Department of Economics of St. Xavier's University, Kolkata (SXUK) in association with Xavier’s University Economics Society (XAVECOS) organised the fourth Annual Economics Summit on February 28, 2024 in the university campus. The theme was ‘Contemporary Issues in Economic Theory and Policy.’

While delivering the inaugural speech, Rev. Dr. John Felix Raj S.J., Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor of SXUK stressed the importance of shaping India's future through the exchange of ideas called for sustainable economic growth and highlighted India's role in global value chains. He further congratulated the students from different parts of the country for participating and presenting their research works at this summit.

Prof. C. Veeramani, Director of the Centre for Development Studies was one of the eminent speakers at this summit. He discussed India's potentialities, challenges, and opportunities in the global economic landscape. He highlighted the impact of globalization on employment dynamics, particularly female labour force participation, and the need for job creation. He mentioned that India can gain significantly by concentrating on the backward linkage in the Global Value Chain.

A panel discussion took place on ‘Sustainable Development in an Uncertain World’ where Dr. Kausik Gupta, Professor of Economics, University of Calcutta; Dr. Swati Bhattacharjee, Senior Journalist at Ananda Bazar Patrika and Dr. Achiransu Acharyya, Assistant Professor of Economics at Visva-Bharati participated.

The summit witnessed more than 88 research scholars and students across the country participating and presenting their research works on sustainable development goals, social sector, trade and development, banking and finance, etc.

Oishidatta Mukherjee of SXUK and Shreemanti Datta and Oitijhya Dutta from St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata jointly won the best paper award in the postgraduate students’ category. Their research included factors influencing female participation in unpaid household activities and MSME, a friend or foe to growth and development respectively. Amit Mitra and Rahul Sinha from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Kolkata, and Sayantan Basu of Amity University, Kolkata bagged second and third prizes respectively.

In the undergraduate section, Srinjoy Majumdar and Spriha Mondal of Jadavpur University won the first prize. While the second prize was bagged by Souptik Dasgupta, Ranjani Roy, and Adishree Acharyya of Jadavpur University, the third prize went to Bhoshanaa N and Madhusree N K from Madras School of Economics, Chennai.

Prof. Soumyen Sikdar, Professor of Economics, formerly associated with the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, delivered the valedictory address, where he explained the evolution of the theory of economic growth over the last many decades.

Dr. Subhanil Chowdhury