Search

It is apparent that panaceas such as debt write-downs only offer short term relief to the debt ridden Eurozone as long as structural imbalances persist. European leaders need to look for a multipronged approach to deal with the problems.

The BRICS bank, now tentatively called the New Development Bank, is indeed a new and long overdue development. It is the first step towards reforming the world financial system. It has to be read against the decision of the BRICS nations to do trade more with each other on the basis of currency swaps.

The major achievement of the recent BRICS Summit was the decision to create the long-awaited (BRICS) New Development Bank. The bank can be seen as a growing influence of the BRICS which together represents 18% of the World trade and accounts for 40% of the global population with a combined GDP of $ 24 trillion.

Urban governance in BRICS countries will require different policy solutions because of differing circumstances.

The expansion of BRICS in 2023 has infused a new energy into the grouping. Despite certain rivalries, BRICS members still largely tend towards cooperation on issues of development and economic growth. The grouping now accounts for 40 percent of global trade. This report explores areas of cooperation for BRICS members in the domains of trade and investment. It identifies vulnerabilities in current supply chains, including connectivity, scarce raw

The BRICS leaders have accepted the report titled "Towards a Long Term Strategy for BRICS", the recommendations made by the BRICS Think Tanks Council (BTTC). Observer Research Foundation is the Indian representative at the BTTC.

Has the emergence of BRICS had an impact on IBSA, was the question posed by Mr M Ganapathi, former Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India.

BRICS must now move on from being a grouping of individual nations, discussing agendas, to becoming a "go-to" institution for setting regional and global agendas. The essence and ethos of such an institution must flow from the inorganic prism of stability, security and growth for all.

The recent G-20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, featured a pivotal change in the geopolitics of international finance. Emerging economies contributed billions to an emergency IMF (International Monetary Fund) fund designed to provide additional support to the Eurozone nations in case the debt crisis worsens.

The challenge is to enable Islamabad to make a soft-landing rather than a crash that can have unpredictable consequences.

China as the leader of the pack will use BRICS for control and dominance. The West will see this as a threat to existing arrangements and try to pull it down before it takes off. Indian presence will remain weak so long as our economic reforms and progress remain slow and our internal political and policy frameworks remain uncertain.

BRICS mandate is under siege at a time of slowing economies and growing intra-BRICS political divergences. Above-all, it has been struggling to retain its relevance

The world of BRICS is expanding. Despite setbacks, this association of Brazil,Russia, India, China and South Africaall of them important, emerging-marketeconomiesremains relevant as it continues to comprise a big share of the world's population,its resources, and global trade. This paper describes the rise of BRICS and their growing mutualinterest in cementing their economic and political ties. It argues that while problems remain inpromoting coh

Ambitious expansion meets internal divisions as the bloc strives to redefine global power dynamics.

As global powers fracture into rival spheres of influence, India’s strategic restraint, non-alignment, and economic resilience position it as a stabilizing force in a multipolar world.

The digital divide is a manifestation of exclusion, poverty and inequality and continues to be exacerbated due to the effects of unemployment, poorly functioning digital skilling programmes and socio-cultural norms in some economies, depriving women equal access to digital services. Digital skills provide the poor a catalyst to break out of the cycle of poverty and empower themselves. A three-pronged digital skills strategy is required for develo

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

India and Bangladesh relations got a new boost following Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's brief visit to Bangladesh recently, demonstrating New Delhi's keenness in enhancing bilateral relations.

Whatever shape future talks between India and China takes, bilateral problems, including the border dispute, have taken more time than their people can wait, to address leave alone resolve them.

The Delhi government is facing numerous challenges in managing water demand and supply in the capital, primary of which are water shortages and declining groundwater levels. One of the strategies that are being employed to address these issues is the promotion of rainwater harvesting (RWH). This report provides an account of the growth and development of Delhi’s RWH sector. The analysis shows that while the programme has met with some success,

This brief underlines the immense potential for increased cross-border trade, tourism, and people-to-people interactions between India and its Southeast Asian neighbours. In particular, it evaluates the importance of India–Thailand relations, emphasising the present state of the India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway (IMT-TH). Although India and Thailand share a maritime boundary along India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Th

India has achieved better Covid-19 vaccine coverage than most other countries in its income class, aided mainly by domestic production capacity and the government’s decision to offer the vaccines to the adult population for free. There are stark sub-national differences, however, in the pace and coverage of the vaccine rollout. This special report tells the story of the district of Raigarh in Chhattisgarh—one of the low-income, Empowered Acti

Post-Brexit Britain needs to move away from its China-centric policy and step up trade engagements in the region, which offers potential for win-win economic gains. London should also look to join its allies, including the US, India, Australia in the support of regional security to manage the risks posed by Beijing

The recent India-Bangladesh border incident suggests a need to rethink the dialogue processes among the border guarding forces.

Mayawati has apparently decided that she should retain her core constituency hoping that everything else would fall in place

Spillovers from unconventional monetary policy in the AEs pose a systemic risk for emerging market economies (EMEs). Unconventional monetary policies to ensure cheap liquidity and easy credit conditions have been used not only in the US but in Europe as well as Japan.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman needs to infuse strategic urgency into her eighth budget. Five ways she can address the risk from US President Donald J Trump’s efficiency drive

The Finance Minister announced allocations for various sectors in the Budget. But these are a regular feature of every Budget. What was different in this Budget? Almost nothing except that there has been fiscal consolidation. Obviously, it is not going to satisfy the common man, farmers, industry or foreign investors.

Structural issues like partial utilisation of allocated funds, slow implementation of projects, and short-staffing pose a major challenge to the successful implementation of the budget

The Finance Minister has chosen to walk the conservative path, hoping to stimulate investment and growth through small half-measures. Expect high rates of inflation in FY 13 and greater pressure on the fiscal deficit despite white paper on black money.

This was a budget without many surprises. Maybe we have evolved to being an economy, in which the budget is a mundane, technical exercise, of interest to economists and accountants, but of little immediate consequence for those who live in the real world.

While the coverage of Budgets in the media and research reports are mainly limited to high interest items like income-tax, sales tax, excise, inflation etc., the "Part A" of the budget, which is an indicator of government intention and priority, remains relatively under explored.

Most participants at an ORF conference on urban development and creation of 100 smart cities in India felt that creation of smart cities is an extremely challenging exercise and for this, careful planning and effective project implementation are required.

After years of conceiving the idea of Strategic Oil Reserve, the Indian government seems to be moving in the right direction in a resolute manner. Recent statements by both the Prime Minister and the Petroleum Minister about building strategic storage facilities to gear up the country to meet oil emergencies

Member states of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) continue to grapple with a host of security issues, including the burgeoning ISIS threat and the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. In the recent months, the region has witnessed the immense social, political, economic and geo-strategic implications of terrorism and displacement. BIMSTEC’s counterterrorism initiatives must therefore be scr

The creation of a competent national indicator framework will be central to the tracking — and eventual attainment — of India’s sustainable development goals. Through an analytical study of India’s past efforts relating to the MDGs and its initial preparations for the SDGs, this paper identifies specific hurdles that must be overcome in building a health indicator architecture that is both globally relevant and aligned with national

The ORF-hosted BRICS Academic Forum's recommendations to the 4th BRICS Leaders Summit, to be held in New Delhi on March 29, seek to set the agendas for global governance reforms and sustainable development and map out a new geography of cooperation.

The seventh of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims “to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. Such quest for energy security is echoed in subregional strategies as well; in the BIMSTEC region, it is a key priority. As the gap in electricity supply and demand increases in the countries of BIMSTEC, trans-border cooperation can help diversify energy sources, reduce the average cos

India’s medical devices sector is poised to grow from a US$11-billion industry to US$50 billion by 2030. This expansion, however, hinges on regulatory reform, investment in innovation, and improved accessibility. Historically governed by drugs-centric laws, India’s medical devices sector now falls under the purview of dedicated frameworks such as the Medical Devices Rules (2017). Yet it continues to face policy uncertainty, and there are pers

Climate change, conflicts, and various crises have exposed the vulnerabilities of global food systems. Acute food insecurity and undernourishment have become more prevalent in recent times, and the imperative is to build more robust and sustainable food systems that do not adversely impact the environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has only underlined the importance of food security in times of crises. This brief explores the promise of clima

Recent global events have underscored the importance of economic integration even as they have exposed the fragility of global value chains (GVCs). The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, highlighted the systemic risks to the functioning of GVCs. This brief explores the factors that impact the creation of production networks and recommends key methods to make GVCs more stable and sustainable to withstand potential shocks.

This paper undertakes an analysis of the gender-disaggregated data from the National Statistical Organisation’s Time-Use Survey 2019, and finds that Indian women spend eight times more hours on unpaid care work than men. The patterns are similar across educational qualification, and employment or marital status: women with higher education, or earn their own incomes, do not spend any less time on unpaid care work. Shifting mindsets and rebalanc

As the Covid-19 pandemic began to unfold in February, India’s dependence on Chinese inputs for the production of pharmaceutical products was debated intensely. This special report argues that the narrow discussion has fallen short in capturing India’s crucial role in global health as a provider of health-related goods to many developing countries. The report analyses trade data on over 200 categories of health-related goods, and provides quan

The globally distributed semiconductor value chain is undergoing a shift due to rising geopolitical, environmental, and economic risks affecting the supply chain. This has motivated countries to develop domestic manufacturing capabilities and secure and derisk their supply chains. India has launched its semiconductor policy in alignment with a long-term vision of positioning itself as a key player in different segments of the value chain, followi

Both during times of normalcy and crises, governments depend on increasingly digitised identity systems. Such systems, however, have been considered controversial since the use of IBM machines to facilitate the Holocaust. Since then, more contemporary identity systems have tried to ensure that they do not violate citizens’ essential rights. This requires multi-stakeholder coordination, a network paradigm, a focus on open standards rather than s

Since 1991, New Delhi's ties with the Central Asian countries have developed slowly despite a shared culture and trade links via the ancient Silk Road

To decisively fight the Maoists, India needs a culture of accountability at all levels