Poverty Line and Economic Inequality to Determine India’s Future Economic Growth

Experts collaborated to redefine India’s economic landscape at the 5th Annual Economics Conference, organised by Ahmedabad University's Amrut Mody School of Management on January 5 – 6, 2024. The campus served as a platform for academicians, practitioners, policymakers, government officials, and research scholars to deliberate on issues, harness the wisdom of experts from various realms, and chart a course for future discourse. 

At the conference, Professor C. Rangarajan, former RBI Governor and Distinguished University Professor at Ahmedabad University, mentioned growth and equity as crucial determinants of progress while tracing India’s economic development from 1947 to the foreseeable future. “India’s shift from imports to exports, focus on manufacturing and investments are just a start. It is important to deal with poverty line and economic inequality to accelerate India’s economic growth in the future,” said Professor Rangarajan as part of his keynote address on Indian Economic Journey: Past and Future. 

Themed on ‘current issues in economic theory and policy,’ the two-day-long conference featured keynote addresses, paper presentations, and industry-oriented panel discussions. The conference addressed issues such as the human cost of cooking fuel, government schemes in third-world countries, the dynamic landscape of data, federal policies of India and the United States, climate change, institutional challenges impacting long-term goals, tackling poverty and economic inequality for India's future economic growth, and pressing issues and opportunities in fintech and monetary policies, among many others. Over 60 papers were presented at the annual conference, with three participants winning the Best Paper Prize award.

The global forum featured distinguished names, including Professor Arnab Basu (Department of Economics, Cornell University, USA), Professor Ashima Goyal (IGIDR, Mumbai and Member, Monetary Policy Committee, RBI), Professor Ujjayant Chakravorty (Tufts University, USA), Tirthankar Patnaik (Chief Economist, National Stock Exchange), Harsh Pokharna (Founder and CEO, Ok Credit), Kailash Varodia (Chief Operating and Financial Officer, RXIL), and Neeraj Kulshrestha (MD and CEO, National Stock Exchange IX, Clearing Corporation)

The conference, initiated in 2019, aims at facilitating the cross-fertilisation of ideas among scholars in different fields. Over five editions, it has evolved to address contemporary challenges, including those posed by challenging economic times and recovery after the global pandemic.