Search

To share and benefit from development data, it must be accessible, of high-quality, and offered in real time. India at the helm of G20 has much to offer as this will build on principles governing PM Modi’s Digital India initiative

Even if we go by the Financial Times' FDI figure, let's remember that having low FDI inflows for a year or half a year does not mean much. China has received, on average, $100 billion per year in the last decade compared to India's annual $20 billion figure. The best way to compare is looking at the per-capita FDI stock, which is $691 for China compared to $181 for India in 2013.

With government overshooting its fiscal deficit target for the current financial year by a larger margin simply spending more and more might well hurt

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

Allegations of financial scams have continued to trouble the UPA-2 Government as the Opposition has scented its path to power by keeping them in public domain. The proceedings of Parliament during the winter session were stalled as the Government declined

Carbon-intensive assets are a financial time bomb.

Energy transitions in developing economies like India are complex processes involving substantial financial and technological resources as well as appropriate innovation. These transitions are central to the climate debate, where emphasis is placed on increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change. This paper examines the historical attributes of energy transition and finds various critical

Think20, the ideas bank of G20, will engage with the gamut of issues – strategic, economic and structural – that confront all countries

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is facing pushback from a number of large donor countries due to the alleged involvement of some of its employees in the October 2023 attack on Israel. India’s contributions to the agency, meanwhile, remain stable. This brief examines the nature and significance of India’s financial commitment to the UN body.

India’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector is a key driver of the country’s economic and social development by fostering entrepreneurship and generating substantial employment opportunities at comparatively lower capital costs. However, inadequate access to finance is one of the most crucial barriers to the sector’s growth. Recent developments in digital public infrastructure in India could present new solutions to boost MSM

The Smart Cities Mission (SCM), launched in 2015, seeks to improve the quality of life in 100 cities and towns of India. Overall, its progress has been uneven, with many cities yet to achieve the desired levels of transformation. This report evaluates the first five years of the Mission, and draws lessons from its successes and failures. It discusses the physical and financial status of the projects taken up so far, and identifies the mos

Triangular cooperation aims to forge global partnerships and foster sustainable global development. In such a system, traditional donors provide financial and technical support to facilitate development activities between two developing countries in the South, i.e. one emerging donor country and a beneficiary. Triangular cooperation allows nations to learn from the mistakes of the pioneers of the development cooperation process, bringing about co

This paper projects the nationwide and state-wise size of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) market under various GDP growth scenarios. The market sizes under these scenarios are expressed in monetary values at the scale of both sub-national units and the Indian economy as a whole. With the help of transactions and market share data from Phonepe, a UPI company, the paper estimates the national and state-wise base case scenario market volu

International financial institutions are critical in global development and in achieving sustainable developmental goals, says Dr. Paul Cadario, while Mr. Ashok Lahiri says "international finance cannot be divorced from politics"

The Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) was imposed on non-agricultural commodity derivatives trading in India from 1 July 2013. This paper investigates the impact of the CTT on some of the efficiency parameters of the commodity derivative markets in India. The authors analysed daily trading data from January 2006 to December 2019 of Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) of India for five non-agricultural commodities: aluminium, copper, crude oil, gold, and

The financial gap that emerging markets have to bridge is huge; between $1 trillion and 1.5 trillion annually is needed for investment in infrastructure.

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

If Macron loses control of the National Assembly in June, he may be forced into an uneasy co-habitation that will limit his policy options. He knows that.

The impact of terrorism on the oil and tourism industries and on financial institutions and "Democracy, Terrorism and the Internet" received considerable attention at the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security held at Madrid from March 8 to 11,2005.

The US has provided financial and military support to Ukraine since 2014, when Russia took control of Crimea, and more firmly since February 2022, when the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war began. Indeed, US military, political, and strategic support to Ukraine is crucial to Kyiv as the conflict continues. For the Biden administration, aid to Ukraine is a vital principle on which his party politics hinges; it is a critical pathway to rebuild transatlant

Nature-based solutions (NbS) harness the benefits of nature to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation while creating pathways for sustainable development. While NbS could generate substantial economic benefits, current private finance flows remain insufficient due to market and information failures. This brief makes a case for increased private investments in NbS, highlighting their cost-effectiveness and sustainability.

Modi 2.0 must be about deregulating the economy and improving core regulatory skills to monitor and punish deviations without snuffing out the freedom to innovate, grow or diversify, which are at the heart of entrepreneurship.

The bulk of the new banking consumers are digital natives and don’t think of branches as an interface for financial transactions

This report examines the financial challenges of the Nagpur Metro in the state of Maharashtra, focusing on the gap between projected and actual ridership figures and its implications for revenue generation. It identifies gaps in the revenue streams, evaluates alternative funding mechanisms, and recommends a shift towards diversified, context-specific financial strategies. The findings underscore the need for institutional reforms—in particular,

Does the Forum on China- Africa Cooperation 2024 (FOCAC) mark the end of an era in Sino-Africa relations in a proverbial boomto- bust scenario?” and “Is there disenchantment among the African leaders vis-à-vis China?

Agriculture is one area in which the US wants a level-playing field. As the world is recovering from the financial crisis, new rules are being set for the benefit of those who have not done well. India and China have to watch out against the neo-protectionist policies of the West.

The visit has been mutually beneficial, especially with the signing/renewal of MoUs, adapting the Comprehensive Economic and Maritime Security Partnership vision, and India’s offer of financial assistance.

India’s young women, now more educated and healthier than ever, are entering a phase of significant socio-economic progress. Many of these women also aspire to become social innovators. With gender parity in education and an increasing number of women in STEM fields, they have increased potential for social innovation. However, barriers such as gendered social norms, domestic and care responsibilities, the digital divide, safety concerns, limit

Though the Japanese financial aid to Myanmar was used for purposes other than serving the interests of the people, the debt should be considered odious, and waived off to free the people from the woes of the debt incurred to aid their repression.

Elderly women in India are disadvantaged by both gender and age. Currently, their population is estimated at 71 million, more than the total population of countries the size of the United Kingdom. A majority of them are illiterate and have no source of income. Awareness, coverage, and allocation for social pension schemes are low. Elderly women also have more morbidities than men and have higher unmet health needs. Though often regarded as a burd

Mr. Thomas Haahr, First Secretary, Climate Change, Royal Danish Embassy outlined deep cuts in emissions of industrialised countries, financial support for developing countries, enhanced mitigation action by developing countries and adapting to the impact of climate change as the key challenges that would have to be addressed in Copenhagen

ORF Senior Fellow Dr. R. Swaminathan will work on mobile banking solutions for financial inclusion and prepare a policy document for the government.

Pakistan, over the past six decades, has been the recipient of repeated bailout packages from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The 2024 IMF programme is the country’s 24th. While the loan provided temporary financial relief, Pakistan failed to use the opportunity to implement structural reforms, such as expanding the tax base and addressing chronic political instability. Austerity measures, as required in the IMF bailout plan, have only e

The more the nation gets isolated, especially in the international financial system, the greater its dependence on the Chinese.

Instead of conjuring up bizarre conspiracy theories and nurturing a victim complex, Pakistanis need to see the reality.

Thailand is one of the few developing countries in the world that have successfully implemented Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Beginning three decades ago, Thailand’s UHC first covered the poor, then the near-poor, the formal sector employees, and the children and the elderly, through various publicly funded and contributory schemes until it reached 71 percent of the entire population in 2000. The government elected in 2001 implemented full-p

Uncertainty in financial arrangements is crippling and its trauma lingers. The good news is that this sell off is temporary. Stock markets are now back to where they were just two weeks ago.

Agriculture remains the primary sector of the Indian economy. While it accounts for merely 16 percent of the country’s GDP, approximately 43.9 percent of the population depends on it for their livelihood. In recent years, indebtedness, crop failures, non-remunerative prices and poor returns have led to agrarian distress in many parts of the country. The government has come up with various mechanisms to address these issues: insurance, direct tr

Digital financial services have benefits but pose privacy risks that harm consumers, merchants, markets, and nations alike. Some payments systems in India suffer from vulnerabilities because they were not prospectively designed on the basis of the ‘privacy by design’ principle. At the back-end, the centralised storage of data is risky. At the front-end, faulty capture devices enable data misuse. Across the middle mile, data is transmitted wit

The privatisation of railway operations has been a subject of intense debate in India, particularly in the context of improving efficiency, service quality, and financial sustainability. This brief examines the ongoing privatisation initiatives in Indian Railways, assessing their potential benefits and challenges. It explores case studies to understand the implications of privatisation, drawing lessons from successful models in other parts of the

The ISIS has suffered very heavy casualties while defending Raqqa and their military and financial assets stand heavily degraded.

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

The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear that global health crises are geopolitical events with far-reaching and long-lasting effects across the globe. It creates prodigious disruptions across economic, security, and social sectors, with spillover effects through trade, financial linkages, and tourism, to name the least. This essay argues that as the American-led order in Asia arguably falters, instead of China rushing to fill the post COVID-19 vacuu

The international community has been engaged in negotiations around climate finance for three decades now, and working definitions continue to assign the role of funder to advanced economies, and that of recipient, to emerging ones. This brief makes a case for expanding such narrow definitions. It calls on countries such as India to re-imagine not only the idea of climate finance but also the mechanisms of raising funds and the channels f

This brief examines the transformative impact of India's ‘Startup India’ initiative, launched in 2016, on the country’s entrepreneurial landscape. Driven by the presence of digital infrastructure and government support, India's startup ecosystem has seen exponential growth in the recent years. Today, the country has some 159,000 startups and a notable number of unicorns, positioning India in third place in the global startup ecosystem. Star