PROGRAMME

3.30pm           Registration
  
4.00pm           Welcome Remarks

                     Professor Subrata Mitra
                     Director, Institute of South Asian Studies
                     National University of Singapore

4.10pm           ISAS Symposium
 
                     Chairperson
                     Dr Amitendu Palit
                     Senior Research Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies
                     National University of Singapore
 
                     Panelists

                          Dr Duvvuri Subbarao
                     Distinguished Visiting Fellow, ISAS; and
                     Ex-Governor of Reserve Bank of India, India

                     Dr Jahangir Aziz
                     Head of EM Asia Economic Research
                     J.P Morgan                         

                     Mr Abhijit Ghosh
                     Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Singapore

5.00pm            Question and Answer Session

5.30pm            End of Session

Abstract

India's recent move to withdraw currency notes of denominations of 500 and 1000 from circulation is an unprecedented effort to demonetise. The move reflects the effort of the Indian government to curb black money by flushing out hoarded cash. It also underpins the government's efforts to give the economy a cash-less character by encouraging digital transactions. While the objectives of the effort have been appreciated by several experts and common people, significant concerns have been expressed over hardships inflicted on people following withdrawal of more than 80 per cent of the currency in circulation. The informal sector and the rural economy have been hit the hardest raising concerns over deceleration in economic activity in the coming months. There is also a pronounced political resistance to the move producing concerns that the country might again experience legislative logjam in the Parliament. The ISAS panel discussion will reflect upon various aspects of this radical measure and its economic, institutional and political impacts.

Panelists

Dr Duvvuri Subbarao

Dr Jahagir Aziz

Jahangir Aziz is the Head of EM Asia Economic Research at J.P. Morgan. He joined the firm in late 2008 as the India Chief Economist. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Aziz was Principal Economic Advisor in India’s Ministry of Finance. He has also worked at the IMF, where he headed the China division from 2004 to 2007. He holds a PhD from University of Minnesota. He appears regularly in TV and print media and has been interviewed by CNBC, Bloomberg and BBC on India and ASEAN. He writes opinion pieces for several Indian newspapers and business journals and is regularly quoted by the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal on India and Asia specific issues. Aziz has also authored several academic research papers on China, India, the determinants of financial crisis, and real business cycles. He is the co-editor of "China and India Learning from Each Other: Reforms and Policies for Sustained Growth," IMF, Washington DC, 2007. He is also one of the few Asian economists to be invited by The Economist as a guest to debate global issues on the journal's online forum "Economics by Invitation."

Mr Abhijit Ghosh

Abhijit is an International Tax Partner and Pharmaceutical & Healthcare practice leader of PwC Singapore.

Abhijit has more than 27 years of experience in advising and managing various cross-border complex business structures and operational models for MNCs and SMEs as they expand globally. He specialises on international tax planning, advising on R&D and IP structure and management, incentive negotiation, M&A and resolving tax disputes.

In the course of assisting various American, European, Japanese and Indian multinational companies expand to their operations in Asia Pac region and beyond using Singapore as a hub, he maintains close working relationship with various government agencies. He is also actively involved in lobbying and advising/sharing views on various fiscal policies with concerned authorities.

He is a regular speaker on business and tax issues at media and other public forum and contributes articles for various journals and newspapers from time to time. Recently he authored the IP Chapter of “The Law & Practice of Singapore Income Tax” published by LexisNexis.

Abhijit is a Chartered Accountant and a Accredited Tax Advisor (Income Tax) of Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals. He was also an Adjunct Associate Professor of NUS and conducted many IP Tax Strategy Workshops for IP Academy / NUS. He was on the Board of Maxwell Chambers Pte Ltd (a subsidiary of Ministry of Law) which is responsible for promoting Singapore as an international arbitration centre. Currently, he serves as an active Board member of Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.