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Natasha Agarwal
Natasha Agarwal is an independent international trade consultant based in New Delhi, India with exposure towards both academic research and policy analysis. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Nottingham, UK and an M.Sc. in International Business (Economics) from Lancaster University, UK.
<>She is a keen researcher in understanding the mechanism behind Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) I-International Trade-Migration nexus. Her doctoral thesis focused on understanding the the impact of developmental bottlenecks like financial development on the benefits to domestic firms from inward FDI in China. Several post-doctoral projects have focused on understanding the impact of financial development of economic growth in the state of Bihar in India, the use of taxes as a macro-prudential policy in curbing financial crisis of 2008, the impact of house prices on pension funds, the impact of FDI (proxied through Investment Promotion Agencies) on extensive and intensive margin exports in the horizontal and vertical industry.
She has also undertaken policy-related research largely focused on understanding the impact of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) on financial development in India, trade financing and its impact on exports in India, identifying reasons why India has large trade deficits with China, Indonesia, and South Korea, and providing strategies which largely included identifying export-potential products, and infrastructural bottlenecks.
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Why outward FDI should be encouraged
The ‘Make in India’ programme seeks to incentivise global investors to manufacture in India. In this article, Natasha Agarwal, an independent research economist argues that efforts should also be made to support Indian businesses to invest abroad as several direct and indirect benefits accrue to the home country from outward foreign direct investment.
Unleashing the full potential of India's 'Open Government Data' initiative
In October 2012, India embarked upon its ‘Open Government Data’ journey, by opening up access to government-owned shareable data in machine-readable formats for the use of general public. In this article, Natasha Agarwal, an independent research economist, discusses issues in the design and implementation of the initiative particularly through the lens of its governing policy - the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy, and makes recommendations to enhance its effectiveness in achieving stated objectives.
Getting more out of India's 'Tourist Visa on Arrival' scheme
The Government of India has extended the ‘Tourist Visa on Arrival’ scheme - now expected to be renamed ´Visa Online (ETA)´ scheme - from five countries in 2010 to 44 countries in 2014. In this article, Natasha Agarwal and Magnus Lodefalk highlight some of the limitations in the design and implementation of the scheme, and make recommendations for maximising its economic benefit and effectiveness.