Eminent economist Professor M A Oommen said the fiscal status of Kerala was critically affected by a series of natural calamities and the Covid pandemic. Presiding over the inaugural session, he noted that the 2018 floods alone caused a 4 per cent drop in the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GSDP). Corruption, he said, remains a serious concern, and without addressing it, Kerala’s progress will be impeded.

K R Jyothilal, additional chief secretary (Finance), Government of Kerala, and C Balagopal, chairman, KSIDC and founder CEO of Terumo Penpol Ltd, also spoke on the occasion. Dr K J Joseph, director, GIFT, delivered the welcome address and Dr A Saraf, Registrar, GIFT, proposed the vote of thanks.

Dr A V Jose, C P John, Pinaki Chabrabarthy, former Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Achuthsankar, former Director, Department of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Kerala, Siddik Rabiyath, Dr P S Ranjith, Justin George, A Damodaran, Professor, IIM Bengaluru, Shekhar Kuriakose, Srikumar Chathopadhyaya, Sreedhar Radhakrishnan, S Muraleedharan and Shinu Varkey spoke in various sessions of the seminar.