Researchers Publication

The recent semi-public exchanges between Sebi and DFS raise several questions about the legislative function of regulators that need careful consideration In March 2020 a private bank wrote off Additional Tier 1 (AT-1) bonds worth Rs 8415 crore based on a scheme of reconstruction approved by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This created a...   Read More

The government should reduce price distortions while farmers must organize themselves to gain collective bargaining power Our skewed policy of providing support prices chiefly for two crops has led to the oversupply of these even as our subsidy-cum-procurement regime turned farmers dependent on it. The roots of the continuing farmers’ agitation go back over 50...   Read More

Auto fuel pricing goes beyond taxes to refineries The discourse around the spikes in gas petrol and diesel prices follows the usual line. The government argues that the consumer has to bear the high price because global crude oil prices have hardened. The Opposition argues that the higher domestic price is due to frequent upward...   Read More

The proposed SPV meant to carry out the monetisation should take essential steps for making land assets of PSUs free of any hindrances Urban development in India is largely obstructed by the lack of availability of land at affordable prices a key prerequisite for infrastructure development and housing. According to the Numbeo database for 2021...   Read More

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

Financial inclusion, or empowerment of all citizens with access to financial resources through formal financial institutions and systems, has been advocated by many as an effective vehicle for economic development and poverty alleviation. Microfinance has emerged as a major instrument of meeting the needs of lower income households by linking them to the financial resources...   Read More

The NCAER Land Record & Services Index, N-LRSI 2020-21 is the second edition of the Index, based on NCAER's Land Policy Initiative, which has been supported by Omidyar Network India, through its Property Rights Research Consortium initiative which aims to enable evidence-based solutions for securing land, housing and property rights in India. It provides a...   Read More

The NCAER Land Record & Services Index, N-LRSI 2020-21 is the second edition of the Index, based on NCAER's Land Policy Initiative, which has been supported by Omidyar Network India, through its Property Rights Research Consortium initiative which aims to enable evidence-based solutions for securing land, housing and property rights in India. It provides a...   Read More

This approach paper was written on behalf of Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office. It provides a novel methodological framework to evaluate prioritization of infrastructure projects. Given scarce resources available for investments, which infrastructure project should get prioritized first, remains a key question for policymakers. In this report, we develop an idea to compute a novel index...   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