India in Transition - Economy
- 03/22/2009Given the consensus that infrastructure is a key constraint for economic growth, one would expect infrastructure policy to receive a lot of attention. However, over the last five years, the record has little to show. Not only has this government continued some of the misplaced policies of its predecessor, almost all its interventions have contributed to worsening the situation.
- 10/09/2008Ravi Ramamurti, Distinguished Professor of International Business and Director of the Center for Emerging Markets at Northeastern University, examines the rise of India’s multinational corporations since the mid 1990’s and offers insight into their promising future going forward into the 21st century.
- 09/28/2008Dr. Varun Rai, Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, reports on the groundbreaking impact India’s major energy policy reforms have had since 1998. Rai asserts that the policy will provide enough transparency and the right economic signals leading to the emergence of an efficient energy system in India.
- 05/18/2008The primary purpose of physical infrastructure, even by a narrow economic viewpoint, is to support economic activity, while that of social infrastructure, such as education and healthcare, is to build and maintain human capital. Sadly, the infrastructure policy of the Indian government, both past and present, seems to be concerned with reducing fiscal costs, to the detriment of those two core objectives.
- 03/23/2008The $15 billion loan waiver announced by India’s Finance Minister will largely benefit large farmers, fails to address root causes of the agrarian crisis, and will encourage more defaults on loans, says Vijay Mahajan, chairman of BASIX, a microfinance and livelihood promotion institution, and a member of India’s high-powered Committee for Financial Sector Reforms.