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The year 2022 saw the global economic outlook deteriorate amidst high inflation, fiscal tightening, and supply chain uncertainties arising from both the Russia-Ukraine war and the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), after expanding by some 5 percent in 2021, contracted in the first half of 2022. This brief makes a case for gender lens investing (GLI) as a means to boost women’s participation in economic act

Ties between India and Australia are wide-ranging: from geostrategic cooperation and trade, to soft power mechanisms such as cricket and tourism. This paper makes a case for improving bilateral relations between New Delhi and Canberra. While there are substantial opportunities for trade and investment flows between the two countries, the engagements have been largely underdeveloped over the years. The immense scope of complementarities between th

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

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.

Neighbours India and Nepal, who share an open border, have not always had the most amicable of relations, oscillating from one extreme to the other. One of their long-standing disputes is over the border area of Kalapani. This discord has the potential to disrupt the other aspects of their ties, especially in the domains of the economy and cross-border security. Further, if the two countries fail to arrive at a resolution to the disagreement, it

India is on its way to becoming “the Saudi Arabia of data”. This brief argues that India enjoys unmatched advantages of demography, economy, and geography and could be a hub of the submarine cable network that would facilitate the transport of data across the Indian Ocean. India’s public and private sectors should leverage these advantages to push the country to the centrestage of connectivity across the region and beyond. India’s

India will gain very little by taking the lead in this venture. It already holds the rather envied position as the strongest economy within the region. SDB can hardly be expected to raise its global image or position.

From Europe, India is viewed as a balancing power in terms of the economy and global harmony, according to Dr. Medgyessy, former Prime Minister of Hungary. He says India is ideologically closer to Europe and the US than the other BRICS countries.

India is assuming the leadership of SCO and G20. While the two groupings have divergent goals, Delhi will need to ensure that the concerns of developing nations are not ignored. An assertive foreign policy that seeks to shape and steer conversations will help

The two most-important objectives of foreign policy is ‘security’ — both external and internal — and ‘economy’.

Never before has India story looked more credible than it does today with the world in turmoil and India standing out as a beacon of hope.

The biggest success for China insofar India is to derive maximum advantage from her emerging economy status while at the same time keeping India tied down in sub-continental squabbling. The Wen visit achieved just that.

India is the second fastest growing economy in the world today. At a most basic understanding, an economy grows when goods -- agricultural and industrial -- are produced and bought and/or when the service industries are growing phenomenally. In India's case both sectors are performing very well.

Export-oriented FDI has the potential to vault India into the league of industrial economies: a stage which it allegedly skipped on its way to becoming a post-industrial service-based economy. Export-oriented FDI is labour-- and employment --intensive. In China export obligation is mandatory for foreign investors. This should be done .

Export-oriented FDI has the potential to vault India into the league of industrial economies: a stage which it allegedly skipped on its way to becoming a post-industrial service-based economy. Export-oriented FDI is labour-- and employment --intensive. In China export obligation is mandatory for foreign investors. This should be done .

India should know that the OBOR scheme is not about CPEC and Pakistan; but in fact its primary goal is to integrate the rich European economy with that of China’s.

Billions of dollars in FDI have been assured to India thanks to Prime Minister Modi's successful foreign tours. However, there also has to be real technology transfer that spills over to the local economy. Only then, Modi's dream of FDI as 'First Development India' can be fulfilled.

With trade wars and financial realignments looming, India's success in this evolving landscape will depend on its ability to balance collaboration with autonomy

A digital revolution in MSMEs' access to credit might accelerate growth and prosperity - if policymakers focus on simplicity, access, and human capital.

Across the world, workforces 'stranded' by technological, regulatory, or climatic change have become politically crucial to the rise of populism

India has embarked on a large-scale infrastructure development program, ranging from highways to airports, a critical government-led push to provide the economy a strong base to build upon.

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 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

The victory of a pro-China government in the Maldives offers Beijing an opportunity to restore its influence in the Indian Ocean region

Prachanda’s visit highlights the two countries willingness to move beyond contentious issues and focus on mutually beneficial aspects

India’s growing strategic importance as a balance to China in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as convergence between New Delhi and Washington DC about Beijing’s aggressive stance on emerging technology, have resulted in warming relations between the United States (US) and India. Indeed, in recent years, there has been a spur of cooperative agreements between the two sides on domains such as defence technology, 5G, and semiconductors. This br

In the last four decades, India’s geo-political identity has evolved from being the leader of the non-aligned movement - a representative of the developing poor nations of the world to becoming a member of the G-20, the world’s leading industrialized and emerging economies. The change has also been evident on its evolving position on climate change as it became a signatory to The Paris accord. However, the paper argues that key tenets of self

When the Budget session of Parliament began on February 21, people in general and industry in particular were hoping that the political class would ensure that the two Houses conducted the necessary parliamentary business to bring back the national economy and governance on to the rails.

The chief economist of BP Group, Mr. Christof Ruehl, says the industrial sector is less flexible in India than in China and that this could drive the energy demand in 2012-2035 period. He also predicts that China's industrialisation will continue even if it changes its economy structure.

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

In the face of geopolitical turmoil and a Chinese exit, India must negotiate its Indo-Pacific trade ties with caution

India has a role to play in global climate diplomacy, with its large population, fast-growing economy, and vulnerabilities to the consequences of climate change. Utilising a review of existing literature, this brief evaluates the country’s involvement in international climate forums in the past decade, its negotiation strategies and policy coherence, and their effectiveness. It finds that India’s strategy for climate diplomacy has aimed for a

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.

is paper formulates an analytical framework to assess the impacts of India's Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) on commodity value chains. Existing academic literature have relied on examining Balance of Payments (BoP) to assess the impact of FTAs. is paper views such methodology as reductionist, and instead oers alternative lenses of the impacts on the commodity value chain. is paper brings into fold the concerns for the wellbeing of various stakehold

New Delhi has the chance to shape the global agenda and advocate for its vision of multilateralism.

Aspiring to become a US$30-trillion economy by 2047, surrounded by hostile nations, and leading the idea of multipolarity in a bipolar world, India needs to articulate a grand strategy that has been missing in its statecraft. With the necessary conditions for such an endeavour in place, it is time for Bharat, under Narendra Modi’s third term as prime minister, to thread the three core aspects of executing such a grand strategy: articulating the

This report draws from the conference on the Future Challenges to India's Intelligence System organised by ORF in February 2015. What tasks face India's intelligence agencies in implementing reforms in order to address the more complex national security threats confronting the country today?

As data drives technological innovation in finance, open banking has gained global relevance. India has advanced in this domain through initiatives like the India Stack, as well as frameworks such as the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) and the Account Aggregator (AA) framework. Additionally, the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act is increasingly shaping India’s open banking landscape. Given the importance of data pr

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

This report is part of the Observer Research Foundation’s “Financing Green Transitions” series which aims to find potential linkages between private capital, in all its forms, and climate action projects. The series will primarily examine domestic and international barriers to private capital entry for mitigation oriented climate projects, while also examining potential avenues for private capital flow entry towards adaptation and resilienc

The Bay of Bengal region is more than a channel for commerce — it has become an arena for power projection.

Global energy markets have battled continuous uncertainty over the past three years, disrupted first by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, and by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. India has been adept at navigating both these disruptions, using economic diplomacy to position itself favourably in the geopolitics of oil. New Delhi’s delicate balancing of its political relationship with both Washington DC and Moscow has been accompanied

Once synonymous with inefficiency and slothfulness, India's public service delivery system is finally being overhauled and put on the path of reforms. Ironically, these reforms are being spearheaded by a set of state governments. This paper attempts to capture the key trends of this impressive development which has far reaching consequences for democracy and governance in the country.