Researchers Publication

On 29 July 2019 the government amended and added to the terms of reference (TOR) of the 15th Finance Commission (15th FC) asking it to “... examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up..." The amendment has been interpreted as an attempt by the Centre to...   Read More

The high logistics costs in India as compared to those in countries that have similar business environments and are going through the same stage of growth is a matter of serious concern for both the country’s manufacturing sector and its comprehensive development as a whole. Several reasons are cited for the high logistics costs in...   Read More

Globalisation has opened up economic opportunities for developing countries in the form of outflow of value-added services, low-cost raw materials , human resource skills, improved market access for their exports, efficiency gains in their economies through technology transfer and spill-over, and resource re-allocations. Consequently, various developing countries, including India, have increasingly begun to position themselves...   Read More

The prevalence of high logistics costs in India as compared to other countries with a similar environment and level of development is a matter of concern as it poses challenges for the manufacturing growth and comprehensive development of the country. Several reasons are cited for the high logistics costs in India, including an unfavourable policy...   Read More

Before making any policy intervention, it is important to estimate the overall logistics costs, including the various associated components/elements in order to understand and identify the problem areas and arrive at meaningful solutions. This NCAER report symbolises a major step in the direction of quantification of logistics costs. Such an exercise, in fact, needs to...   Read More

India’s relatively wet climate offers hope even in today’s dire situation. What is needed is the enforcement of programmes aimed at conserving our most precious resource Water water everywhere/ Nor any drop to drink.” These words from an evocative poem by the famous 18th century English poet Samuel Coleridge echo the helplessness of a harried...   Read More

Arvind Subramanian’s paper ‘India’s GDP Mis-estimation’ published in June this year caused a lot of controversy. I was initially sceptical of his argument. But now having heard him at the India Policy Forum at NCAER on July 10 where he presented more data on India’s slowdown I am convinced about the significance of his research....   Read More

India had an opportunity to take major initiatives but what the bureaucracy gave us is just another incremental budget The Bharatiya Janata Party’s massive electoral mandate provided a great opportunity for introducing major fiscal and other initiatives through the budget. Unfortunately that opportunity has been missed. Following her meteoric political rise finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman...   Read More

In India investing in the laggard States will ensure their role as being the greatest contributors of the future Last month the United Nations released the 26th revision of World Population Prospects and forecast that India will overtake China as the most populous country by 2027. The only surprise associated with this forecast is the...   Read More

New Delhi (Wednesday July 10 2019):  Dr Gurucharan Manna Senior Adviser at NCAER and former Director General of CSO and NSSO Government of India has been appointed a member of the National Statistical Commission.  Dr Manna has nearly 40 years of specialized experience in sample design estimation procedures for household and establishment surveys and the...   Read More

There has been a decline in economic activity since the last fiscal. Both economic activity and inflation showed falling trends throughout 2018–19. Akin to the rest of the world business uncertainty had increased in India post the Lehman bankruptcy in September 2008. A measure of volatility the standard deviation (SD) of the quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) growth...   Read More

This 15th India Policy Forum 2018 Volume comprises papers and highlights of the discussions at the two-day conference in New Delhi on July 10-11, 2018. The IPF is NCAER’s annual economic policy research conference that brings together academics, policymakers, industry representatives, media, and researchers for discussions on key issues of Indian economic policy. The IPF...   Read More