25 Jun 2020|Noida | Amity University, Noida
Government should Focus on Medium and Large Scale Industries for Economic Transformation avers Prof. Arvind Panagariya at Amity University
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The need to focus on the medium and large scale industries for the economy to grow was stressed upon by Padma Bhushan Prof Arvind Panagariya, Professor of Economics and the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy, Columbia University, USA and Former Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, Government of India at a webinar organized by Amity University. Sharing his views on ‘Covid 19 and the Economy’, Prof. Panagariya stated that the Indian economy went into the Covid-19 crisis with a stressed financial sector that is now reflecting in the economic growth tumbling down.
Calling the Covid-19 as an unprecedented crisis that shocked the demand, supply, labor & capital markets, Prof. Panagariya stated that the subsequent lockdown brought the economic activity to a standstill. He added that while the process of unlocking is still ongoing, a number of centres of economic activity are still reeling under the shock of Covid-19. Huge uncertainty associated with the crisis is looming across that has made the various global agencies give different and subdued growth forecasts for the country.
Prof. Panagriya averred that the government was a bit slow to react and take preventive action and had it been a bit more vigilant in the initial phase the situation would have been different. Countries like China and Korea that had been previously affected with SARS were better prepared to handle the present crisis. However, once the gravity of the situation was realized, the Indian government took quick and stern action to impose the lockdown.
He stated that the economic package announced by the Government was helpful and much-needed as it took care of the basic necessities, beefed up the health infrastructure and made an attempt to solve the liquidity problems of the industries. Sharing insights on the reason behind the stress faced by the Indian Economy, Prof. Panagriya averred that India celebrates the micro industries and has laid great emphasis on promoting them but not much attention is paid to medium and large industries. He stated that Economic transformation is from medium and large industries as they raise the average production of the country by their own high efficiency and also encourage smaller industries to step up. He also called for the need to have structural, labour law, land market and educational sector reforms.
Dr. Ashok K Chauhan, Founder President, Amity Group of Institution stated that his mission is to make India a super power by 2030 and Prof. Panagariya’s vision was in line with this task and the country will be able to attain this status as there is lot of capacity and capability.
Dr. Atul Chauhan, Chancellor, Amity University congratulated Prof. Panagariya for his balanced and deep insights into the Indian Economy and shared that his presence in the webinar will help amity in its mission to make India a stronger and better nation.
Ms. Pooja Chauhan, Chairperson, Amity Humanity Foundation shared that it was important for students to know what lie ahead of them in these challenging and unprecedented times and how insights by Prof. Panagariya were instrumental in delivering them. The webinar was well-attended by students, faculty and parents on various social media platforms.