This report provides a region-wide analysis on the status of the digital economy in South Asia. It identifies opportunities and challenges for national and regional action to realize the transformational potential of digitalizing economies, societies, and governments. The report synthesizes and...

The automotive sector is one of the most important industries globally and in South Asia, contributing 19 million of direct and indirect jobs in India alone. This case study identifies both reasons for success and limits on the growth of automotive in South Asia, and recommends policies to...

Agribusiness (including agriculture) accounts for almost one third of South Asia's GDP and has the potential to almost double over the next fifteen years (reaching 1.5 trillion US dollars by 2030). This increase will be driven by rapid growth in population, incomes and urbanization, as well as...

Apparel is the largest labor-intensive manufacturing industry in South Asia, and is a major employer of women. Although South Asia's apparel sector benefits from many of the same favorable conditions as East Asia's, performance in South Asian apparel remains well below that of East Asia. The...

The electronics sector has played an important role in the development trajectories of several newly industrialized economies. South Asia's lack of competitiveness reflects inadequate provision of public goods (e.g. industrial zones next to world class ports and urban centers) rather than high...

Infrastructure assets and services provide the basic physical and organizational structures that underpin the functioning of economy and society. Access to reliable, quality, efficient, and affordable infrastructure services is critical to reducing poverty, promoting economic growth, supporting...

Youth are the cornerstone and the future of societies. It is of critical importance to adopt a life-cycle approach to child and youth development with a greater focus on the care, empowerment, and protection of girls and young women. This report focuses on youth, an age group defined as persons...

This chapter deals with the distortions to price incentives for agriculture that result from the trade, exchange rate and domestic policies in place in the four main South Asian countries, by summarizing and comparing the findings and themes of the more-detailed case studies on India, Pakistan,...

Mitigating climate change while addressing development needs will involve a massive scale-up of investments in Renewable Energy (RE) and Energy Efficiency (EE). Most of these climate investments will come from the private sector, which will be the main driver of low-carbon growth in both...