The two-day Ninth Annual Doctoral Thesis Conference, being organized by the ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad, got off to a start on April 21, 2016, at the ICFAI University campus. This edition of the Conference has been organized in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai.
Research scholars working in various fields related to Management studies and Economics have participated. The conference has received 235 research papers of which 161 have been accepted after review by an expert committee. Participants from ISI, IIMs, IITs, NITs, JNU, Delhi School of Economics, IGIDR, ISEC, Madras School of Economics, IFMR, various central and state universities presented their research papers during the conference.
In his inaugural address, the Chief Guest for the occasion, Prof. S Mahendra Dev, Director of IGIDR Mumbai, spoke on the topic, “Data, Manufacturing, Ease of Doing Business, and Bankruptcy Reforms”. He explained some of the important challenges being faced by economists helping the Government of India in policy formulation. Prof. Dev, in his address to the young researchers, touched upon the importance of quality of data and explained the reasons for the reduction of GDP at current prices while it increased at constant prices, and the growing difference between the wholesale price index and the consumer price index. 
He also elaborated on the difference between the Index of Industrial Production and gross value added. Prof. Dev spoke about how growth in the manufacturing sector did not always lead to employment growth and cited the example of countries like China, Indonesia and Thailand. He threw light upon the share of services in GDP and employment in India and said ‘Make in India’ should include services too. One of the ways of increasing GDP, he said, was by increasing the participation of women in the workforce. He further elaborated that the challenges for India’s economic policy lie in the areas of balanced growth of all sectors including the manufacturing industries, employment generation through improved education, gender parity, and bankruptcy laws
Prof. Dev observed that there are visible signs of improvement in ‘ease of doing business’ in India although much still needs to be done in addressing issues with regard to transparency & corruption-free governance. He also spoke on the issues of bankruptcy and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2015, which has been sent to the Lok Sabha. He said there was a need for a single consolidated code for insolvency resolution for all entities. On the issue of Corruption, Prof. Dev said it was becoming a research issue in developing economies, and that it was only when bankruptcy law and corruption were addressed that ease of doing business in the country would improve.
Prof. J. Mahender Reddy, Vice-Chancellor of IFHE, presided over the inaugural session. He explained as to how this conference provided an avenue to research scholars for improving their study-methodology in order to make their findings more relevant to businesses and government. He announced that the tenth doctoral thesis conference will also be held in collaboration with IGIDR in April 2017.
The conference was attended by the Directors, Deans, Faculty Members, Research Scholars and students of the University.
ICFAI University (IFHE): The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education is declared as a Deemed to be University under section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956. The University is accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ Grade with a score of 3.43 out of 4. Three thousand five hundred students are pursuing various programs in the Faculty of Management (ICFAI Business School), Faculty of Science & Technology (IcfaiTech), and Faculty of Law at IFHE. The University campus based at Hyderabad, is a 92 acres lush green campus with built-up area of over 16 lakh sq.ft. The campus is fully residential, Wi-Fi enabled and equipped with state-of-the- art facilities.
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