27 October, 2025India at work: Challenges and the road ahead
While India’s economy experienced steady growth over the last 20 years or so, the growth in employment has not kept pace and key challenges remain to the creation of good-quality jobs. In this post,...
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Nalini Gulati Kanika Mahajan Anisha Sharma 
15 September, 2025
- Perspectives
Why next-generation economic reforms are crucial for reviving investment
While corporate profitability and banks' lending ability have been on the rise for some time, corporate investment remains sluggish. In this post, Gupta and Sachdeva argue that investment levels of In...
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Shishir Gupta Rishita Sachdeva
- 11 April, 2025
- Articles
The growing burden of state subsidies
Delivery of welfare benefits to citizens by state governments in India often takes the form of subsidies. Analysing budgetary data from seven Indian states for the period between 2018-19 and 2022-23, ...
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Kishan Narayan
- 17 March, 2025
- Articles
India's power sector reforms: Who reaped the benefits?
The cornerstone of India´s power sector reforms is the 2003 National Electricity Act that limited state intervention in the power sector. This column analyses the effects of the Act on Indian manufa...
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David Szakonyi Johannes Urpelainen
- 02 May, 2014
- Articles
The costs of employment protection
Restrictive labour laws govern the formal sector in India, whereas the informal sector is virtually unregulated. This column analyses the impact of reforms pertaining to employment protection legisla...
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Sean Dougherty Veronica Frisancho Kala Krishna
- 30 April, 2014
- Articles
The puzzle of declining labour intensity in organised Indian manufacturing
It is surprising to note that labour intensity in the organised manufacturing sector in India, particularly in industries with greater labour requirements, has shown a sustained decline over the past...
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Kunal Sen
- 25 April, 2014
- Articles
Losing one half of India's demographic dividend
The working-age population in India is set to increase by more than 200 million over the next two decades. This column contends that India may fail to reap the benefits of this demographic dividend b...
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Jayan Jose Thomas
- 21 April, 2014
- Articles
Why food inflation has been high in India
The persistently high food inflation witnessed in India over the past few years has been a cause for concern. This column seeks to identify the major drivers of food inflation in India, and to evalua...
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Rudrani Bhattacharya Abhijit Sen Gupta Narhari Rao
- 16 April, 2014
- Articles
Can MNREGA improve credit worthiness of participating households?
Based on household survey data from West Bengal, this column analyses the impact of MNREGA on economic outcomes of participating households. It finds that the ‘local’, ‘guaranteed’ and ‘gov...
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Subhasish Dey
- 11 April, 2014
- Articles
How exchange rate changes impact Indian manufacturing firms
After falling to its lifetime low of 68.85 against the dollar in August last year, the Rupee has now appreciated to breach the 60-per-dollar mark. This column explores the impact of currency movement...
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Anubha Dhasmana
- 02 April, 2014
- Articles
How innovations in telecom can promote inclusive growth
Applications of Information and Communications Technology, such as mobile banking, have potential to promote inclusive growth and equity. This column analyses conditions under which innovations in IC...
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Ashima Goyal
- 28 March, 2014
- Articles
Why taxing property is essential for local government accountability
With rapid decentralisation and urbanisation, wealth is increasingly vested and locked up in land and property in India. In their previous article, Kapur and Subramanian emphasised the importance of ...
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Devesh Kapur Arvind Subramanian
- 03 March, 2014
- Perspectives
Service sector growth and convergence across Indian states
India’s success story in the services sector is well documented at the national level. However, similar literature does not exist for India’s states. This column seeks to bridge this gap by looki...
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Anirudh Shingal
- 17 February, 2014
- Articles
Taxation's fatal neglect?
Today, the public discourse on government finances in India is largely focused on spending. This article emphasises the importance of taxes, particularly income tax, in ensuring citizen participation...
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Devesh Kapur Arvind Subramanian
- 14 February, 2014
- Perspectives
Can SMEs drive India's growth?
Investment, particularly by the corporate sector in India, drove high growth rates during 2003-2009. Given the expected slow and weak recovery of the global economy, Indian corporates are unlikely to...
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Pronab Sen
- 12 February, 2014
- Articles
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Land in India: Market price vs. fundamental value
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015, is focused on protecting the few home buyers who can afford to buy homes but does not address the issue of high land prices, which is a very se...
- Gurbachan Singh
- 29 February, 2016
- Articles
Land records and titles in India
Land ownership is broadly determined by access to a land title, which protects the rights of the title-holder, and impacts livelihoods, and industrial, economic, and social growth. However, land title...
- Prachee Mishra Roopal Suhag
- 20 November, 2017
- Perspectives
Understanding the dynamics of the rupee-dollar exchange rate
Since 1993, the Indian rupee (INR) has officially been following a market-determined exchange rate – price is determined by demand for and supply of foreign exchange – with intervention by the Res...
- Ila Patnaik Rajeswari Sengupta
- 11 October, 2021
- Perspectives