colleagues and family members, which among others included Professor D Narasimha Reddy, Mrs Nirmala Rao (his wife), Professor BLS Prakasa Rao, Professor J Manohar Rao, Professor Naresh Kumar Sharma, Mrs Sudha Gorthi (his sister-in-law), Dr Anupama Row (Chief Medical Officer, University of Hyderabad), Professor Sushanta K Mallick, Professor Umakant Dash, Dr Usha Nori and Professor PK Viswanathan.
A lighter moment of volunteers and some colleagues from the School of Economics with the Registrar and the PRO and a delegate on Day 1 of the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia, 7 February 2025.
In addition to these, during the two days, there were 14 technical sessions as part of three parallel sessions in which 61 papers were presented, of which, 10 were in absentia. The themes of these sessions are “Managing De-globalisation,” “Role of Monetary and Fiscal policy,” “Redistributive Policies during Periods of Increasing Inequality (two sessions),” “Demography and Growth in Emerging Asia,” “Rural, Health and Agrarian,” Gender, Labour Force Participation and Growth (two sessions),” “Monetary and Fiscal Policies to Build Resilience from External Shocks,” “Policies to Navigate Middle-Income Trap,” “Sustainable Growth in Asia” (read in absentia), which also had an ad lib panel discussion, “Credit, Gender and Inequality,” “Regulatory and Policy Bottlenecks for Growth in Emerging Asia,” and “Aggregate and Sectoral Productivity Growth.”
Collage of pictures from the cultural programme at ESGEA Conference on 7 February 2025 (from top left, clockwise): A scene on Prisoner’s dilemma (from the play on Nobel laureate John Nash, Odissi dance, Kuchipudi dance, another scene from the play on Nobel laureate John Nash, and Violin recital.
There were two pre-conference events, the first was on 5 February 2025 where Professor T Krishna Kumar and Professor Srijit Mishra, as part of the National Conference on the Recent Developments in Mathematical Sciences – 2025 organised by the School of Mathematics and Statistics, delivered a lecture on “A Result on Stochastic Games: Our Personal Journey Together,” and the second one was on 6 February 2025 where Dr Abhishek Kumar, as part of the School’s seminar series delivered a lecture on “Identification in Time Series Data.”
Star gazing at the Dr Nandivada Ratnashree Observatory, School of Physics, by Professor Madhuri Saripalle (Krea University), delegate for the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia, as Professor Srijit Mishra, Conference Organising Secretary looks on, 7 February 2025.
The first day of the conference had a cultural programme by students (mostly from the School of Economics, but also had students from other Schools/Centres) that comprised of an Odissi dance, a play on the Nobel laureate John Nash (this also included students from the first year of Integrated Masters some of them with majors in other disciplines), a Kuchipudi dance (this being a student from the School of Arts and Communication), and a violin recital. The first day ended with Star Gazing by the delegates at the Dr Nandivada Ratnashree Observatory, School of Physics. The second day started with nature walk leading to the famed Mushroom Rock where Professor PK Viswanthan delivered an impromptu Satsang. For both the days, the delegates were provided with millet-based food and beverages for all the meals.
Satsang by Professor PK Viswanathan on Mushroom Rock to begin Day 2 of the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia, 8 February 2025. Pic credit: Professor Srijit Mishra
The Conference ended with the valedictory session where Professor Deba Prasad Rath, RBI Chair Professor, Council for Social Development Southern Regional Centre, Hyderabad, in his valedictory address reiterated the sentiments of the inaugural session that this indeed is the time for Asia’s emergence, but we need to do the right things. The Chair, Professor Umakant Dash, Director, Institute of Rural Management Anand urged the scholars to continue with their research that balances growth with distribution concerns.
Professor BJ Rao, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad explaining the beauty of genetic, as no two individuals are alike, with the octogenarian Professor T Krishna Kumar pointing out that he was among the students when Professor JBS Haldane delivered his first lecture on genetics at the Indian Institute of Kolkata in the late 1950s while Professor Sushanta K Mallick and Professor Srijit Mishra look on. This was a chance meeting at the Zakir Hussain Lecture Hall Complex after the session on “A Result on Stochastic Games: Our Personal Journey Together” by Prof T Krishna Kumar and Professor Srijit Mishra, as part of the National Conference on Recent Developments in Mathematical Sciences-2025 by the School of Mathematics and Statistics, and a pre-conference event for the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia of the School of Economics, 5 February 2025.
Ms Rachana Reddy, on behalf of the Rapporteur’s, read the rapporteur’s report. The session began by the opening remarks for the concluding session by Professor Srijit Mishra, the way forward on the collaboration leading to publications was given by Professor Sushanta K Mallick and the final vote of thanks was given by Professor Alok Kumar Mishra.
Valedictory session (left to right): Professor Srijit Mishra, Professor Deba Prasad Rath, RBI Chair Professor, CSD SRC (speaker), Professor Umakant Dash, Director, IRMA (chair), Professor Alok Mishra, 8 February 2025.
The book of abstracts is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B1H1yLuu2s04bV1ph89bP69P7dZDDFP0/view?usp=drive_link
Dr Abhishek Kumar, University of Southampton, UK (centre), delivered his lecture, “Identification in Time Series” as part of Seminar Series, School of Economics, University of Hyderabad, a pre-conference event for the International Conference on Enabling Sustained Growth in Emerging Asia, and a start to the spring time theme of the Fresher’s party of the School of Economics; also in picture are Professor Srijit Mishra (left) and Professor Alok Mishra (right), 6 February 2025.
Video of the inaugural and other plenary sessions are available in the YouTube channel of Econ Logue. https://www.youtube.com/@EconLogue/