Reform of the oil sector is long overdue. The problems in the sector emanate from the structure of central taxes and the system of subsidisation through prices. Solutions to the problems necessarily have to address both tax and subsidy simultaneously. The social losses include, misuse / wasteful...

The budget contained an announcement that the central government would actively explore the option of using an appropriate form of the ‘food stamps’ or an alternative scheme to improve the efficacy and reduce the cost of the current system of administration of food subsidies. The...

This paper discusses the trends in India's outward FDI over the last decade and then attempts to identify the driving factors for the same. The aim is to provide policy makers with insights regarding levers which would help in encouraging FDI outflows and to stimulate further research in foreign...

We bring out the fundamental and more important problems with the current framework of land acquisition in India, regulations on land and the functioning of land markets. We argue that reform is overdue and the current framework would be unsustainable in a democracy that is India. Current land...

The efficiency and efficacy of government instruments in implementing policy have been particularly problematic in India. For instance, the incentives, mostly fiscal, to boost been linked to investments, e.g., development rebate and later investment rebate; others have been linked to depreciation...

Sustained very high rate of growth (above 8% in the context today in India) would be able to achieve (since a labour productivity growth of 4 to 4.5 % is to be factored in) a labour absorption rate of 3.5 to 4% which is about a percent above the growth in the rate of the workforce. But slower...

The distortions in price based subsidisation are very severe. The direct fiscal cost of ensuring that a rupee of value is delivered to all household users of kerosene is as high as Rs.3 and when the consideration is the benefit that finally reaches the poor “below the poverty line” consumers...

Land in India is problematic largely because of archaic and perverse provisions in the practice and the law. The new Land Acquisition Amendment Bill does go some way to correct the anti-democratic and imperial provisions of the old 1894 Act. Other regulatory restraints stand in the way of fair...

Container movement by rail was a monopoly of Indian Railways (IR) until recently and its subsidiary, Container Corporation (CONCOR) was the sole operator of container trains. Entry of other entities in 2007 has been driven by larger public policy concerns. In the process, issues such as...

Gujarat has attracted more foreign direct investment (FDI) than what its GDP size alone would suggest. But relative to its peer states (especially Tamilnadu, Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka, and possibly Andhra Pradesh) it has fallen short significantly. The above findings which we made in an...