Publication Page Archive

In May 2025, Hyderabad Metro Rail implemented its first major fare revision in over seven years. While the initial increase—based on recommendations of the Fare Fixation Committee—was announced mid-month, public concerns led to a subsequent 10 per cent discount being applied within days. The episode highlights a recurring challenge in India’s urban transport systems: how...   Read More

India needs to sharply increase the productivity of its labour force and invest in enhancing the skill levels of its working age population to achieve the goal of “Viksit Bharat” by 2047. The insufficient and poor engagement of the working-age population, combined with increasing capital deepening across sectors, highlights pressing challenges on both the supply...   Read More

Institutional autonomy, not the cycle, will shape outcomes. Global financial institutions continue to frame the 2026 outlook for emerging markets through a familiar cyclical lens. The consensus assumes US monetary easing, a softer dollar and a modest global slowdown will favour local-currency assets, credible disinflation paths and balance-sheet repair. This narrative is historically grounded and...   Read More

The impulse that led to the passing of MGNREGA celebrated the spirit of inclusive development. However, the engineering that rendered the spirit behind MGNREGA into functioning machinery requires repairs and unclogging. Unless we recognise both achievements and challenges facing MGNREGA, it will be difficult to repair it, and this omission will continue to haunt both....   Read More

This paper investigates the macroeconomic and labour market implications of gender equality in unpaid care work and the formalisation of part-time employment in India. The unequal distribution of unpaid care responsibilities significantly limits women’s labour force participation, perpetuating gender disparities in employment and economic outcomes. Using the McCall–Mortensen macroeconomic job search framework, this paper models...   Read More

NCAER News is a monthly digest where you can learn about NCAER's research outputs, its latest events, and offerings.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are now the leading cause of premature mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), accounting for more than 80% of early NCD deaths worldwide. As LMICs undergo rapid demographic, nutritional, and epidemiological transitions, obesity has emerged as a central driver of cardiometabolic risk—particularly among women. Although NCDs have long been characterised as...   Read More

India’s economic growth has not eased job insecurity, as employment expansion has remained modest and job quality weak, especially outside agriculture. Manufacturing and services saw limited employment growth between 2012 and 2023, while agriculture’s shrinking share pushed more workers into non-farm sectors that are becoming less labour-intensive even as their economic output rises. Economic growth...   Read More

Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research is a peer-reviewed bi-annual journal published jointly by NCAER & SAGE International. Volume 19, Issue 2, November 2025 includes the following papers- Corporate Foreign Exchange Risk in India: Firm-level Evidence and Some Policy Implications - Rohit Goel, Swapnanil Sengupta and Udaibir Saran Das Risk of Developing NCDs in Later...   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