ARTHASHASTRA

The Public Policy Club IIFT Kolkata and CAPITAL - The Finance & Investment Club at IIFT Kolkata at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Kolkata were thrilled to host Mr. Subhomoy Bhattacharjee, a former civil servant and consulting editor at Business Standard, Dr. Avik Sarkar, Ph.D. , Ex-Head Data Analytics Cell, Niti Aayog, and faculty at International School of Business, and Mr. Vivek Jalan, Chairman, Fiscal Affairs Committee, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce as guests panelists for Arthashastra - the annual union budget analysis discussion, on 21st February 2022. It was also a pleasure having Dr. DEEPANKAR SINHA, a renowned professor in Global Trade and logistics, Head of research at IIFT, Kolkata as the final panelist for the event along with Dr. Bibek Ray Chaudhuri, a distinguished associate professor at IIFT who moderated the entire panel discussion after sharing his own point of view on the Union Budget 2022-23.

Leveraging on his expertise in technology, Dr. Avik Sarkar talked about the use of emerging digital technology in the field of agriculture, especially the newly launched 'Krishi Drones' plan and the 'Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission Health ID' in the field of healthcare. He also went on to explain the very essential digital universities' initiative mentioned in the budget whose importance we all got to know during the pandemic. Mr. Vivek Jalan then introduced the students to the fundamental changes in the taxation system, both in Direct and Indirect taxes. He threw light on how concrete role compliance plays these days to grow the businesses, with reference to the input tax credit along with a prime focus on the enhancement of revenue through technology. Then Mr. Subhomoy Bhattacharjee shared his valuable insights through a unique and different take on the expenditure patterns in the Union budget, critically analyzing why it hasn't been changed since the last year nor has the expenditure been increased. He also underscored the importance of accountability at a local level that could make every penny allotted to count. Post that finally Dr. Deepankar Sinha gave an in-depth analysis of the PM Gati Shakti plan and discussed the current limitations of the project so far. We, at IIFT Kolkata, would like to express our gratitude to all the speakers for enlightening us with their insights and enriching our perspectives.