Fifth Kautilya Economic Conclave Concludes in New Delhi

The Institute of Economic Growth (IEG), working with the Ministry of Finance, brought the fifth edition of the Kautilya Economic Conclave (KEC) to a close in New Delhi. The sitting ran across three days, from 3 to 5 October 2026, and carried the theme Resilience in an Age of Flux. More than 200 policymakers, economists, academics, financial experts and business leaders joined it. Among them were over 80 foreign delegates drawn from about 30 countries.

Who opened the conclave

Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan inaugurated the gathering on 3 October 2026 and gave the inaugural address. He argued that economic resilience cannot be prised apart from social resilience, and placed inclusion at the base of a resilient society in a fast-shifting world. He also asked that policymaking stay rooted in ground realities and bend with changing circumstances.

The flagship sessions

Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the special plenary titled Resilience in an Age of Flux: India's Economic Priorities. Her discussant was Amelie de Montchalin, President of the Cour des Comptes of France. The session weighed how India can hold on to growth, guard macroeconomic stability and widen investment while global fragmentation, technological disruption and repeated shocks press on it.

Communications and North Eastern Region Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia delivered a keynote on Connected India, Empowered Finance: Building Trusted Digital Infrastructure for the AI Economy. Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat spoke on Culture as Capital: From Heritage to Horizons. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar gave the special concluding address in the final session, India and the World: Adaptive by Design, which N. K. Singh, President of the IEG Board of Trustees, moderated and in which former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo was the discussant.

Who else took part

Those present included P. K. Mishra, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister; Shaktikanta Das, Principal Secretary-2 to the Prime Minister and a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Sanjay Malhotra, the sitting Governor of the Reserve Bank of India; Anuradha Thakur, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs; Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran; Lord Nicholas Stern; Professor Michael Greenstone; and Jean-Claude Trichet, once President of the European Central Bank.

Themes of the five editions

The platform started in 2022 and is convened jointly by the IEG and the Finance Ministry, serving as a bridge between scholarship, policymaking and experience from abroad. Michael Debabrata Patra, Chairman of the IEG Board of Governors, and Sabyasachi Kar, Director of the IEG, steered the arrangements. Talks over the three days ranged across trade and supply chains, fiscal and structural reform, financial markets, development finance, artificial intelligence, jobs and skills, demographic change, food systems and climate finance.