Prof. Kalra began by providing an outline of the session to follow. He explained thathe would expound on the topic by providing the facets emerging from different reports on the recent and projected performance. In this context he referred to the reports prepared by institutions like the IMF, UBS, CII and OECD as well as the “Strategy for New India@75” document prepared by the NITIAayog.

While covering the diverse reports, Prof. Kalra mentioned the mostly positive outlook maintained by industry groups as well as the international agencies. The consensus was that the Indian economy was performing very positively at present, and things are only likely to get rosier in the near future. External factors like the trade wars between China and the United States, the aging populations in powerhouses like Japan and the European Union, the decision stasis in the US and slowing growth in China itself augurwell for India, as it ends up as one of the few countries with positive prospects for growth.

Having said that, Prof. Kalra also sounded a word of caution with regard to high GST rates, the general lack of policy direction for a fundamental sector like agriculture, uncertainties in the stock markets, exiting foreign institutional investors, volatilities of an election year with sops being liberally handed out to all and sundry, a ballooning fiscal deficit, the recent controversies involving high profile decision making bodies like the RBI, the ILFS crisis, loopholes in the e-commerce business, etc.

Finally Prof. Kalra rounded off the session by highlighting the salient points in the report prepared by the NITI Aayog and the Government of India, which intends to lay down the roadmap for India till the year 2022, when the nation completes 75 years of independence. He pointed out sectors like infrastructure, logistics and financial serviceswhich are receiving increasing attention from the government, and hence are likely to witness major growth soon. He suggested that students needed to be motivated in these directions with a view to career planning and growth.

The session ended with a lively interchange of ideas between Prof. Kalra and the faculty members present at the session. It was a very topical and informative session that was widely appreciated by all present.