AVM, upholding its tradition of constantly striving for overall growth of students, witnessed the first session of the new AVM Talk Series programme on “Uncovering Opportunities Within India” for the academic year 2023-24. The session title was “Overview of India’s Economy” and was delivered by the very passionate and gifted Arvind Sir, the founder and director of Niveshaay Investment Advisory. His presentation focused on providing an evidence-based overview of India’s economy. The AVM Auditorium was abuzz with excitement as students from grades 10, 11, and 12 gathered at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, the 3rd of October, 2023.

The introductory speech for this talk series was delivered by the series initiator and our dear principal, Vijay Sir. His speech provided a concise summary of our country’s thriving economy, emphasising the importance of basing our understanding on evidence and analysis rather than being swayed by mere propaganda. He correctly pointed out the shortcomings of different media platforms (news channels, etc.) for not reporting everything. As a result, it urged us not to believe everything we were presented with. As the source of positivity, he encouraged us to focus on opportunities rather than challenges. He concluded by suggesting that we need to adhere to our ethics and by asking us to learn and skill up each time.

Without veering away from the main headlines, here are the key takeaways from Arvind Sir’s amazingly informative session. Citing the example of Waaree Energies and Borosil renewable in the Covid years, Sir emphasised that capabilities matter, how these two companies are doing well in making solar panels because they can quickly make more when there’s a big demand. They’re becoming world leaders and showing that India can be an alternative to supply solar panels instead of China. Later, Sir conveyed that stable interest rates are a very good sign for the health of our country’s economy. He also highlighted the profitability of B2G (Business to Government) relationships, exemplified by contracts such as those for Vande Bharat Trains. Policy tweaks by the governmental support have enormously benefited various enterprises and have set in place a virtuous cycle of growth. Sir unveiled the concept of depreciating currency. He helped us understand that booming entrepreneurship in the nation should be funded more to lift up the economy. This leads to a conclusion that capitalism can absolutely help upgrade the entire economy. With the latest escalation in the country’s infrastructural development, India now holds a strong position in multiple domains. The rising sectors noted down from the speech are defence, capital goods, electric vehicles & sustainable development, consumption, renewable energy and infrastructure. His ending lines emphasised that:

“FUTURE IS HERE”

Written by: Bhagya Patel, Kush Patel (Grade 11)

Student Reflections 

“Arvind Sir took time out from his busy schedule to visit AVM in order to not just provide us knowledge of paramount importance, but also to nurture in us the sense of being a true Bhartiya. He explained to us the pivotal role of the government in the growth of the Indian Economy. He also inspired us to develop the perspective to analyse such information in a true sense by which we will be capable of connecting to the textbooks ideas in a better manner with present times.”  Aryan Jasoliya, Std 11

“If we sit down talking about the Indian Economy, one might  think, ‘Why the need to discuss this?’. Well there is a simple straight answer to this and that is to wisely differentiate between propaganda and fact based evidence. In our country, people tend to believe friends and relatives more than evidence based facts. This session helped emphasise that and provoked a fresh minded perspective towards our nation’s economy.” Chaitanya Patel, Std 11

“While discussing the Indian Economy, Arvind Sir pointed out that every boom in the economy of our country will be much better than that of the whole world and every bust in our economy will be lesser than that of the whole world in the coming years.” Krutarth Patel, Std 11

“The session uncovered that being a citizen of India, it is important to know the capabilities and growing opportunities for investing in our country.” Tanmay Parmar, Std 11

“Arvind Sir nicely explained how our annual budget system works and made us understand the government’s intention regarding the annual budgets in the past few years.” Rudra Patel, Std 11

“Most inefficient way of uplifting an economy: both efficient and inefficient entrepreneurs get equal capital. For a trend to become trending, there is a convergence of multiple technologies required.” Krishn Patel, Std 11

“Arvind Sir made me understand the virtuous cycle of better government policy decisions. Small scale industries have huge potential but are usually underestimated. We should believe in the power of entrepreneurship in the development of the Indian Economy.” Bhagya Patel, Std 11

“This session further ignited my interest in the field of Economics and Management. After the session, I now feel even more proud to be an Indian and want to contribute to its growth.” Neel Zadafiya, Std 11

“I realised that what is taught in textbooks is just a brief summary of that individual topic that I was learning. I used to under-appreciate the medical facilities available in our country, being unaware of the fact that our country is amongst the very few that provide 24 hours medical services! Many developed countries are not even able to provide 12 hours of medical facilities.” Nirlep N. Patel, Std 12

“Currency depreciation has both pros and cons. The positive point is that the exports of the country will rise but the negative side effect is that it decreases the import in the economy. Infrastructure development in a globalised world builds a lot of capabilities for long term impact to fight inflation. PLI (Production/Performance Linked Incentive) schemes also ensure a proper value addition in the country and it would result in the GDP growth. China+1 is a great opportunity for India to replace China in terms of manufacturing sector. Not just the US but the entire world eyes at India due to its large market.” Dhruv Vaghasiya, Std 12

“Arvind Sir’s session made us realise that we only know a very small part of Economics. Some companies of Gujarat like Waaree, Elecon and Borosil Renewables are becoming famous worldwide for supplying goods like solar panels, batteries, gears, etc of the highest quality. Delighted to know how the government is making policies in which Chinese manufacturers cannot invade the Indian market.” Nirnay Aggarwal, Std 12

“Capital market and economics are some of the most fascinating topics that a business or commerce student needs to delve into. The future of India looks bright as the NBFCs are flooded with cash which they wish to lend but the corporates are not demanding money as they are also flourishing so the interest rates are decreasing. World is implementing the China+1 policy which in turn brings them again to India for manufacturing purposes. The BOD (Board of Directors) of MNCs is filled with Indians and they will prioritise Indian companies for buying raw materials.” Dhruv Jadwani, Std 12

“Producers used to greatly benefit from the B2C model (Business to Customer) but the Government of India is so efficient and effective that they now operate using the B2G model (Business to Government)! The amount of consumerism in India is crazy, as we have brands of pipes and cookers also!!! India’s growth is unstoppable now.” Nirlep R. Patel, Std 12

“We usually only hear about big businesses such as Reliance, Adani, etc. but there are many small and mid cap businesses which are doing very well in their respective sectors. I also learned that Indians’ choices in shopping are quite brand oriented. Apart from all these, I also enjoyed Arvind Sir’s way of speaking and delivering complex and technical topics in very short duration and in a very concise manner. We are eagerly waiting for more such sessions.” Saral Gada, Std 12