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Gender-Responsive Budgeting: A task ahead for India’s 15th finance commission
Aug 10, 2018

Gender-Responsive Budgeting: A task ahead for India’s 15th finance commission

Gender equality is a fundamental human right. This principle is also found in the SDG 2030 Agenda where its signatories, including India, reaffirmed their commitment to mainstreaming gender development and ensuring equal representation of women in political and economic decision-making. This paper outlines gender-budgeting norms for resource allocations as an essential prerequisite for India to achieve progress towards the SDG-5 on gender equalit

How to mis-understand trade
Jan 23, 2017

How to mis-understand trade

Trade relations between Europe and India require new eclectic and dynamic ways of thinking. This brief examines hurdles in mainstream policy thinking that block the way for imagining and doing trade differently.

IMF के राहत पैकेज कितने असरदार: क्या रहा है पाकिस्तान का तजुर्बा
Aug 10, 2023

IMF के राहत पैकेज कितने असरदार: क्या रहा है पाकिस्तान का तजुर्बा

क्या वित्तीय परेशानियों से जूझ रहे पाकिस्तान के लिए IMF का �

Implementation issues in India’s GST
Jun 23, 2017

Implementation issues in India’s GST

ndia is attempting to introduce a streamlined tax system to handle indirect taxation within the country. While the new system has been acknowledged as beneficial in a number of ways, there remain concerns regarding its implementation. If handled poorly, this tax reform could have long-term effects on the Indian economy.

Improving access to Agricultural credit: New perspectives
Jan 08, 2020

Improving access to Agricultural credit: New perspectives

India’s agrarian crisis has deepened in the past several years, contributing to the slowdown of the economy. Amongst the most crucial factors affecting the country’s agricultural sector is financial inclusion. Over the years, India has attempted various measures to narrow the gap in financial inclusion for its farmers, yet the goal continues to elude the country. This paper presents a discussion of these measures, outlining the current state

India and global trade governance: Redefining its ‘national’ interest
Dec 24, 2017

India and global trade governance: Redefining its ‘national’ interest

This paper considers and explains the shifts and consistencies in India’s engagement with structures of global trade governance beginning from the Uruguay round of trade negotiations in late 1980s. It makes three major arguments. First, that although India has participated actively in global trade negotiations since the establishment of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) it was only under the present-day trade governance institut

India and its Eastern Neighbours: Prospects for Sub-Regional Cooperation
Sep 13, 2023

India and its Eastern Neighbours: Prospects for Sub-Regional Cooperation

This Issue Brief focuses on the reasons for the need to have sub-regional integration and cooperation between the four South Asian countries of BBIN--Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. It also looks at previous attempts made at sub-regional cooperation by countries in the region and the areas of potential cooperation.

India-Africa partnership for food security: Beyond strategic concerns
Apr 24, 2020

India-Africa partnership for food security: Beyond strategic concerns

India and Africa’s complementary sectoral priorities and similar roles in the evolving global food markets present numerous opportunities for collaboration in the agricultural sector. This paper analyses the potential for India-Africa cooperation towards food security and capacity building. It makes an assessment of Indian partnership with African countries in the areas of agriculture and food security, outlines current initiatives in both regi

India-ASEAN economic relations: Examining future possibilities
Jan 05, 2018

India-ASEAN economic relations: Examining future possibilities

India and Southeast Asia share a long cultural history, which over the years has helped shape economic and commercial relations between them. This partnership garnered an impetus following the launch of India’s ‘Look East Policy’ in the early 1990s, rechristened ‘Act East’ in 2015. This brief analyses the trade and investment relations between India and the member states of ASEAN. It highlights the various challenges in the relationship

Indian investments in Africa: Scale, trends, and policy recommendations
May 24, 2017

Indian investments in Africa: Scale, trends, and policy recommendations

Indian investments in Africa, from both public and private sector entities, have increased considerably in the last decade. Yet despite the growing importance of Indian investments in Africa, only a few empirical studies have been carried out on the subject. This paper undertakes a disaggregated analysis of Indian foreign direct investment outflows to Africa from 2008 to 2016, and presents three main findings. First, it confirms earlier analyses

India’s economic footprint in the developing world
Sep 13, 2023

India’s economic footprint in the developing world

The world is witnessing a paradigm shift: India is becoming a more active player not only in contributing goods, services and training, but also in shaping the global development agenda itself. This Brief is a map of India's growing economic footprint in the developing world.

India’s Lines of Credit, Development Cooperation, and G20 Presidency: A Primer
Aug 17, 2023

India’s Lines of Credit, Development Cooperation, and G20 Presidency: A Primer

Lines of Credit (LOCs) are a widely used instrument in development cooperation, including for India. The projects funded by India’s LOCs attempt to achieve a trinity of objectives: economic benefits; effective project management and completion; and nurturing and enhancing diplomatic relationship and strategic interests with the partner countries. This brief explains how India’s LOCs function, and contextualises the performance of the

India’s super 10: Opportunity sectors for employment growth
Nov 30, 2023

India’s super 10: Opportunity sectors for employment growth

With government initiatives and a dynamic workforce, India is well-positioned for diverse and robust employment growth

Infrastructure, institutions and industrialisation: The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and regional development in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh
Aug 21, 2023

Infrastructure, institutions and industrialisation: The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and regional development in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh

The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is one of several infrastructure megaprojects underway in India, intended to boost industrial modernisation and generate manufacturing employment for India’s young, largely unskilled workforce. Field research in DMIC investment sites in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh shows that its implementation is highly uneven across States and regions. The research, along with the literature, suggests that regional ind

Is the Indian Housing Finance Industry Keeping Pace with Changing Demographics?
Aug 23, 2023

Is the Indian Housing Finance Industry Keeping Pace with Changing Demographics?

Besides a life insurance policy, a piece of land or a house is the first large investment that every Indian makes--sometimes, nowadays, as early as at 25 years of age. Against the backdrop of this changing psyche of the Indian consumer, this Issue Brief analyses the Indian demographics and how, correspondingly, the housing finance sector has evolved.

Learning from the old, preparing for the new: Designing an institutional architecture for India’s development partnerships
Mar 24, 2017

Learning from the old, preparing for the new: Designing an institutional architecture for India’s development partnerships

India’s increasing economic and political clout has prompted a spurt in the volume and complexity of its overseas development assistance. Looking ahead, the largest incremental capital for global development and infrastructure beyond what exists today will also come from India as the value of its economy grows from $2 trillion to roughly $7 trillion by 2030. However, the DPA – India’s development cooperation agency – is yet to assume an a

Leveraging the Global Macroeconomic Environment for Recovery and Growth: Opportunities for G20 Under India’s Presidency
Aug 04, 2022

Leveraging the Global Macroeconomic Environment for Recovery and Growth: Opportunities for G20 Under India’s Presidency

The global macroeconomy has undergone unprecedented change in recent years, particularly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the G20 had an effective coordinating role in steering the global economy through the 2008 global financial crisis, its role in engineering an inclusive and sustainable recovery from the pandemic has been more mixed. Incomes in the advanced G20 economies are on track to return to pre-pandemic levels by end-2022 but have

Mainstreaming sustainability outcomes in big infrastructure projects
May 13, 2020

Mainstreaming sustainability outcomes in big infrastructure projects

Urban infrastructure projects using brownfield or greenfield development can cause damage to natural habitats. To achieve the Agenda 2030 goal of “leaving no one behind” while mitigating the destruction of habitats, an integrated approach towards infrastructure development must be adopted. This paper outlines the current paradigms of sustainable infrastructure provision, highlighting how and why sustainability outcomes are overlooked at diffe

Making BITs Less Biting: India’s Reform of the Investment Regime
Nov 26, 2016

Making BITs Less Biting: India’s Reform of the Investment Regime

In response to increasing criticism of the existing international investment regime, various countries, including India, have been revising their model investment treaties. is paper analyses India's recently approved Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). It makes an assessment of the text's practical implications from the perspective of ongoing negotiations of investment agreements with several countries, as well as India's transition towards

Mapping Skills: A Roadmap for India and the UAE
Jul 06, 2020

Mapping Skills: A Roadmap for India and the UAE

The presence of almost nine million Indian nationals in the Gulf region makes India a key source of human capital for the six GCC nations. The majority of these Indians are blue-collar workers engaged in low-paying jobs. As countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) move up the technology ladder, they are increasingly seeking workers with specific, certified skills. This report outlines a pilot project for the mapping, harmonisation and accred

Measuring urbanisation in India
Dec 13, 2017

Measuring urbanisation in India

Living conditions in fast-growing rural areas across India are deteriorating due not only to the impact of urbanisation but the lack of capacity of the local governments to manage such transitions. This brief makes the case for changing the administration status of such areas from “rural” to “urban”, establishing urban governance mechanisms therein, and making them resilient. For identification of such areas, the state government’s opin

Myanmar and the Geopolitics of the Bay of Bengal
Aug 23, 2023

Myanmar and the Geopolitics of the Bay of Bengal

The opening up of Myanmar has added a new strategic value to the Bay of Bengal. Isolated for decades, Myanmar is actively engaging the world's major players in redefining its geopolitical identity today. This has further encouraged naval exchanges, exploration of energy resources and development of connectivity infrastructure in a vital littoral of the Bay. Within this evolving context, this paper attempts to examine the implications of these cha

New Space for the Future of Work: Co-working in India
Jun 19, 2020

New Space for the Future of Work: Co-working in India

The nature of work is changing, leading to the loss of some jobs and the creation of others that require radically changed skills. In India, as the requirements of this evolving labour market change, co-working spaces fulfil many of the new needs. The aim of this paper is twofold: to describe the development of the co-working industry in India, its driving factors, as well as the architecture, design and social aspects of the work environment; a

Policy Imperatives for India’s Integration into Electronics GVCs
Aug 16, 2023

Policy Imperatives for India’s Integration into Electronics GVCs

Recent years have highlighted the global headwinds against China's increasingly aggressive moves in the Indo-Pacific region. Vulnerabilities associated with an overdependence on the country for several critical goods, including electronics, have exacerbated prevailing anti-China sentiments. This has provided the impetus for diversifying electronics supply chains, an opportunity India is well positioned to leverage. This brief assesses Ind

Productivity growth in Indian manufacturing: Policy implications from an econometric analysis
Jan 08, 2018

Productivity growth in Indian manufacturing: Policy implications from an econometric analysis

This paper evaluates the impact of various policy reforms, including the economic reforms of the 1990s, on India’s manufacturing sector. Covering the priority sectors relevant to the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, the paper analyses the productivity of registered manufacturing units from 1974-75 to 2012-13. It offers empirical evidence on the growth of productivity in the organised manufacturing sector through an inter-tem

Promoting a ‘GDP of the Poor’: The imperative of integrating ecosystems valuation in development policy
Mar 17, 2020

Promoting a ‘GDP of the Poor’: The imperative of integrating ecosystems valuation in development policy

This paper argues in favour of integrating valuation of ecosystem services in development policy planning in India. The paper presents three cases where monetary values of ecosystem services have been estimated to illustrate the significance of the exercise: the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) in Uttarakhand, the Kunigal Wetlands in Karnataka, and the Indian Sundarbans Delta (ISD) in West Bengal. The first two cases highlight the ecosystem-livelihoods

Public Credit Guarantee for Small Enterprises in India: An Explainer
Jun 10, 2021

Public Credit Guarantee for Small Enterprises in India: An Explainer

In many parts of the world, including India, Public Credit Guarantee Programmes (PCGP) improve access to credit for small enterprises that are unable to obtain assistance from mainstream financers. This brief discusses the relevance of PCGPs in India, their mechanisms, features, and efficiency. Although these programmes have improved access to credit for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), there are concerns regarding their efficiency an

Purpose, Platform, and Power: Advancing Trade Under India’s G20 Presidency
Dec 14, 2022

Purpose, Platform, and Power: Advancing Trade Under India’s G20 Presidency

As India assumes the G20 presidency, it has the opportunity to further the cause of mutually beneficial, rules-based international trade at a time when the world is facing a series of multiple and overlapping political and economic crises. This paper opens by describing a confluence of factors that together open a window of opportunity for India’s presidency to advance pragmatic engagement on trade, specifically in shoring up the multilateral t

Pushing India’s Small-Scale Industries to the Economic Forefront
Sep 15, 2023

Pushing India’s Small-Scale Industries to the Economic Forefront

India's small-scale industries contribute 15 percent to GDP yet they have been long ignored, receiving little policy support and inadequate infrastructure. As they have the potential to transform the socioeconomic architecture of the country, policy interventions are necessary to make small enterprises more efficient and achieve higher growth rates. This paper describes initiatives to propel India's small-scale industries.

Quality rules in India: Trade, technical regulations and consumer protection
Aug 21, 2023

Quality rules in India: Trade, technical regulations and consumer protection

India’s competitiveness in manufacturing and the success of ‘Make in India’ depend on its ability to produce high-quality products and services. Product quality is important for human health and consumer safety, as well as for protecting the climate and the environment. One way of ensuring that products and services meet certain standards is through technical regulations with mandatory compliance. However, technical regulations also have th

Rationalising fares to prevent the financial derailment of Indian Railways
Aug 21, 2023

Rationalising fares to prevent the financial derailment of Indian Railways

The financial condition of the Indian Railways (IR) is weakening by the day because of mounting losses in the passenger business. This, at a time when it is making efforts to improve its services through new capital intensive initiatives. IR’s freight revenue has traditionally subsidised its passenger revenue, resulting in one of the lowest passenger fares but one of the highest freight rates in the world. Since freight trains and passenger tra

RBI versus the government: Independence and accountability in a democracy
Dec 07, 2018

RBI versus the government: Independence and accountability in a democracy

Conflicts between central banks and governments are embedded in the evolving discourse of every democracy. The recent discord between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is neither the first nor likely to be the last. Institutionally, once a disagreement between the RBI and the MoF crosses the Rubicon, the government has the power to overrule the central bank’s decisions. Moreover, such a structure is not restricte