The Post Covid-19 World: Economic and Geopolitical Consequences for India and the World

Chennai, May 26 2020 | The Peninsula Foundation had its first COVID-related online panel discussion on India’s economic stimulus package and the long-term repercussions of the pandemic on the global order. Our esteemed panelists included Shri Mohan Guruswamy and Professor Vidya Nadkarni. The discussion was moderated by Air Marshal M Matheswaran (Retd).

Mohan Guruswamy addressed the stimulus package announced by Finance Minister – Nirmala Sitharaman. He believes that the current stimulus package does very little to ease the financial burden faced by MSMEs. The government must tackle the economic and health crisis simultaneously and not one after the other. In his view much of the stimulus package is futuristic whereas the immediate requirement is to put money in the hands of the people. To a query if financial resources were available, he answered that the government has not looked at the low hanging fruits. Our huge foreign exchange reserves are kept in US banks providing benefit to others. Indian corporate houses are sitting on piles of cash, which should be tapped. On the contrary the government has given them more benefits by reducing taxes and writing off Rs 65000 crores of debt for the business sharks. Taxpayers’ money is utilised to benefit elites rather than the common man.

Professor Vidya Nadkarni spoke about how the pandemic is going to bring about almost unrecognizable changes in the global order. One of the key takeaways from her speech was the transmission of power from the USA to China. She also addressed China’s position in the international order and the portrayal of China’s system as an alternate to the western liberal order. India will have to follow a strategic engagement policy, one where it will have to navigate a deep partnership with the west and a multi-faceted India-China relationship, she added.

The webinar was also graced by the presence of faculty from across the world and several stalwart personalities from the Aerospace industry as well. A pertinent question was raised by Shri Pushpinder Singh, the President of the Society for Aerospace Studies (SAS) – “What is going to be the effect of the pandemic on the political governance of India?” The webinar ended with a summing up from TPF’s president – Air Marshal M Matheswaran.