On the evening of 6th February 2019, X-Fin, the finance association of XIMB, in partnership with the World Trade Centre, Bhubaneswar had the privilege of hosting the 4th Annual Budget conclave, at Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. A diverse array of speakers were lined up to discuss and deliberate on the topic of "Union budget 2019 and GST implications" in an interactive session with the students. The impressive line-up of speakers, consisted of CA Tarun Agarwala, Chairman, Indirect Tax Committee, Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Odisha, discussing on the general analysis along with implications on taxes, Prof. (Dr.) Satya Narayan Misra, IES, Dean KIIT School of Management, discussing on the implications on the Indian Economy, and CMA Shiba Prasad Padhi, Partner, SAPSJ& Associates also Member, ICAI-ERIC, discussing on the implications of the Goods & Service Tax Regime with respect to the cost. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Dilip Satapathy, resident editor, Business Times, Bhubaneswar Chapter.
After a glowing introduction of all the speakers and the moderator by the emcees, the welcome note was delivered by Ms. Nimeshika Natarajan, Assistant Director, World Trade Centre, Bhubaneswar inviting the panelists to take the discussions forward. The moderator Mr. Dilip Satapathy took to the stage after the lamp lighting ceremony and presentation of flower bouquets to the panelists.
Mr. Satapathy spoke about the interim budget breaking conventions. "For the first time, a 10 year vision has been given by the Finance minister," he said. He shed some light on the ten-point agenda of the government as mentioned in the budget. He also spoke on length regarding the universal basic income schemes, and how it affected the farmers and also about the pension schemes before inviting the first panelist, CA Tarun Agarwala.
The first panelist of the day CA Tarun Agarwala spoke about intricacies of taxation and how the budget has affected taxes. He began by giving a clear and lucid explanation regarding taxation nuances before delving into the implications the budget has had on it. "The budget consists of only direct tax proposals and custom tax proposals'' he said. He also shared his analysis of the housing sector amendments. He spoke about the sectors like MSME which try to draw out more people into the organized sector. He further emphasized the need to distinguish deduction from the exemption of income.
The next speaker, Prof. (Dr.) Satya Narayan Misra started with talking about India's growth and the employment sector. He opined that we are growing by approximately 8% but are not creating any jobs. The employment sector growth is much less. He spoke about his time at the finance ministry in the 1970s and was privileged to attend a similar session back with Subramanian Swamy from where he could draw inferences. According to him, "GST is the greatest fiscal reform the country has seen till now". He further went to emphasize how the population cannot be a scapegoat for fiscal prudence and that the economy will get affected on the plight of the middle class.
CMA Shiba Prasad Padhi was the third speaker of the day. He began by giving an brief on the goods and services tax, before going into a detailed analysis of the impact the interim budget has had on the GST. He also explained various aspects in and around GST, its origin and resulting changes in the economy. He mentioned how this budget plans for a collection of 27 lakh crores from which approximately 17 lakh crores comes from just taxes.
The enriching and thought-provoking speeches were followed by an interactive Q&A session with the guest speakers answering the thoughtful and intriguing questions posed by the students. The event concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by CA Kajal Agarwal, Core Member, X-Fin, XIMB.
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