SN Business and Economics is a multidisciplinary journal that covers the areas of Economics, Finance, Business, and Management. Springer publishes the journal. It is supported by a team of experienced in-house editors and an international Editorial board. Recently, Assistant Professor Dr Ghanshyam Kumar Pandey from the Department of Economics was appointed as a member of the editorial board of SN Business and Economics.

He is responsible for providing feedback on an ad hoc basis to the in-house editors. He is in charge of verifying submitted papers’ suitability for external review. All SN Business and Economics editors work together to ensure that the submitted research is expertly handled. The team assesses and confirms the paper to be technically sound, academically valid, and ultimately suitable for publication.

Dr Ghanshyam Kumar Pandey will be the handling Editor for up to 3 papers per quarter. This involves nominating academic referees and making an editorial recommendation following peer review. When requested, he shall give the editorial policy or strategy feedback to the Editorial team. Initially, his tenure will last for one year.

‘An interview with Professor Bandi Kamaiah’ was featured in the leading publication, IUP Journal of Applied Economics. Analysing the issues of Micro, Macro, Development and Energy economics, the journal features papers on Industrial economics, Public finance, Industry, Agricultural, Rural economics, etc. Having published interviews with eminent Professors like Professor K L Krishna, Professor Dilip Nachane, Professor U Sankar, Professor S Mahendra Dev, and Professor Ashima Goyal, the dialogue with Prof Bandi Kamaiah is the sixth in the series.

In the interview with Prof Bandi Kamaiah, Department of Economics, SRM University-AP, GRK Murty narrates the transformational journey of Prof Kamaiah from the son of a tenant farmer to an estimable researcher who went on to occupy the position of the President of ‘The Indian Econometric Society’ (TIES). The interview presents an enriching account of the veteran’s life who crossed innumerable hurdles to nurture his passion and became an ‘agent of change’ in the lives of several hundreds of first-generation students from the margins of society, by shaping them into accomplished professionals.

The evocative dialogue with Prof Kamaiah extends an open doorway to several inspiring phases of his life that modelled him into a “towering intellectual” and “outstanding teacher”. His collaboration with pre-eminent economists like Prof P R Bramhananda, Prof Dilip Nachane, and Prof C Rangarajan motivated him to build a career in monetary economics. He has successfully guided 50 PhDs and an equal number of MPhil dissertations from almost every facet of economics and published more than 160 papers in national and international journals.

The interview explicates his association with various institutes of prestige including the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) and the University of Hyderabad. As the founding father of the School of Economics at the University of Hyderabad, he has also introduced a two-year employment-enhancing master’s program in Financial Economics. His amicable and free-spirited approach made him one of the most sought-after teachers among the student community. He has a unique way of nurturing students and guiding them through the process of academic research.

Prof Kamaiah also articulates his views on the economic landscape of the country, the possible impact of its monetary and fiscal policies in the post-pandemic scenario, the growing correlation between the domestic and global stock markets, and the deepening relationship between energy consumption, real GDP, CO2 emissions, and such other climate-related issues. Airing his concerns about the outmoded syllabus and stagnant curriculum, he reiterates the need to renovate university education, hopefully, through the framework created by NEP 2020. He believes, creating specialised institutions would be a better way to train professionals who would become market ready and employable.

In his opinion, ‘Centres of Economic Excellence’ in different regions of the country will give rise to a strong pool of economists well-trained within the country to meaningfully replace the imported economists from the West to render advice on crucial matters. “The young minds of the country should be exposed to indigenous ways of thinking, and holistically trained to appreciate our culture, resources and institutions, systems and customs, ways of living, etc. to understand local markets, expose the basis of vulgar consumerism, the beauty of self-regulation without the aid of Adam Smith’s invisible hand, and social realism in contrast to self-interest”, said Prof Kamaiah.

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The Department of Economics is delighted to announce that Dr Ghanshyam Kumar Pandey and his research group; Sheeba Moghal, Rakshit Barodia, and William Carey have published an article titled “COVID-19 and its effects on the mental health of people living in urban slums in India” in the ‘Journal of Information and Knowledge Management’, having an Impact Factor of 1.3.

The study confirms that more than three-fourth of the population suffer from mental stress due to the spread of COVID-19 and the lockdown imposed by the government. Eighty per cent of those surveyed stated that the stress had affected their decision-making. The study also confirms that the number of dependents, monthly income, number of living rooms, maintenance of physical distancing norms, avoidance of social gatherings, government support, health insurance, and living in a rented house are significantly related to the mental stress of people living in slums in Andhra Pradesh in India.

Abstract of the Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on the mental health of people from different backgrounds; these effects have been particularly acute among lower-income households and in slums. There has been a steep rise in mental illness and behaviours associated with it since 2020, especially in slums characterized by poverty, poor housing, high density, and unhealthy environments. This paper aims to examine the effect of COVID-19 on the mental health of people living in the slums of Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India.

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SRM University-AP is proud to announce that Dr Ghanshyam Kumar Pandey, Department of Economics, has received the prestigious NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) grant of Rs 14.85 lacs for a duration of 10 months of active research on “Tenancy and Credit: Exploring Facts below the Crust in AP”.

About the Research

The study will attempt to identify different possible sources of credit of agriculture households in the Guntur district of AP and then an analysis of the impact at the macro level will be carried out. The role of self-help groups and microfinance on agriculture and livelihood will be one important component of this analysis. Transaction cost, cascading effect, and loan waiver impact will be estimated across tenant and owner cultivators, and social groups.

The study will help to understand the improvement in the life of tenants due to the adoption of the ‘Model Tenancy Act’ and provide feedback on the Tenancy Certificate introduced in AP for enabling farmers to access bank/formal credit and whether the formation of JLGs has led to increase in the credit availability to tenants or not.

The project will help understand the sociological impact of economic decisions by the governance and help direct policies to more beneficial outcomes especially in terms of Tenancy and Credit.

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The Department of Economics of SRM University-AP, Andhra Pradesh, conducted a Panel Discussion on February 09, 2022, for the much needed and relevant in-depth analysis of the Union Budget proposed by the Finance Minister in the parliament on February 01, 2022.

Professor Bandi Kamaiah was the moderator of the event, and Dr Anandarao Suvvari, the faculty coordinator of the Department of Economics in the University, organised this discussion, inviting four eminent public finance economists of India, Prof N R Bhanu Murthy, Vice-Chancellor, BASE University, Bengaluru; Prof K R Shanmugam, Director, Madras School of Economics, Chennai; Prof K Gayathri, Professor, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru; Dr Shri Hari Naidu, Economist, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi. The co-convenors of the event were Dr Ghanshyam Pandey, Dr Manzoor Hassan Malik, Dr Kamal Sai Erra, Dr Hari Venkatesh from the Department of Economics SRM-AP.

The discussion started with a brief overview and essence of the Union budget by Dr Anandarao Suvvari, followed by Prof Bandi Kamaiah. Then first panellist Prof N R Bhanu Murthy, who our Indian Finance Minister also quoted, spoke about how the current budget is a continuation of the previous budget and emphasised more on the capital expenditure, which is the route to growth. He highlighted that the government should bring efficiency in public expenditure and expressed that the public policymakers side-lined the public debt number to GDP ratio at both central and state levels. An issue identified by Prof Murthy was bringing in many commodities under the customs tariff line and how doing this will have a negative impact on the exports. Further, he mentioned the ignorance towards the health and education sectors by a reduction in the allocation of expenditure for the same.

The second panellist Prof K R Shanmugam, gave a very detailed look at the budget, sector by sector, pointing out the benefits and the concerns related to each of them. He gave us a brief look at how the Indian economy has been doing for the past few years and gave an analysis taking this into consideration and stated that the budget had provided necessary fiscal stimuli through an increase in capital expenditure for the revival of the economy.

The third panellist Prof K Gayathri highlighted the philosophy of policy implications of budget and the need for a continuous process for analysing it. She also focused on the need for scientificity for estimates and the need for a sustainable approach for the budget. She pointed out that the current budget was future-looking in line with the vision for India 100 and that it put thorough emphasis on capacity building inclusive development by involving all stakeholders and modern infrastructure while expressing concern over effective implementation of policies.

The final panellist, Dr Shri Hari Naidu, discussed the revenue side of the budget thoroughly while focusing on the new taxation regime, other and legitimising crypto assets and digital Indian currency. In addition to this, Dr Naidu commented on the budget that the tax GDP ratio has been stagnant for the past two decades also, it has not been addressed in the budget, and despite the fact that there were a lot of tax reforms, the tax bases needed to be expanded.

After individual reviews by the panellists, questions posed by the students and the co-convenors were answered, followed by an interactive and engaging discussion among panellists, moderator, convenor and co-convenors on various issues spanning from the way of analysing the budget, trade-offs between debt and capital expenditure, debt sustainability, control mechanisms, the process of allocation, outcome evaluation or impact of the budget and the need for reality and effectiveness of planned budget on the ground level.

The session, after a thorough discussion on the union budget, was concluded by a vote of thanks proposed by Asst. Prof. Dr Hari Venkatesh to the esteemed panellists, moderator, convenor, co-convenors and all the people who made this session successful for contributing their precious time and valued efforts.