Researchers Publication

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

Unlike other countries, economy-wide modelling in India generally has treated the Indian nation as one entity even though one recognises that the states/regions differ significantly in respect of their resource base and factor endowments. Of course, a few models at the state level exist.  However, these models do not capture the transmission channels from the...   Read More

Dynamic policymaking can ensure that India grabs this golden opportunity presented by the shifting global scenario to foster a boom in its education sector. India’s education system is severely capacity constrained. Young people comprise almost a third of the country’s population, but only a quarter of them enrol in higher education. We need to increase...   Read More

Reform, global reach and financial stability statecraft.  Amid developing tensions, the International Monetary Fund’s 2025 Financial Sector Stability Assessment for China arrives at a pivotal juncture. More than a domestic stocktake, it reflects the structural transformation of China’s financial system, marked by increased complexity, persistent contradictions and a steadily expanding global footprint – much of which is...   Read More

India has made remarkable strides in expanding access to education for girls over the past few decades. Enrolment rates for girls in primary and secondary schools have risen significantly, and gender gaps in literacy have narrowed. Girls have surpassed boys even in gross enrolment in higher education. However, this educational success has not translated into...   Read More

As India seeks to enhance its innovation ecosystem, it is worthwhile to pay attention to opportunities and lessons from the self-inflicted wounds on American science What do lasers, the internet, Google’s search algorithm, the gene-editing tool CRISPR-9, Wireless MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) technology, and Covid vaccines have in common? Key innovations underlying each originated in an...   Read More

India’s water crisis is not only about scarcity. It is mismanagement, over extraction of groundwater and pollution that are the real culprits In a country where nearly 600 million people face high to extreme water stress and where per capita water availability has dropped sharply from 5,177 m³ in 1951 to about 1,400 m³ today,...   Read More

In the Review, we summarise the economic and policy developments in India; monitor global developments of relevance to India; and showcase the pulse of the economy through an analysis of high-frequency indicators and the heat map. Click here for previous issues.

How many handloom weavers are there in India? According to the 4th All India Handloom Census (2019–20), there are 26,73,891 handloom weavers and 8,48,621 allied workers in the country. In other words, there are a total of 35.2 lakh handloom weavers in the country. Challenges in Estimating the Number of Handloom Weavers in India: A Comparison...   Read More

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

India’s water crisis is no longer a spectre of the future; it is a daily reality. As the summer of 2025 looms, farmers from Punjab to Tamil Nadu brace themselves for parched fields while urban residents grow anxious about taps running dry. Beneath the cracked earth and empty rivers lies an even more alarming threat:...   Read More

The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), one of India’s premier economic policy research think tanks, carried out the 132nd Round of its Business Expectations Survey (BES) in March 2025. NCAER has been carrying out the BES every quarter since 1992, covering 448 firms across four regions.