KSOM Organizes Panel Discussion on Post-Budget Analysis
KIIT School of Management (KSOM) organized a panel discussion on post budget analysis of the Union Budget of India on 5th February 2021. The discussion was held on a virtual platform in view of the pandemic. Mr. Pranab Kumar Das, Former Principal Chief Commissioner of IT chaired the session. He appreciated the initiatives of the government to focus on health and capex.
Participating in the discussion, Mr. A. K. Sabat, Chartered Accountant described the budget as reform oriented and recounted that it last happened in 1991 only. The corporate sector benefited due to the tax proposals, but the middle class has not benefited due to inflation and lack of employment. He described inflation as taxation without any legislation. A large debt due to deficit financing may be an extra burden on the country. He hoped that the Finance Minister should have provided tax benefits for the middle class.
Mr. Siddharth Sanyal, Chief Economist & Head of Research, Bandhan Bank felt it is more pertinent to discuss the backdrop of the budget as the country was going through a disruptive pandemic. The fall in the Covid graph and a growth-oriented budget give a lot of hope to the country. The role of RBI in providing liquidity is commendable. The big challenge for the monetary authorities lies in maintaining the interest rate in the future. However, he was optimistic about the future of the economy looking into a collaboration of RBI with the government in the last one year.
Dr. Subhada Rao, Founder, QuantEco Research was positive on the outcome of the budget. She believed that the targets fixed by the government are achievable and the most encouraging part of the budget is it aims at qualitative expenditure. She expected the budget should have addressed the SME sector and fiscal consolidation. However, it has more hits and less misses, she added.
Earlier, welcoming the panellists, Dr. Saroj Mahapatra, Director introduced different activities conducted in the School to further the pursuit of academic excellence. He described the budget as an ambitious one and exuded confidence that the country is ready for post pandemic growth with a lot of hope and confidence.
Dr. S. N. Misra, Dean, KSOM explained that the capex will provide better employability with a multiplier effect. Allocation on public health and ‘water to every house’ is a welcome move. He rued the lack of attention to primary education. Further, the percentage of tax to source of fund has gone down like never before. He suggested it would have been better to tax the super-rich to mitigate this need.
Dr. K. K. Ray, Professor, KSOM moderated the session. He opined that the budget sprang a surprise by not putting any extra tax burden that was anticipated due to the pandemic. The investor community welcomed the bold and forward moving budget triggering a boom in the Nifty and Sensex.
A question-answer session followed the panel discussion. Mr. Das gave his concluding remarks and critically examined the implementation of the budget and the observations of the panellists. Dr. Praveen Mohanty, Professor, KSOM proposed the vote of thanks. KIIT School of Management has a regular practice conducting such discussions to keep its students abreast of the matter of national interest and fulfill its responsibility as an institutional citizen of the country.