-->

Published: Monday, 07 March, 2016 03:30 PM

Roundtable discussion on Budget 2016 held at IMT

Finance stalwarts from recognized government and private institutions gathered at IMT Ghaziabad to discuss Budget 2016

~Experts form renowned bodies like Ministry of Finance, Reserve Bank of India, World Bank  underlined the process and importance of Union Budget  for IMT students~

India’s premier B-school, IMT Ghaziabad hosted a roundtable discussion with industry stalwarts to sensitize its students about the recently announced Union Budget 2016. Veterans like Shri H. K. Srivastav, Director Budget Department, Ministry of Finance; Shri Tulasi Gopinath, Director, Department of Economic & Policy Research, Reserve Bank of India; Shri Saurabh Shome, Economist, World Bank underlined the relevance and impact of budget on business environment and economic growth of the country.

IMT Ghaziabad emphasises that the importance of Union Budget for managers can never be understated. It has implications for managers in every field of businesses. Even though it is primarily about government spending, it also provides indications on Government’s reforms intent and expectations. IMT thinks that all of these could be extremely relevant inputs for a manager’s business decision making and that is why the B-school organized the roundtable discussion with industry experts.

 IMT

Explaining the process of preparing the budget, Shri H. K. Srivastav, Director Budget Department, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India said, “The budget is prepared by inter-ministerial consulting.  The Annual Financial Statement is popularly known as budget comes under the Article 266, which lists the consolidated fund of India as an account of Government of India with the RBI. The budget goes through a process called Additional Resource Mobilization (ARM) to manage fiscal space. Every year the government has a disinvestment target in order to achieve the ARM process. Also, Detailed Demand for Grants (DDFS) is prepared by ministry on the basis of overall budget allocated for one fiscal year.”

Sharing his views on Indian economy, Shri Saurabh Shome, Economist, World Bank said, “Though India is the fastest growing economy in the world, the Fiscal Deficit is larger than its peers. The public debt in India is relatively large but the investors are happy with the happenings in India. The Fiscal Deficit target can be met by disinvestment and Indian government has managed it quite well.  Currently, the currency risk is negligible in the country as the Indirect tax collection in India is efficient. Inflation and inflation expectations are under control.”

“The Union Budget 2016 is praiseworthy. Budget has not looked at populism but has aimed at thoughtful expenditure. There are genuine attempts to get the GST passed and there has been a huge increase in E-filing of Income Tax. All the students  will get good placements because state of economy is good”, he added.

Discussing the budget and policies, Shri Tulasi Gopinath, Director, Department of Economic & Policy Research, Reserve Bank of India said, “The monetary policies are implemented through a conduit. Public sector is going through a rough phase.  For balance sheet cleansing, SRFAESI Act needs to be amended along with strengthening the DRT and introduction of bankruptcy code. In education, the 62 new Navodaya Vidyalayas will be built in uncovered districts in next 2 years.

The Higher Education Financing Agency will take care Rs.1000 Cr from not-for-profit organizations leveraging funds from market supplemented with deductions and CSR. The fiscal consolidation path for 2016-17 is going to be 3.5% while 3% in 2017-18 in spite of 7th pay commission and One Rank One Pensions. The new health schemes like cover of up to Rs.1 lakh for the poor, availability of generic drugs at affordable prices and introduction of 3000 stores under Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojna will further strengthen the health sector.”

Other experts from finance and media sector included Dr. Sunil K. Sinha, Director-Public Finance & Principal Economist, India Ratings & Research and Mr. Subhomoy Bhattacharjee, Deputy Editor, Business Standard. Dr. Sunil expressed that there are many challenges in front of the government as exports have shown negative growth. The global demand is weak with the trade growth hitiing below the GDP growth rate for last 2 years. While Mr. Bhattacharjee stated that Union Budget is a political document and is more political than actual political speeches. The markets are windows through which the finance minister of any country addresses the economy.

Shri S.K. Batra, Dean, Academics inaugurated the program and thanked the experts and IMT faculty for their effort and expressed that the active participation from students made this program a super success.

MBA Rendezvous Analysis on Budget 2016                                                                                         

Stay informed, Stay ahead and stay inspired with MBA Rendezvous