The institute organized a panel discussion on “Post budget Analysis-2021” on February 9^th, 2021.

Dr. C. S. Barla, Ex. Professor, HOD of Economics, UOR, Senior Economist, CA Abhishek Jain, Senior Partner H C Bothra & Associates, Mr. Shailendra Agarwal, News Editor, Rajasthan Patrika, CA Ankit Somani, Ajay Somani & Company were amongst the eminent panellists who presented their views on the recent Union Budget 2021.

The session was organised to discuss the pros and cons of the latest budget from varied perspectives and to apprise the students with the financial impact of the budget on the micro as well as macro-economic aspects in the country.

Dr. C. S Barla said that as per annual ritual Honourable Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman presented the first digital budget. The Union Budget presented on February 01,2021 had a heavy focus on 6 pillars - Health and Wellbeing, Physical & Financial Capital, and Infrastructure, Inclusive Development for Aspirational India, Reinvigorating Human Capital, Innovation and R&D, Minimum Government and Maximum Governance. He also acquainted the students about the Economic Survey which is presented in the Lok Sabha before the presentation of budget that analyses the overall performance of the economy during the year.

Mr. Shailendra Agarwal reviewed the budget critically. He said that budget has not been able to meet the expectations in general. He appreciated the budget on the ground of considering 6 pillars in the Union Budget 2021-22 as vehicles to growth for Indian economy, but he raised his concerns for the amount allocated in the budget for the same. He said that Government should assess the real impact of previous budgets also and should check that words like 5 Trillion Economy should not just be used to impress the common man of India. He suggested that Government should be watchful for the project ‘Jal Shakti’ which is taken care in the recent budget.

Mr. Abhishek Jain, presented a very optimistic views over the budget. He shared that the Government is shifting from the Operational to Fundamental views about the Implementation of Budget. He further added that if observed the Union Budget 2021 started from 27th March, 2020 when Finance Minister gave the first Fiscal Package during the Corona Pandemic and the size of the budget was around `1.7lakhs crores. Then Aatma Nirbhar 1.0 was announced by the Finance Minister on 12th May, 2020 which was of the size `20 Lakhs crores followed by Aatma Nirbhar 2.0 and Aatma Nirbhar 3.0 announced on 12th October and 12th November, 2020 respectively.   He shared that India is recovering very fast as compared to other economies and has acquired V shaped economy curve post pandemic. The graph of FDI shows that there is a fund flow of $24.6 billion, which is showing a good health of the economy, he said. He also appreciated the Government for the key initiatives like creating a digitized tax mechanism, leading to minimum interaction of assesses with Income Tax officers, thereby reducing the chances of corruption.

Mr. Ankit Soni also presented a very positive outlook on the budget. He said that making assessments virtual and other initiatives which seek to harness technology, eliminate human interface are welcoming, but if the principles of fairness and equity are not eroded. He familiarized that in faceless assessment, the entire assessment process is done remotely by a team of officers without any physical interface with the assesses. He also appreciated the government for narrowing the fiscal deficit by some percentage, showing clear sign of growth of Indian Economy. He shared that the FDI Flow of FY 2020-21 Quarter 2 is more than double as compared to all quarters of Previous year. He said that the budget is in the direction of favouring economy and the trends can be seen in the stock market clearly.

Dr. C. S Barla while concluding the panel discussion said that Government should focus on the macro problems existing in the country such as rural distress and unemployment, as well as poor state of education. He apprised that India spends 4.2% of GDP on Health which is very low as compared to less developed countries in the World like Cuba (13%), UK (5.5%), and Nepal (5.2%).  He also revealed that Among the Top 300 Institutions across the globe not even a single institution of India finds a place. He said that we should not only secure growth of the economy by focusing on GDP, but should make India a prosperous nation by considering India’s ranking in various indices like Global Hunger Index, Global Competiveness Report, Economic Freedom Report, Global Happiness Index etc.