A. Webinars
Webinar on "Environmental behaviour of Indian manufacturing firms: Does internationalization matter? organised on 28-10-2022
Ms Parijata Pradhan, PhD scholar, Centre for Development Studies, presented the paper. Dr Kiran Kumar Kakarlapudi, Assistant Professor GIFT welcomed the participants. The session was chaired by Prof K J Joseph, Director, GIFT
Abstract: There are two different views regarding the effect of internationalisation on environmental sustainability. The pollution haven hypothesis states that internationalisation may worsen the environmental standards of developing countries by relocating the polluting industries from north to south. On the other hand, it may induce environmental actions among the firms by creating institutional pressure or by facilitating the diffusion of sustainability-oriented technologies and strategies. This study intends to examine the effect of two main channels of internationalisation, viz. export intensity and presence of foreign ownership on the sustainability behaviour of Indian manufacturing firms. Our results show that internationalized firms are more likely to engage in environmentally-oriented activities than their local counterparts. These results imply that internationalisation may help to evolve an ecologically-oriented development trajectory in developing countries like India.
Webinar on "Centre-state relations in India - Constitutional provisions and role of constitutional functionaries, organised on 11-11-2022
Shri R Mohan,IRS,  Honorary Fellow, GIFT, presented the paper. Prof KJ Joseph, Director GIFT welcomed the participants. Adv Shri K Gopalakrishna Kurup, Advocate General, Kerala, chaired the session..
Abstract: The political and financial framework envisaged in the Constitution provides for a setup, which is described by experts as quasi-federal. Our federal polity is overlaid with unitary features, which become pre-dominant when emergency provisions are invoked. In other times, the federal features are dependent on the role played by the constitutional functionaries, the prevailing political climate, the economic situation and the evolving judicial perceptions.  In the Indian situation, the role of constitutional functionaries in executive and legislative domains has substantially affected the nature of our federal polity in different ways. The discussion proposes to analyse the scenario by examining how constitutional provisions have been handled by constitutional functionaries and the impact these have had through judicial pronouncements and legislative actions.
GIFT in collaboration with national institute of pension management jointly organised a panel discussion on 'Supreme Court Verdict on EPF Pension: Implications for stakeholders
Shri Vinod Narayanan, Chairman, NIPM Trivandrum Chapter welcomed the gathering.  Presidential Address: Dr K J Joseph, Professor and Director, GIFT delivered the presidential address. Dr A V Jose, Former Director, GIFT and Former official, ILO made the keynote address. Topic Presentation was made by Shri P Elango, Vice Chairman, NIPM Trivandrum Chapter. Case Presentation: Shri B Sunilkumar, Senior Manager, KSFE Puthiyakavu, Karunagappally, presented the case. Shri L S Mahesh,Secretary, NIPM Trivandrum Chapter peoposed the vote of thanks.. The panel members for the discussion included Shri Ajith Nair, Advocate, Shri. B Sunilkumar, Senior Manager, Puthiyakavu Branch, KSFE ,Shri. G Ani, Senior Manager, Kayamkulam Branch, KSFE, Shri. P Elango, Vice Chairman, NIPM Trivandrum Chapter, Dr.Thomas Joseph Thoomkuzhy, Associate Professor, GIFT Smt.L Anitha Kumary, Associate Professor, GIFT. Dr. N.Ramalingam, Associate Professor, GIFT moderated the programme.
Webinar on "Does Digital Payments enhance GST revenue? Evidence from India, organised on 18-11-2022
Mr Jerome Joseph, PhD scholar GIFT, presented the paper. Prof K J Joseph, Director, GIFT welcomed the participants. The session was chaired by Prof D Narayana, Honorary Professor GIFT.
Abstract: The smooth functioning of modern tax systems depends largely on the economy's robust technological advancements and digital ecosystem. In this context, this paper analyses the causal relationship between digital payments and GST revenue in India. The period of study is from August 2017 to March 2022.  In the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) methodological framework, our empirical results suggest that a positive and highly significant relationship exists between digital payments and GST revenue in India. Apart from the digital payments, the economy's performance, tax compliance and imports are positive, whereas inflation and exports have a negative relationship with GST revenue in the country. Among the various measures by the tax authorities to improve compliance and increase tax revenue, digital payments stand odd as it involves no extra efforts either by the taxpayers or by the tax officials.  The study's findings highlight the importance of digital transactions not only in transforming the nation into a digital economy and reaping its benefits but also in enhancing the country's tax revenue.
GIFT organised a stake holders consultation on regulation and development of the real estate sector in Kerala on 19.11.2022
Dr Thomas Joseph Thoomkuzhy, Associate Professor welcomed the participants. Shri P H Kurien IAS (Rtd), Chairman, K-RERA and Prof K J Joseph, Director, GIFT co-chaired the programme. The inaugural address was given by Dr Sharmila Mary Joseph, IAS, Principal Secretary LSDG. The seminar included two technical sessions.  Session one includes discussions on  (1) Kerala Real Estate Sector-Current status by Prof  K J Joseph,  (2) Kerala Real Estate Sector-State Regulatory Issues- Representative of CredAI-Kerala and (3) State level Taxes/Duties related issues-Representative of Builders Association in India. The first session was moderated by Sri Binu Francis, Secretary, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. Session two, includes (1)Affordable Housing in Real Estate Sector by Smt Shency Mathew, GIFT, (2) Apartment Ownership Act-Need for Amendment by Shri M P Mathews, Member, K-RERA and (3) Master Plans & spatial planning for Real Estate Development by Sri Prasanth H, Chief Town Planner (Planning).  Session two was moderated by Dr Thomas Joseph, GIFT.  GIFT PhD Scholars,  A M Indu, Meghana Jayasankar, Niveditha, Arun Paul, Munawwara Zubair and Shijo Mathew were the Rapporteurs of the sessions. Smt Shency Mathew proposed the vote of thanks.
Webinar on taxation transformation of businesses enabled by information systems: an empirical study of Goods and Services Tax implementation in India, organised on 16.12.2022.
Dr Pankaj Dikshit presented the paper. Dr N Ramalingam, Associate Professor, GIFT welcomed the participants. The session was chaired by Prof K J Joseph, Director, GIFT.
Abstract: This research studies the largest e-governance initiative of India that used a single information system to transform its taxation system. The study assesses the success of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) e-governance information system using the DeLone and McLean model. The model is also expanded to assess this very large and transformative reform from the perspective of policy intervention by the government and to examine the induction of technostress on users. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique is used to analyse the responses of 937 companies. The findings demonstrate the acceptance and success of this gigantic reform, validating that frequent policy intervention positively contributed to the successful rollout. The research finds that service quality had the least influence in the use of the e-government system and also studies whether the swift transformation triggered technos- tress factors in users of the system. This is the first empirical study, as best known to us, that has studied this large e-governance tax transformation in India.

B. Teaching and Training programmes
1. Post Graduate Diploma in GST (PGDGST)
132 hours of Training programme for the Fifth batch of PGDGST students were completed till the month of December 2022. Study materials (Hard copy) are sent for the present batch of students. Hard Copies of Training Certifcates, Marklists and Post Graudate Diploma Certificates were despatched to the fourth batch of students.  Dr N Ramalingam, Smt Jenny Thekkara and Smt Anitha Kumary L, Associate Professors, GIFT are handling the sessions..  
Course Co-ordinators: Dr. N Ramalingam and Smt. L Anitha Kumary
For more details: https://www.gift.res.in/index.php/course/detail/14/PGD-GST
2. PhD programme
The activities in PhD programme during October, November, and December 2022 are listed below.
Update from the first batch, 2018
•    Lekshmi Prasad, fourth-year PhD Scholar, presented a research paper titled "Role of Caste in Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Indian States" at the International Conference on Public Finance, Public Policy and Economic Development, organized by Pondicherry University on November 11th and 12th, 2022"
•    Lekshmi Prasad presented research on "Role of Caste in Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Indian States" at a workshop entitled "Credit Markets and Policies in South Asia: Issues and Challenges," jointly organized by the HSS Department of IIT Tirupati, the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), and INET's Young Scholar's Initiative South Asia Working Group."
Update from the second batch, 2020
•    Jerome Joseph, third-year PhD Scholar, presented a research paper titled "Digital payments and GST revenue: an empirical analysis" at the "National conference on Impact of GST on Indian economy" held at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in New Delhi on November 28th and 29th, 2022.
•    Jerome Joseph presented a research paper titled "Do digital payments enhance GST revenue in India?" at the international conference on Public Finance, Public Policy and Economic Development organized by the Department of Economics at Pondicherry University on November 11th and 12th, 2022.
•    Jeorme Joseph, presented a research paper titled "Do digital payments enhance GST revenue: Evidence from India" as part of the GIFT webinar series organized by the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation on November 18th, 2022.
Update from third batch, 2021
The second-year PhD scholars successfully defended their research proposals and have now begun working on their research projects.
Update from fourth batch, 2022
The scholars continued their coursework that started in August 2022.
Course Coordinators: Prof. K J Joseph and Dr Santosh Kumar Dash
3. RCBP programme
After a few introductory sessions in September 2022, we held two special lectures in early October. Prof. Michael Tharagan delivered a session on 'Relevance of Historical Perspective in Social Science Research', and Prof. K N Ganesh delivered a session on 'Historical Research Methods: Commonalities and Contrasts.'
After the special lectures, Dr Vijayamohan Pillai conducted sessions for October, November and December. In October, 10 sessions were held on key topics, including Research Design, Sampling, Basic Statistics, and Univariate and Bivariate Measures.  During November, 12 sessions covered topics such as Inferential Statistics, Estimation, and Hypothesis Testing, Test Statistics, Degrees of Freedom, ANOVA, Regression Analysis, OLS: Assumptions, Properties, and Violations. He also conducted a few practical sessions on various statistical exercises using Gretl software.  The topics covered in December were Quantifying Qualitative Variables, Dummy Variable Regression, Limited Dependent Variable Models, and Time Series Analysis.
After completing the first two modules, the RCBP committee decided to take a small break. Accordingly, a special session was organized on December 17 to clarify doubts with respect to the classes conducted. Prof. KJ Joseph, Director GIFT, addressed the doubt-clearing session along with the other resource persons. The three-hour session was very productive, with the participants initiating a discussion of each of the 34 session themes, followed by interaction between resource persons and participants. Participants were also given a mid-term feedback form to register their feedback and assigned an assignment for continuous assessment. Session recordings were shared with all participants to review all classes during the break and complete the assignment.
Coordinator : Dr. Renjith P S

C. Publications
1. Kerala Tax Reporter (KTR)
September, October and November issues of KTR published Online and offline.
https://www.gift.res.in/ktr
2. Innovation and Development
A Routledge journal from GIFT, Volume 12, No. 3 (2022) published, Editor in Chief, K J Joseph.
For details, please visit https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/riad20/current
3.  Weekly update on Finance, Taxation and the Indian Economy
This is an attempt by the Young Scholar' Forum in GIFT, led by Smt. Shency Mathew to update on important developments on Finance, Taxation and the Indian economy. Latest issue: 24-30 December 2022.
For details, please visit https://www.gift.res.in/index.php/publish/publish_list/14/Weekly-Updates-on-Finance