Publication Page Archive

A digital economy needs a blend of both: algorithms assess client risk profiles and ensure suitable recommendations, human oversight adds value. The debate pitting robo-advisors against human advisors is often about competition and not so much about complementarity. Today, advice is free-floating. When it comes to financial advice, people prefer a second opinion as it...   Read More

Indians are watching more frequently but in shorter, more distracted bursts. In the late 1980s, when Ramayan aired every Sunday morning on Doordarshan, India paused as one. Streets emptied, tea kettles boiled in unison, and neighbours gathered around a single television set in the mohalla or village chaupal. That screen did not isolate; it assembled....   Read More

A background note can be accessed here: OECD: Skills Use in Workplace Productivity gains depend as much on expanding skills as on aligning firm-level demand and institutional incentives to ensure effective utilisation. In India’s labour market, where formal credentialing coexists with large informal employment, what institutional or employer-side practices perpetuate skill misuse, and how should policy...   Read More

Little emphasis on project preparation, resorting to asset monetisation sans guardrails, narrow financing base are pain points. The Union Budget has reaffirmed India’s reliance on public capital expenditure as the central pillar of its growth strategy. Public investment has expanded rapidly over the past five years. Central government capital expenditure has risen sharply in both...   Read More

The result is a persistent gap in labour force participation. Despite recent improvements, women’s participation remains well below its potential, especially in urban areas and in higher-productivity sectors. India has begun to acknowledge an inconvenient truth about its economy: growth cannot be sustained without bringing more women into paid work. The Union Budget 2026 reflects...   Read More

The IHDS Forum is a monthly update of socio-economic developments in India by the IHDS research community, based on the India Human Development Survey, jointly conducted by NCAER and the University of Maryland. While two earlier rounds of the survey were completed in 2004-05 and 2011-12, respectively. Fieldwork for the third round was undertaken in...   Read More

Delhi consistently ranks among the world’s most polluted cities, posing a severe public health threat to over 30 million residents and shortening life expectancy by up to 12 years. Summary of this article Pollution sources vary sharply by season: dust dominates summer air, while winter pollution is driven overwhelmingly (85–94%) by combustion sources such as...   Read More

The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), one of India’s premier economic policy research think tanks, carried out the 135th Round of its Business Expectations Survey (BES) in December 2025. NCAER has been carrying out the BES every quarter since 1992, covering 500 firms across four regions.

India’s Free Trade Agreement with the European Union is being sold as a diplomatic breakthrough. Some in Europe have called it the “mother of all deals”. India should treat it as something else: a compliance test that can be turned into a growth lever only if domestic systems are fixed first. That is why the hard work...   Read More

As India hosts the AI Summit this week, the event must be viewed not as a technology showcase, but as a development inflection point. Artificial Intelligence is rapidly becoming foundational infrastructure — comparable to electricity, highways, or digital payments. The central question before India is whether AI will remain a private efficiency tool or evolve...   Read More