The Hindu Business Line Countdown to Union Budget 2018

Pre-Union Budget Session was held on 19th January 2018 at Dr. R H Patil Auditorium at
National Stock Exchange. Welcome address for the session was given by Mr. R Srinivasan,
Editor, Business Line, where he spoke about the Hindu Business Line and its culture. The
first panel discussion was on Infrastructure Sector, moderated by Mr. Raghuvir Srinivasan.
The discussion was among Mr. Seshagiri Rao, Mr. Ajit Ranade, Mr. Umesh Revankar, Mr. K
Ramchand and Mr. Rajiv Agarwal. The discussion was all about Current Account Deficit and
the climbing crude oil prices. They elaborated the macro economic factors and its role for
Indian potential and underperformance. The five Major Problems faced by India i.e. Jobs,
Agriculture/ Rural population, Private investment, Exports and Inequality were discussed.
Each member on the discussion panel gave their views on GST. Union Minister of Road
Transport, Highways and Shipping, Shri Nitin Gadkari addressed the key note and discussed
about the progress made by his department and the transport sector under his regime. He also
disclosed the upcoming projects and the future expectations from the same. The second panel
discussion was about BFSI sector which was moderated by Mrs. Radhika Merwin. The topic
was discussed by Mr. Rishi Gupta, Mr. Bhaskar Babu, Mr. Rajat Monga, Mr. Rajesh
Mokashi, Mr. K P Nair and Mr. Naveen Surya. The discussion was on NPA and it was
termed as one of the major problem faced by the BFSI sector. There were healthy discussions
on funding for the start-ups and institutions. There were discussions on NPA which came out
with a suggestion of resolving the NPA rather than liquidating them. The discussion also had
mentions of GST along with the effects and causes of demonetization and financial inclusion.
There were focus on FinTech and its effects along with its advantages and few disadvantages
which was backed up by strong support. The third and the final panel discussion focused on
Markets. The third panel discussion was moderated by Mr. Palak Shah. The discussion was
among Mr. Shankar Sharma, Mr. Samir Arora, Mr. Praveen Chakravarty, Mr. Dinesh
Kanabar and Mr. N S Venkatesh. The discussion mainly focused on stock market and the tax
levied on long-term and short-term gains by the investor. It was discussed to keep the tax
system and the functioning of share markets undisturbed as it can lead to confusions. There
were mentions about the tax heavens and the reason, why investors to escape taxes from
India. Each session was concluded by the members by expressing their expectations from the
Union Budget 2018, to bring many better things than last year with main focus of internal
developments in the respective sectors.