The two-day 14^th Annual Doctoral Thesis Conference organized by the ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad, in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), was inaugurated on May 06, 2021. The conference with its focus on the topic ‘Macroeconomics and Finance’ is being held virtually due to the prevailing Covid conditions.

The inaugural session of the conference had a special address by Prof S Mahendra Dev, Director and Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, and President, Indian Economic Association. He spoke on the topic ‘Macro Economy and Finance’ and said that “the theory that research scholars work on should be suitable for resolving country’s problems”. He said that “the COVID-19 pandemic had been more severe for India as it had struck at a time when the economy was already slowing down and also because of the presence of a large and vulnerable informal sector in the country”. He said that “while big companies could manage the first wave of pandemic, the informal sector and the MSMEs were impacted adversely. But in the second wave, manufacturing and some industries would also be impacted, especially contact intensive services. While the revival of the Indian economy would depend on the duration of the second wave and the possible third wave, building capital base and good corporate governance will determine the growth of the nation”, he opined.

On the future of the financial sector in the country, Prof Mahendra Dev said India was becoming a top Fin Tech hub in Asia with an adoption rate of 87%, and India’s payment systems like the UPI would witness phenomenal growth.  On the sectors that India needed to focus on post COVID-19, Prof Mahendra Dev suggested that the focus be maintained on employment in both the formal and informal sectors, the social sector, and also on income for the poor. Speaking about the research and research methodology, he said that quality of data was important for research, and advised the students to use high frequency data. He said artificial intelligence and machine learning could be used for analyzing the data effectively. He encouraged institutions to adopt multidisciplinary research in accordance with the New Education Policy.

Dr C Rangarajan, Chancellor, ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, in his inaugural address spoke about the necessity of teaching and research to go hand in hand. Speaking on the current status of the Indian economy, he said that the present economic crisis was unique in the sense that it was triggered by a non-economic shock. He said that while the hope of recovery was high after the first wave, with the second wave, recovery appeared difficult, as the spread of virus had adversely impacted several sectors, resulting in unemployment and weakening demand. He said that to handle this situation, the government had to consider increasing expenditure to push demand in the system as a stimulant for the economy.

Prof. J. Mahender Reddy, Vice-Chancellor, presided over the inaugural session. Addressing the research scholars, he said that specification of a model was very important and asked them to pay careful attention to sources and quality of data.

This edition of the conference has attracted research scholars from several leading institutes in the country including IIMs, IITs, JNU, IGIDR, ISEC, Madras School of Economics, Gokhale Institute of Politics & Economics, IFMR, and various other central and state universities, who will be showcasing their papers. Of the 125 research papers received from research scholars working in various fields related to Management Studies and Economics, 85 papers have been accepted for presentation after review by an expert committee. Authors from Bangladesh, Nigeria, and the USA have contributed three papers for the conference which will conclude on May 7^th, 2021.