The study addresses those issues which inflation measures best capture in the inflation dynamics in India as well as the measure which is most relevant for monetary policy making in India. It explores questions of timeliness, weights in the price index, accuracy of food price measurement, and the relevance of services prices for measuring inflation in India.

Against the backdrop of UNFPA-UNIFEM partnership of strengthening the analysis and training of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) globally, four regional chapters were envisioned; in the Asia Pacific and CIS/CEE region. The UN entities entrusted upon NIPFP the task of planning and designing a course structure on the subject and for delivering a global training workshop. The first part of the project, a course structure on GRB was prepared by the author in co-ordition with UNFPA and UNIFEM followed by the development of a ‘NIPFP Resource Pack on GRB’. The second part of the project was the global workshop organised at NIPFP during June 9-12, 2009. 31 participants from nearly 20 countries including UN officials, economists, and officials from Ministry of Finance, Planning Division and other sectoral Ministries of different countries of the region attended the workshop. The final part of the project pertained to submission of the technical GRB Report by NIPFP.

The objective of the study is to understand the process of decentralisation in general, and evaluate the impact of decentralisation on education and health service delivery, in particular. The study has also undertaken a detailed benefit incidence alysis of education and health services across states based on NSS data.

The above study aim at carrying out a critical appraisal of the basic theories of fiscal decentralisation and make an evaluation of the actual decentralisation process in India. Alysis of state-wise functiol and fincial devolution to panchayats, critical review of the fiscal transfer system and formulae adopted by the state governments, examining budgeting and accounting practices, alysis of status of revenues of panchayats, and examition of the approach of State Fince Commissions are the main objectives of the study.

This is an exploratory study on the process and status of decentralisation to rural local governments in different states in India. The study draws lessons from the detailed review of various theories of fiscal federalism. In the background of these, it alyses the functiol devolution to the rural local governments in different states in India, examines the status of activity mapping and gores on to undertake activity mapping in some of the states. The alysis of own revenues helps in drawing recommendations to augment the resources of rural local governments. The study also makes a detailed review of the functioning of the State Fince Commissions.

The project provides an overview of the functions performed and finces raised by the urban local bodies in the state of Jharkhand. On the whole it is found that most of the functions assigned to them are not being performed. The levels of tax and non tax revenues are abysmally low as a result of which there has been an over-dependence on the upper tiers of the governments for grants. Unstable political situation in the state has led to improper utilisation and leakage of funds even at the local level.

The key question that the study addressed was “Is the existing municipal finces system adequate for meeting the contemporary challenges of urbanisation, decentralisation, and globalisation?” Alysing a range of data on the finces of municipalities, the study concludes that the existing municipal fince system was idequate in addressing these challenges. In view of the fact that a number of initiatives for reforming and strengthening the municipal fince system have now been put in place under the JnNURM, the study builds and reinforces them with a set of additiol reform initiatives.

The Korea Institute of Public Fince, Seoul, Republic of Korea organised a 3-day roundtable to discuss the prelimiry findings of the above NIPFP study. Experts from India, Korea, and Cada were invited to share intertiol experiences. Among others, who attended the roundtable were Urban Development Secretaries from five Indian states viz., Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

A report was prepared by TERI (The Energy Research Institute) and NIPFP to assist the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the Ministry of Fince for empanelling transaction advisors for PPP (Public-Private-Partnership) projects. Based on the evaluation criteria stipulated by the MoF in its RfQ (Request for Qualification), both TERI and NIPFP independently devised objective and quantifiable variables to evaluate 30 consortiums of potential transaction advisors. The fil panel would constitute those selected on the basis of their capability and experience in discharging a lead role in transactions and providing commercial, fincial, and legal advice. The panel is intended to ensure streamlining, transparency, and accountability through clear definition of the processes of the agencies and private sector.

The study investigates the role of the yuan in the exchange rate arrangements of other economies.

In 2010 and 2011, there has been a fresh wave of interest in capital controls. India is one of the few large countries with a complex system of capital controls. These studies assess the extent to which these help achieve goals of macroeconomic and fincial policy.

Tracking cyclical variation of the state of the economy, i.e., measuring and forecasting business cycle (boom and recession) is essential for implementing policies effectively in the incidence of negative shock. To understand the business cycle in the economy, it is essential to have a comprehensive knowledge of the macroeconomic stylised facts in the economy. This study presents a comprehensive set of stylised facts for business cycles in India during 1950 - 2009 and finds that the ture of the business cycle has changed dramatically after India’s liberalisation and reforms in 1991.

Access to timely and reliable information on the current state of economic activity is essential for effective policy making. Towards this end, early estimates, or nowcasts of GDP (quarterly, released with two-months lag from the end of the quarter) growth in India are obtained by extracting information from high-frequency data to gauge the state of the economy in real time using a multi-sectoral forecast model.

This study investigates relative tax incidence on Indian MNCs vis-à-vis, the domestic firms.

This study attempts to assess the statewise impact of central tax preferences. Since there are a large number of tax preferences, an attempt has been made to assess and allocate the impact of some of the major tax preferences. It is found that if the preferences specifically targeted towards the backward areas are not included, there is a bunching of incentives in higher income states. However, some of this impact is neutralized by the benefits accruing on account of the incentives provided to backward areas.

This study was undertaken for the Ministry of Fince as a background paper for the Seoul Summit of G-20. It has alysed the impact of the 2008 fincial crisis in different G-20 countries, the stimulus packages introduced, and the recovery processes. The study found that there were substantial variations among G-20 countries in terms of decline in economic growth, the size of fiscal and monetary stimuli, as well as response lags. The study noted that there could be similar variations in reversal of policy stimulus measures depending on each country’s domestic economic environment. Although G-20 co-ordition is crucial for global recovery from the crisis, this does not imply simultaneous stimulus withdrawal. Indeed, such simultaneous stimulus withdrawal across all G-20 countries risks a negative global shock leading to another great recession. Conversely, postponing stimulus withdrawal in overheating economies can lead to high inflation. In the case of India, robust growth recovery has been accompanied by high, unsustaible inflation and a high fiscal deficit. Hence, the study argues for immediate withdrawal of the stimulus package.However, it also points out how this has to be nuanced, keeping in view the objectives of high growth and inclusiveness.

This work proposes a new measure of dollar pegging, the “Bretton Woods II score" to assess the shift in currency regime of Asian countries.

This project undertook a comprehensive review and analysis of the process of planning, allocation, and expenditure for elementary education under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. It included creating a database for state level Annual Work Plans; tracking the process of fund flows from the centre to states, districts, and filly to schools; and field surveys to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of expenditure at the school level. The project was complimented by a capacity-building exercise of parent-teacher association in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh.

The study examines the interlinkages between Indian ADR premiums and macroeconomic indicators.

The study discusses the key features of Indian fincial system and critically alyses the extent of reform that has taken place in this sector.

This study provides an overview of the ture of insurance schemes being supported by the Government of India for the vulnerable sections of the population and highlights the fincial implication of operating these schemes. It also examines specific aspects of performance of these schemes and the factors affecting them, and discusses issues related to the extent of overlapping between different insurance schemes of the central government and between schemes of the central government and state governments. Additiolly, it discusses some of the problems associated with the design and implementation of these insurance schemes. 

The aim of this project is to bring India closer to achieving monetary policy and fincial sector reform. To explore appropriate monetary and fiscal rules under different institutiol structure, Dymic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models for India are attempted in collaboration with the University of Surrey, U.K.

Chapter 9, page 260–279 in “Maging Capital Flows” in The search for a framework, edited by Masahiro Kawai and Mario B. Lamberte, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011.

It explores the phenome of export and import misinvoicing for 35 countries over a 26 year span to identify factors related to misinvoicing. Capital account openness, differentials in interest rates, political stability, corruption, indebtedness and the exchange rate regime are identified as factors related to misinvoicing.

This study is an attempt to evaluate the tax incentives for education and educatiol institutions within the ambit of income taxes in India. The study suggests that since a significant component of the benefit for education comes through the classification of education as a charitable purpose, it is important to revisit the concept/definition of charitable purpose and processes for ensuring accountability of the institutions that benefit from this clause.

This study investigates whether Indian multinationals have more exposure to the global credit market and how their investment decisions were affected during the crisis.

A decomposition alysis pertaining to the change in insider shareholding, the change in market capitalisation and the change in the fraction of outside shareholding that is held by foreigners is conducted to understand the sharp change in foreign ownership of Indian firms after 2001.