Financial inclusion is a key policy objective that central banks, especially those in emerging and low-income countries, are considering for retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). If properly designed to address the barriers to financial inclusion, CBDCs have the opportunity to gain...

The Covid-19 pandemic is expected to result in large and persistent losses in economic output, known as scarring. These losses were expected to be more severe in Emerging Markets than in Advanced Economies. This paper examines the impact of Covid on output in Emerging Markets so far and its...

Using microdata from nationally representative household and labor force surveys, we study the impact and drivers of poverty and inequality in India during the pandemic. We have three main findings. First, India has made significant progress in reducing poverty in recent decades, but the...

Climate change poses challenging policy tradeoffs for India. The country faces the challenge of raising living standards for a population of 1.4 billion while at the same time needing to be a critical contributor to reducing global GHG emissions. The government has implemented numerous policies...

This paper analyzes the drivers of India's growth in the past five decades and considers baseline and upside scenarios of India's medium-term potential growth. Using a production function approach, the paper assesses the impact of the pandemic on the key factors of production and therefore its...

Foundational digital public infrastructure (DPI), consisting of unique digital identification, payments system and data exchange layer has the potential to support the transformation of the economy and support inclusive growth. India's foundational DPI, called India Stack, has been harnessed to...