New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) The 5th Kautilya Economic Conclave (KEC 2026) is scheduled to be held here from October 3 to 5 under the theme "Resilience in an Age of Flux", with the three-day gathering bringing together top policymakers, economists, academics, financial experts, and international thought leaders, including over 80 international participants from around 30 countries, the Finance Ministry announced on Thursday.
Vice President C. P. Radhakrishnan will deliver the inaugural address. The inaugural session will examine how economic policy can build resilience without sacrificing growth, openness or institutional credibility in an environment marked by recurrent global shocks and uncertainty, a ministry statement said.
A special plenary on “Resilience in an Age of Flux: India’s Economic Priorities” will focus on how India can sustain growth, preserve macroeconomic stability and expand investment amid global fragmentation, technological disruption and recurrent shocks. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will deliver the special address, with Amelie de Montchalin, President of the Cour des Comptes and former Minister of Public Action and Accounts of France, as discussant.
The concluding session, “India and the World: Adaptive by Design”, will be moderated by N. K. Singh, President, Board of Trustees, Institute of Economic Growth. External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar will deliver the special concluding address, with former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo as discussant. The session will examine how India can remain adaptive by design, preserve strategic autonomy, widen partnerships and respond flexibly to a more contested and uncertain global order.
Technology and the digital economy will constitute another major strand of KEC 2026. Communications Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia will deliver the keynote address at the plenary "From Connectivity to AI: The New Architecture of the Digital Economy". The session will examine how digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence and new communications networks can raise productivity while preserving competition and trust.
Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will deliver the keynote address on Culture as Capital: From Heritage to Horizons on the penultimate day.
The opening plenary, “A World Priced for Risk”, will examine how energy shocks, supply-chain disruptions and the weaponisation of trade and economic access are creating renewed challenges for macroeconomic management, investment and resilience. The session will be chaired by Lord Nicholas Stern, with the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary P. K. Mishra delivering the keynote address and Professor Michael Greenstone of the University of Chicago as discussant.
The role of central banks in navigating a more volatile global environment will be a key focus of the Conclave. In the plenary session “Central Banking in an Age of Flux”, Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra will deliver the special address.
The agenda will address a wide range of domestic and global economic issues, including fiscal federalism, industrial policy, capital-market development, regulatory oversight, development finance and the mobilisation of domestic and foreign capital for long-term investment. Sessions will examine the institutional and fiscal principles governing Centre-State relations, the role of industrial policy in structural transformation, and the conditions required to deepen India’s capital markets and channel savings into productive risk capital, the statement added.
--IANS
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