Skoch Group has instituted Vijay Kelkar Award in honour of noted economist and Chairman of 13th

Finance Commission Vijay L Kelkar. The first award was conferred on Shankar Acharya, eminent economist and the longest serving Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, for excellence in public finance.

Acharya, who has been instrumental in formulating and implementing many reform policies that helped transform the country, served as the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India from 1993 to 2001 – having served four prime ministers, including P V Narasimha Rao, H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Union Minister of Minority Affairs Najma Heptulla along with NITI Aayog Member Bibek Debroy conferred the award on

Acharya at a ceremony organised as part of the 39th Skoch Summit.

“Shankar Acharya has been the conscience keeper of the government… he has guided the country at the time of several great difficulties including economic sanctions and the Asian economic crisis,” Kelkar said lauding Acharya’s contribution to India’s economy.

Acharya, who is currently Honorary Professor, ICRIER, is fondly remembered as the architect of several budgets laying the foundation of long-term fiscal policy and reforms. He was Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister between 2001 and 2003 and Member, Twelfth Finance Commission.

Even after leaving the government services, Acharya continues to be a strong proponent of economic reforms

and responsible public finance system. “Shankar Acharya’s deep concern for inclusive and equitable growth was evident in his espousal of economic reforms with prudent fiscal management in the formative phases of India’s post-liberalisation era,” said Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, Skoch Group.

Kochhar said Acharya’s long record of championing in and out of government for reforms with a human face stands him out.

Lauding Acharya’s contribution, Debroy said he has not only been an outstanding public servant and economist but also a great human being. “He is one of the nicest bosses you can have. He was my boss in mid-1990s in the Finance Ministry. He is one of those rare people about whom people say the same thing in front of them and behind their backs.”

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Shankar Acharya receives the 1st Vijay Kelkar award for excellence in public finance instituted by SKOCH

Jayant Sinha, MoS, Finance Yashwant Sinha, former Finance Minister

L to R: Sameer Kochhar, Bibek Debroy, Najma Heptulla, Shankar Acharya and Vijay Kelkar

Instrumental in formulating and implementing many reform policies that helped transform the nation, Shankar Acharya served the longest as the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, from 1993 to 2001 – having served four Prime Ministers of India. He was Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister

between 2001 and 2003 and Member, Twelfth Finance Commission. His deep concern for inclusive and equitable growth was evident in his espousal of economic reforms with prudent fiscal management in the formative phases

of India’s post-liberalisation era. He is fondly remembered as the architect of several budgets laying the foundation of long-term fiscal policy and reforms. Even after he left government service, he continues to be a

strong proponent of economic reforms and responsible public finance management that would yield high growth rates, lift millions out of poverty and better India’s human development indices year after year. His long

record of championing, in and out of the government, for reforms with a human face stands him out.

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Shankar AcharyaHonorary Professor, ICRIER

www.skoch.in

Vijay Kelkar Award for Excellence in Public Finance salutes extraordinary people and their work in the post-economic liberalisation reform era in India

SAMEER KOCHHARChairman, Skoch Group

ak rl e AK w y aa rji dVak rl e AK w y aa rji dV

20152015

Children of reforms: India’s top performing MSMEs

Call fOr PaPerS

40

We are organising the 40th Skoch Summit with the underlying theme of “Making India a $20 Trillion Economy” on 12th-13th June 2015 at Mumbai. The key content of the summit is as follows:

Financial Sector Perspective• Digital by Default• Banking • Insurance• Infrastructure• Markets• Technology• Regulation• Extinguishing Cash• Prioritising Priority Sector• Competitiveness• Human Development

Given the Summit framework, Skoch Development Foundation calls for papers from domain e x p e r t s , p r a c t i t i o n e r s a n d academicians for the 23rd Thinkers & Writers Forum scheduled on 12th-13th June 2015 at Mumbai that will provide an opportunity to the authors to present their papers to an elite gathering of delegates.

Authors can avail a grant-in-aid* of up to Rs 12,000 from Skoch Development Foundation to write and present the research papers during the Forum. We also invite you to engage in interactive discussions, participate in additional sessions, and, most of all cultivate partnerships for development.

www.caii.in

L to R: 8th onwards in front row Manisha Kochhar, Skoch Group; Bibek Debroy, Member, NITI Aayog; Vijay Kelkar, Economist; Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, Skoch Group with 161 winners of Skoch Acheiver Order-of-Merit Award 2015 in New Delhi

Instrumental in formulating and implementing many reform policies that helped transform the nation, Shankar Acharya served the longest as the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, from 1993 to 2001 – having served four Prime Ministers of India. He was Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister between 2001 and 2003 and Member, Twelfth Finance Commission. His deep concern for inclusive and equitable growth was evident in his espousal of economic reforms with prudent fiscal management in the formative phases of India’s post-liberalisation era. He is fondly remembered as the architect of several budgets laying the foundation of long-term fiscal policy and reforms. Even after he left government service, he continues to be a strong proponent of economic reforms and responsible public finance management that would yield high growth rates, lift millions out of poverty and better India’s human development indices year after year. His long record of championing, in and out of the government, for reforms with a human face stands him out.

The best way to address the pressing challenge of poverty is by creating opportunities, particularly in the form of physical, social, technological and other infrastructures, said NITI Aayog Member Bibek Debroy.

A c c o r d i n g t o D e b r o y, l a c k o f opportunities is the main reason for poverty in India and the solution lies in creating the required opportunities and infrastructure.

Alluding to NITI Aayog’s role in poverty alleviation and furthering India’s growth story, Debroy said: “In a gathering like this, NITI should be like Victorian children. They should be seen they don’t necessarily have to be heard. ”

On the government’s financial inclusion initiative, Debroy said a large number of bank accounts have been opened under Jan Dhan scheme and now the main challenge is how to make people use these accounts.

“We have a fantastic figure now of people who have bank accounts. What we don’t have is enough f inancial products to persuade those people to use those bank accounts,” he said.

Debroy also emphasised on the need for creating a “satisfactory exit” provisions for small enterprises in case they don’t succeed. “An enterprise fails, and if because of failure we punish the entrepreneur, we will never be able to ensure entrepreneurship,” he added.

‘NITI’ should be seen and not heard: Bibek Debroy

for more details visitwww.skoch.org

*Conditions apply

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