Seminar on ‘Role of Private Remittances in the Socioeconomic Scenario of Kerala’ Held

KOZHIKODE:
Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK), in association with Reserve Bank of India Thiruvananthapuram, conducted a Seminar on the ‘Role of private remittances in its Kozhikode campus which was attended by more than 250 delegates comprising faculty and students of colleges and universities, researchers, bankers, traders, businesspersons, consultants and other interested members of the public.
The delegates were welcomed by Prof. Rudra Sensarma, Chairperson of Research at IIMK. The guest of honour, Prof. Keyoor Purani, Chairperson of Technology Business Incubator of IIMK, stressed on the importance of channelizing remittances into entrepreneurial ventures so that Kerala can transform itself from a consumption economy to a production economy. In this connection he referred to IIM Kozhikode LIVE – the business incubator to be launched by the Institute in August would play a significant role.
In his inaugural address, S M N Swamy, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Thiruvananthapuram, spoke on the importance of remittances in reducing India’s reliance on foreign aid and in helping the country’s forex reserves as well as in meeting the current account deficit. He mentioned that India’s forex reserves of more than $360 billion and import cover of more than a year would be adequate in managing the temporary effects of the recent Brexit if at all there is an impact.
The technical sessions featured a number of distinguished experts such as Prof Irudaya Rajan of CDS Thiruvananthapuram, R.S. Kannan, CEO of NORKA Roots, Dr V K Vijayakumar, Investment Strategist, Geojit Securites, S. Adikesavan, CGM of State Bank of Travancore, Dr Ajit, D., former Director of RBI, Prof Sthanu Nair of IIMK, K. I. Varghese, CGM of Federal Bank, A. Sony, DGM of South Indian Bank, Smt Dhanya, V., Assistant Adviser of RBI and Prof Shubhasis Dey of IIMK. The speakers gave their views on the high dependence of Kerala’s economy on private remittances and the consequent concerns. The speakers felt that remittances help in poverty alleviation, economic and political empowerment of recipients but the reintegration of returning migrants poses a challenge. While there are long term adverse implications of over reliance on remittances for psychological and social problems faced by the people, remittances provide a stable source of external income and need to be channelized properly. This would be possible with an improvement in the ease of doing business in Kerala which can help entrepreneurship and job creation. The audience was able to participate in the discussions by sharing their perspectives and getting their questions answered.