NCAER organised a launch of the book, The German Chambers of Commerce and Industry, held virtually, with the author, Prof Andrè Habisch of Catholic University Eichstaett-Ingolstadt. The discussion was moderated by Dr Poonam Munjal, Senior Fellow, NCAER. The discussants were Prof Santosh Mehrotra, Visiting Professor, Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath, U.K. and Dr Bornali Bhandari, Senior Fellow, NCAER.This book examines a key factor driving the enduring international success of German companies. Beyond industrial specialisation, peaceful labour relations, local financial markets, and the “Miracle of the Mittelstand”, it focuses on a characteristic aspect of governance within the German economy, symbolised by the Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The book emphasises important characteristics of the Chamber system, including obligatory membership for firms as well as participatory rules of their self-administration.
The book examines the institution’s self-governance, its services, and its mission regarding the general representation of interests. It also identifies the advancement of the dual system of professional education as a central element of the Chamber system. Along with an introduction about how the Chamber system works, interviews, case studies, and historical explanations help to exemplify the true spirit inherent in this form of representation. In particular, they reveal the essence of how the Chambers system contributes to the global success of German companies and fosters their corporate responsibility in a practical way.
Given its scope, the book will be of particular interest to professionals, policymakers, and researchers concerned with how an institutional organisation can support commerce and industry for the public good. The book was developed in collaboration with Laura Sasse and the Practical Wisdom Society.
Bornali Bhandari is a Senior Fellow at NCAER with a background in international economics and macroeconomics, specifically focusing on the impact of globalisation on development. Currently, she is engaged in a number of industry studies including automobiles, farm mechanisation, and technology. She is also part of the macro group at NCAER. Her wider research interests include analysis of skilling from a 3-E perspective (education, employability and employment), e-Governance, infrastructure, particularly the roads and ICT sectors, G-20 issues like climate change financing and reserve currency, FDI and trade-related issues. She also oversees the production of the NCAER Quarterly Business Expectations Surveys.
Andrè Habisch is a Full Professor of Social Ethics at Ingolstadt Business School, Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt. He is committed to the advancement of trans-disciplinary research, education, and application of practical wisdom in Management, Social Innovation, Applied Sustainability Management, and Catholic Social Thought for Business. His main research interests are social capital theory, social policy, and economic and corporate ethics. He received his PhD from the University of Tuebingen and holds a post-doc qualification (Habilitation) from the University of Würzburg.
Santosh Mehrotra is currently Visiting Professor, Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath, UK.
He was earlier Professor of Economics, Centre for Labour Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has a Master’s degree (with Honours) in Economics, from The New School for Social Research, New York, where he was taught by eminent economists Edward J. Nell, Robert Heilbroner, Ross Thomson, and Gita Sen. Thereafter he did his PhD in Economics from Cambridge University.
Poonam Munjal is a Senior Fellow at the NCAER. She has worked on a wide variety of studies, including the N-SIPI investment index, tourism satellite accounts, impact of investment in housing sector and a number of research studies based on input-output models. Previously, she worked as an Associate Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt Ltd. and as an Economist in the Economic Research Team of CRISIL Ltd. Her research work has been in the area of macro-economic analysis, tourism economy, national and regional tourism satellite accounts, input-output modelling, social accounting matrix, inter-industry linkages, labour market analysis, and analyses of large sample surveys to draw socio-economic linkages.
NCAER hosted a lecture by Dr Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund. Dr Poonam Gupta, NCAER Director General, chaired and moderated the session. The talk by Dr Gopinath focused on the outlook for global growth in the year to come. As the global economy recovers from the pandemic, a great deal of uncertainty remains about new COVID-19 variants and increased inflation pressures in many countries. Dr Gopinath discussed how policymakers can best deal with these challenges in an increasingly uncertain environment.
The event was held at NCAER’s T2 Conference Centre. It was also live-streamed on NCAER’s YouTube channel. A large number of eminent economists, policy-makers, academics, and mediapersons followed the conversation. The talk was chaired by Dr Poonam Gupta, Director General, NCAER. In the Q & A session following the lecture, Dr Gopinath addressed a range of questions from both the live and digital audience.
Poonam Gupta is the first woman Director General of NCAER and a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM). Before joining NCAER, she was Lead Economist, Global Macro and Market Research, International Finance Corporation (IFC); and Lead Economist for India at the World Bank. Her prior appointments include the Reserve Bank of India Chair Professor at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP); Professor at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER); Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics; and, Economist at the International Monetary Fund. Her research has been published in leading scholarly journals and has featured in The Economist, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal.
NCAER launched a new NCAER research programme on the “
RCM Reddy, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Schoolnet India Limited, Varun Khaitan, Co-Founder, Urban Company and Sonalde Desai, Professor and Director, NCAER-National Data Innovation Centre (NDIC). Bornali Bhandari from NCAER presented an overview of the NCAER Gig Economy initiative. The launch and the keynote address was delivered by Sunil Barthwal, Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment.
The IEPF Research Chair Unit at NCAER under the leadership of Dr K.P. Krishnan, collaborated with the State Capacity Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), the Forum of Indian Regulators (FOIR), and the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), for this talk series titled: ‘Know Your Regulator’. This episode of the series featured Navreet Singh Kang, Chairperson of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), Punjab, in conversation with Dr KP Krishnan, IEPF Chair Professor in Regulatory Economics, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and Ms Arkaja Singh, Fellow, State Capacity Initiative, Centre for Policy Research. Dr Abha Yadav, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs and Director of the Forum of Indian Regulators (FOIR) Centre at IICA delivered the welcome note.
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 requires each state to establish a Real Estate Regulatory Authority. As of July 2021, 26 States and Union Territories have established their own regulatory authorities. States are also mandated to set up a Real Estate Appellate Tribunal by this Act. The real estate sector is subject to several types of regulation and control, such as building and planning regulations, environment law and labour law. Land itself is subject to a legal and administrative regime that controls its ownership and transfer. However, as the real estate sector grew in the decades of the 2000s, there were concerns about the risky financial practices and misselling by promoter companies, the prevalence of black money and shady dealing, and the imbalance of market power between buyers and sellers. This gap was sought to be filled through the establishment of the real estate regulatory authorities.
This talk series is jointly organised by the State Capacity Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), the Forum of Indian Regulators (FOIR) and the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA). In this series, we will talk to the people entrusted with the task of regulating Indian markets and various parts and aspects of the economy. These are the chairpersons and members of India’s regulatory agencies. In our conversations, we will seek to explore the public nature of regulatory activity. In other words, why should the work of regulatory agencies be of interest to people, as producers, consumers, professionals, service providers, and as citizens? What are the public goals of regulation? In what ways does the work of regulation involve having to make a balance, or to make trade-offs, or to amicably resolve competing or even conflicting claims of public and private interest?