(For PhD Scholars in Management and Economics to Showcase Doctoral Research)
New Delhi, October 08, 2020: The two-day Thirteenth Annual Doctoral Thesis Conference, being organized by the ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad, got off to a start on October 08, 2020. This edition of the Conference, with focus on the topic ‘Economy, Finance, Well Being, and some issues in Methodology’ has been organized in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai. Due to the prevailing conditions, the conference this year is being held virtually.
Dr C Rangarajan, Chancellor of the ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (Deemed-to-be University), Former Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Former Governor, Reserve Bank of India, in his inaugural address told the research scholars that deep understanding of economic theory is important for research. He further stated that the scholars should be clear of what they want to do and the questions they wish to answer through their research. Talking about the current crisis that the economy is experiencing, he said that expansion in production and demand in general is necessary. This calls for the banking system, which has turned risk averse, to give credit. He called the governments to invest more on healthcare, relief and education. Dr. Rangarajan said that fiscal deficit could rise to 14%, and steps towards pushing demand and production are necessary at this stage.
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. Addressing the researchers and other participants, Prof. Dev touched upon the prevailing crisis situation and the crucial role that the financial sector needs to play to tide over the crisis. But banks facing their own crisis could become risk averse, he said. Citing the statistics of over a decade he said that though the poverty has reduced considerably and the number of poor fell, so did the participation of women in the workforce, which was a matter of concern. The rising unemployment among young calls for generation of 8 million jobs annually. This need could be sufficed through innovative, out-of-the box solutions provided the private sector and by scaling up of MSMEs. He said that there are several opportunities coming our way due to development of digital infrastructure and from global value chains that China is set to vacate. He asked to researchers to focus on addressing the issues of research methodology, and to check if the theories that fit developed countries are applicable in India.
Prof. J. Mahender Reddy, Vice-Chancellor of the ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (Deemed-to-be University) , presided over the inaugural session. He said that this edition of the conference introduced a track for PhD aspirants who are in the initial stage of their program to present their proposals, to help them streamline research thoughts. The Vice Chancellor advised the participating scholars to pay careful attention to the sources and quality of data, and asked them to use discretion and logic while using the data. Another area that the scholars need to pay attention to was the specification of the model.
The conference has attracted papers from several leading institutes in the country including IIMs, IITs, NITs, JNU, Delhi School of Economics, IGIDR, and IFMR among others. Of the 145 research papers received from research scholars, working in various fields related to Management studies and Economics, 105 papers were accepted for presentation after review by an expert committee.
Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)
