Op-Eds

The pandemic may have limited our ability to connect with the external world but for several Indian women isolation isn’t unfamiliar or new. When we tell our children and grandchildren about 2020 we will talk about a time when we shut ourselves in our homes to keep the world and the pandemic out. Our only...   Read More

Excessive centralisation of skilling programmes may hinder the ability of training institutions to effectively respond to Indian market requirements. About a month ago the Government of India launched the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 3.0 the third phase of the short duration national skilling programme. Unlike some other public policy campaigns of recent times there...   Read More

The allocations show that the focus is more on income support than improving crop and livestock yields That agricultural sector is critical for the overall socio-economic development of the country needs no re-stating. On average the agriculture and allied sector accounted for 20 per cent of GDP between 2012-13 and 2019-20 and is estimated to...   Read More

India’s finance minister also announced a set of financial sector reforms be it in insurance banking or development finance. Success would depend on how well these are carried out. The budget has announced some laudable reform initiatives but their success will depend on how well they get implemented The budget has surprisingly opted for fiscal...   Read More

After the agitation on the Farm Bills one expected that the Budget would not include any more reform agenda. But this has happened and the allocation within the line item do not exhibit major changes. However if one looks at the size of the pie for small and marginal farmers in the Budget it emerges...   Read More

While the good news is that business sentiments are recovering across firm sizes there seems to be the emergence of a bimodal distribution of business sentiments in MSMEs versus large firms. The dual impact of demonetisation and the inefficient implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) had adversely affected firms especially the Micro Small...   Read More

We use the quarterly NCAER Business Expectations Survey (N-BES) to understand the differential impact that the Coronavirus pandemic had on manufacturing versus services.  In the process we understand the challenges that the sectors faced along with their different coping strategies. Our data comes from surveys of nearly 600 firms conduced in June September and December...   Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened awareness of the need for better data to inform response and recovery efforts leveraging the complementarity of public and private sources. Following the recent launch of the World Bank’s SDG Atlas this event convened partners to discuss how the World Bank can improve data literacy and call attention to the...   Read More

The beginning of the vaccination programme suggests that the end is in sight. How quickly we reach the goal post depends on how well prepared we are as we enter the race. At the nation begins its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic through a massive vaccine rollout the entire focus is on identifying the priority...   Read More

Sebi's proposal on concentrated holdings could disrupt the balance between the supervisory and business roles of stock exchanges. On January 6 the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) released a discussion paper on the review of the current ownership and governance norms regulating stock exchanges and depositories. Market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) such as exchanges...   Read More