An autonomous research institute under the Ministry of Finance

 

Past projects

Medium-Term Fiscal Plan for Sikkim: 2021-2022

  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Government of Sikkim
  • Project leader Pratap Ranjan Jena
  • Focus

    The report presents the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan (MTFP) for the Government of Sikkim for the year 2017-18 to 2019-20. The MTFP 2017-18 contains the presentation of fiscal policy objectives and projected fiscal targets in the ensuing budget year and two outward years. The report was prepared based on existing macro-fiscal environment and taking into consideration the requirements of the newly enacted FRBM Act in Sikkim. The report projects the fiscal variables for three years including the budget year aligning with the stipulation of the FRBM Act.


Does Monetary Policy in India Anchor Inflation Expectation?

  • Start date Sept., 2019
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Professor P. R. Brahmananda Research Grant, Institute of Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, 2018-19
  • Project leader Rudrani Bhattacharya
  • Focus

    India entered the inflation targeting monetary policy regime in 2015. Under this rule-based monetary policy regime, change in the policy rate transmits to economic activities and the current inflation rate by altering the inflation expectation of the rational economic agents. This study empirically investigates whether monetary policy can anchor inflation expectation of economic agents in India. In our analysis, the survey based measure of households' inflation expectation published by the Reserve Bank of India captures the inflation expectation of private agents. Using a co-integrated Vector Auto Regression (VAR) model, we find moderate but significant monetary policy transmission in India via the interest rate channel. However, inflation expectation seems to be unanchored by the conduct of monetary policy in the country.


Measuring the Impact of Foreign Monetary Policy Shock on Exchange Rate Volatility in India

  • Start date April, 2020
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor NIPFP
  • Project leader Rudrani Bhattacharya
  • Consultants/Other authors Shubhankar Mayank (summer intern, April–May, 2020)
  • Focus

    Stability of the exchange rate is very crucial for every country, irrespective of its monetary policy regime. This article presents an overview of the major events (of both international and domestic importance) that affected the rupee-dollar exchange rate after  India's independence, and attempts to determine the impact of foreign monetary policy shocks on the rupee-dollar exchange rate volatility through using GARCH modelling, multivariate regression and boosted regression trees.


Fiscal Federalism in Global South

  • Start date Aug., 2019
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) under the Innovation in Public Finance project
  • Project leader Lekha Chakraborty
  • Consultants/Other authors Gurleen Kaur, Amandeep Kaur, Jannet Farida Jacob, Anindita Ghosh and Divy Rangan
  • Focus
    Preparation of conference proceedings of Federalism in Global South. The fiscal federalism – revenue assignment, expenditure assignment, intergovernmental fiscal transfers – of Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nepal and India are discussed in this project.

Fiscal Policy for the Unpaid Care Economy.

  • Start date Feb., 2020
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Self-initiated (research collaboration with American University, Washington DC)
  • Project leader Lekha Chakraborty
  • Focus
    The statistical invisibility of the care economy is a matter of concern. The time use survey published by the National Statistical Office in 2020 for all states is an innovative dataset to understand the economic activities under the Systems of National Accounts, 1993, which extended the production boundary to incorporate the household and societal levels of unpaid economic activities. These inferences have policy implications for gender budgeting. The paper provides analytical backup (on the care economy) to the ongoing gender budgeting initiatives by the Ministry of Finance. This paper is invited for presentation in the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) meeting in Geneva on 30 June 2022.

A Study on Devolution of Funds to ULBs under State Finance Commission in Haryana: A Critical Review

  • Start date June, 2021
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Sixth State Finance Commission of Haryana
  • Project leader Manish Gupta
  • Consultants/Other authors Smriti Behl and Sampreet Kaur
  • Focus
    The study involves reviewing the reports of State Finance Commissions (SFCs) in Haryana, the methodology adopted by each of them in carrying out their assigned task and the recommendations made by them in devolving funds (devolution and grants) to ULBs in the state and suggest the devolution criteria, quantum, and distribution method among the ULBs of different categories to the Sixth SFC.

Making Land Markets Work Better

  • Start date April, 2019
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Omidyar Network
  • Project leader Ila Patnaik
  • Consultants/Other authors Devendra Damle, Tushar Anand, Karan Gulati, Viraj Joshi, Vishal Trehan, Siddhartha Srivastava, Sarang Mohrir, Guntaas Kaur Uppal, Namita Goel, Aanshi Sharma
  • Focus
    Land is an important factor of production and possibly one of the least reformed ones in the Indian economy.  The increased pace of growth and consequent urbanization over the past two decades have led to demand-driven transformations in land markets. 
    The objective of this study is to: 
    Gain knowledge of land administration systems, in order to improve administrative design and capacity.
    Understand the role of rights and restrictions on land in order to reduce inefficiencies, lower transaction costs and create better property rights in land markets.
    Understand market failures in land markets, and the role and design of regulations governing land. 
     

Documentation Centre for ICSSR-MHA project on `Critical Issues in Special Areas’

  • Start date May, 2018
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Indian Council of Social Science Research
  • Project leader Ila Patnaik
  • Consultants/Other authors Ashim Kapoor, Rachna Sharma
  • Focus

    The Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR) has recently undertaken a project, sponsored by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), to study critical issues in special areas in India. As part of this project, the NIPFP is assisting ICSSR to assemble documents for creating a digital library related to the study topic.  The NIPFP will design and maintain the digital library, which will include primary materials such as Constituent Assembly debates, legal instruments, policy documents, United Nations documents and contracts.


Public Finance for Children: State-level Analysis of Gujarat, Odisha, Karnataka and Telangana

  • Start date Aug., 2019
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor BMGF under the Innovation in Public Finance project
  • Project leader Lekha Chakraborty
  • Consultants/Other authors Amandeep Kaur (with Anindita Ghosh [till December 2020] and Jannet Farida Jacob)
  • Focus
    Around 60 percent of school-age children are now in the category termed as ‘effectively out-of-school’. They are deprived of education due to the ‘digital divide’ (lack of access to Internet) — a situation that has emerged because of the pandemic. In this study, we explore child budgeting in the specific context of India’s Central and sub-national government responses to the pandemic, with a focus on the states of Karnataka, Gujarat, Odisha and  Telangana. The inferences from our study on child budgeting of these specific states will help the Ministry of Finance to strengthen child budgeting as a public financial management tool for accountability at the Central and State government levels.

Fiscal Policy for the Unpaid Care Economy

  • Start date Feb., 2019
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Self-initiative (research collaboration with American University, Washington DC)
  • Project leader Lekha Chakraborty
  • Focus

    The statistical invisibility of the care economy is a matter of concern. The time use survey published by the National Statistical Office in 2020 for all states is an innovative dataset to understand the economic activities under the Systems of National Accounts, 1993, which extended the production boundary to incorporate the household and societal levels of unpaid economic activities. These inferences have policy implications for gender budgeting. The paper will provide analytical backup (on the care economy) to the ongoing gender budgeting initiatives by the Ministry of Finance. 


Fiscal Federalism in Global South

  • Start date Aug., 2019
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation under the Innovation in Public Finance project
  • Project leader Lekha Chakraborty
  • Consultants/Other authors Gurleen Kaur, Amandeep Kaur, Jannet Farida Jacob, Anindita Ghosh, Divy Rangan
  • Focus

    Preparation of conference proceedings of Federalism in Global South. The fiscal federalism – revenue assignment, expenditure assignment, intergovernmental fiscal transfers - of Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nepal and India are discussed in this project.


Public Finance for Children: State-level Analysis of Gujarat, Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana

  • Start date Aug., 2019
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation under the Innovation in Public Finance project
  • Project leader Lekha Chakraborty and Amandeep Kaur (with Anindita Ghosh (till December 2020) and Jannet Farida Jacob)
  • Focus
    Around 60 per cent of school-age children are now in the category termed as ‘effectively out-of-school’. They are deprived of education due to the ‘digital divide’ (lack of access to internet) — a situation that has emerged because of the pandemic. 
    In this study, we explore child budgeting in the specific context of India’s Central and sub-national government responses to the pandemic, with a focus on the states of Karnataka, Gujarat, Odisha and Telangana. The inferences from our study on child budgeting of these specific states will help the Ministry of Finance to strengthen child budgeting as a public financial management tool for accountability, at the Central and state government levels.
     

Sectoral Spending Effectiveness of Gender Budgeting on Gender Equality and Fiscal Space in Education and Health: A study of the Asia Pacific Region

  • Start date Sept., 2019
  • Completion date Dec., 2021
  • Sponsor Self-initiated project (earlier version was presented in the American Economic Association meetings in Atlanta)
  • Project leader Lekha Chakraborty
  • Focus

    This paper empirically analyses the impact of fiscal policy practices, with particular reference to the processes and analytical frameworks of gender budgeting, on ‘equally distributed equivalent’ variables of gender in the health and education sectors within the political economy framework in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. NIPFP has been a pioneer in gender budgeting and worked in close association with Ministry of Finance to institutionalise gender budgeting in 2004. Given that the NIPFP methodology of gender budgeting at the national and sub-national levels has remained unchanged, we can use time series data to analyse the impact of gender budgeting on gender equality outcomes and the fiscal space. The inferences from this study will provide an empirical review of gender budgeting across countries in the Asia Pacific with clear policy inputs for the Ministry of Finance. 


Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer on Improved Health Interventions among Pregnant Women Labourers: Evidence from Mukhya Mantri Shramik Seva (Prasuti Sahayata) Yojana, Madhya Pradesh

  • Start date Feb., 2020
  • Completion date Nov., 2021
  • Sponsor National Health Mission, Madhya Pradesh
  • Project leader Bhabesh Hazarika, Dinesh Kumar Nayak, NR Bhanumurthy
  • Consultants/Other authors Kanika Gupta, Manish Prashad
  • Focus
    The Madhya Pradesh Government has been implementing a state-specific conditional cash transfer scheme for the registered women labourers, the Mukhya Mantri Shramik Seva (Prasuti Sahayata) Yojana (MMSSPSY), since 2018. Given the underlying importance of the scheme towards the overall improvement of the health of pregnant women (PW), newborn babies and mothers, the study focuses on analysing the extent to which MMSSPSY has led to an uptake of improved nutritional and healthcare services among the registered (PW) labourers. It also analyses implementation and governance issues such as scheme awareness, fund flow (design and delay), expenditure profile, and perceptions of frontline health personnel about the scheme implementation.

State of the Economy: Quarterly Assessment and Growth Outlook Report to the EAC-PM

  • Start date Nov., 2020
  • Completion date Oct., 2021
  • Sponsor Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM)
  • Project leader Pinaki Chakraborty
  • Other faculty R. Kavita Rao, Lekha Chakraborty, Sabyasachi Kar, P.R. Jena, Manish Gupta, Rudrani Bhattacharya, Amey Sapre
  • Focus

    A note on the quarterly assessment of the state of the economy, covering trends in growth, inflation, trends in tax collection of Central and state governments, developments in monetary and fiscal policy. 


The "Scissors Effect" of Covid 19 Pandemic on State Finances: Emerging Evidence on Expenditures

  • Start date Sept., 2020
  • Completion date Oct., 2021
  • Sponsor Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) under Approaches to Public Financing of Health in India: The Way
  • Project leader Mita Choudhury
  • Consultants/Other authors Pritam Datta, Rohit Dutta, Rashi Mittal, Garima Nain, Ragini
  • Focus

    This study analyses changes in the revenues and expenditures of major states of India in 2020-21 vis-a-vis 2019-20 (the reference year). On revenues, we examine component-wise changes and transfers from the Central government. On expenditures, we carry out analysis at the sectoral level to understand varied response across states in protecting social sector spending vis-a-vis spending in economic sectors during the pandemic. Aggregate data provided by the CAG, Monthly Civil Accounts compiled by the office of the Principal Auditor General (PAG) in states and revised figures provided in state budgets are used to draw conclusions.


Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers for Education in India

  • Start date April, 2021
  • Completion date Oct., 2021
  • Sponsor The World Bank
  • Project leader Sukanya Bose
  • Other faculty Sri Hari Nayudu A.
  • Consultants/Other authors Noopur and
  • Focus
    This study analyses the trends and patterns in intergovernmental transfers for education – school education and higher education – across three Finance Commission periods (2005-20) which saw a number of important policy-induced changes in the overall fiscal framework. The analysis is conducted for 20 Indian states, including three special category states.

Sub-national Fiscal Sustainability Analysis in India – Odisha and Himachal Pradesh

  • Start date April, 2021
  • Completion date Sept., 2021
  • Sponsor The World Bank, New Delhi
  • Project leader Pinaki Chakraborty
  • Other faculty Manish Gupta
  • Consultants/Other authors Smriti Mehra
  • Focus
    The objective of the study was to carry out a medium term fiscal sustainability analysis for two Indian states – Odisha and Himachal Pradesh. This included building scenarios based on the specific policy priorities and constraints of each state. The Himachal part of the report could not be completed because of non-availability of data from the State Government

Bi-annual Review of the Compliance of the Provisions of the Madhya Pradesh FRBM Act, 2017-18 and 2018-19

  • Start date Feb., 2021
  • Completion date Sept., 2021
  • Sponsor Government of Madhya Pradesh
  • Project leader Pratap Ranjan Jena
  • Focus

    The study involved assessing the fiscal performance of the Government of Madhya Pradesh and its compliance with the provision of the FRBM Act during in 2017-18 and 2018-19. The study proposes to undertake a detailed assessment of state finances that includes revenue performance, spending priorities, budget management systems. The study will evaluate compliance with provisions of the FRBM Act. The study will be placed before the state legislature.


An Enquiry into Exit from Government Schools

  • Start date April, 2019
  • Completion date Sept., 2021
  • Sponsor Azim Premji University Research Grant, 2018
  • Project leader Sukanya Bose
  • Consultants/Other authors Priyanta Ghosh, Manohar Boda and Arvind Sardana (Eklavya, Madhya Pradesh)
  • Focus
    The study tries to unpack the phenomenon of exit from government schools with a focus on the exit at the bottom of the pyramid. In attempting to understand the market phenomenon of exit, public provisioning and regulation of the market – the two primary economic roles of the state – are studied. The study is located in the city of Delhi. (i) Low-fee private schools (LFPS) have emerged as close substitutes for government schools, though no official data exists for this informal sector in schooling. The study tries to establish the size of the LFPS sector, information that is vital to any planning; (ii) with the growing size as well as the type of players in the private sector, the regulatory role of the state becomes extremely important. How do the laws outlining the regulation of the private sector of schooling translate into actual practices in the field? (iii) the study presents estimates for public resource requirement to meet the demand-supply gap for schooling taking into account the existing deficits, and the potential sources of demand.

State of the Economy and Growth Outlook: Note for EAC-PM – Four quarterly reports were completed for EAC-PM during the year

  • Start date Oct., 2020
  • Completion date Sept., 2021
  • Sponsor Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM)
  • Project leader Pinaki Chakraborty
  • Other faculty R. Kavita Rao, Lekha Chakraborty, Pratap R. Jena, Manish Gupta, Rudrani Bhattacharya, Amey Sapre, Shruti Tripathi, and Dinesh K. Nayak
  • Focus
    Quarterly assessment and growth outlook of the economy. Four quarterly reports were submitted namely: (i) June-September 2020; (ii) October-December 2020 and January-March 2021; (iii) April-June 2021 and; (iv) July-August 2021.

An Inquiry Into Exit From Government Schools

  • Start date April, 2019
  • Completion date Sept., 2021
  • Sponsor Azim Premji University Research Grant, 2018
  • Project leader Sukanya Bose
  • Consultants/Other authors Priyanta Ghosh, Manohar Boda, and Arvind Sardana (Eklavya)
  • Focus

    The study attempts to unpack the phenomenon of exit from government schools, with a focus on exits at the bottom of the pyramid.  Low fee private schools (LFPS) have emerged as close substitutes for government schools, though no official data exists for this largely informal sector in schooling. The study tries to establish the size of the LFPS sector, information that is vital to any planning and resource allocations. The excess demand for private schooling needs a supply response from the State through greater investments on public schooling. We estimate the public resource needs for the expansion of government schools for Delhi. The formal policy on regulation of private schools, its various interpretations and the actual practices in the field are examined in the context of Delhi’s LFPSs. 


Emerging Issues in State Finances: Analysis of State Budgets 2021-22

  • Start date April, 2021
  • Completion date Sept., 2021
  • Sponsor NIPFP
  • Project leader Pinaki Chakraborty and Manish Gupta
  • Focus
    The study examines emerging issues in state finances and the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on the finances of State governments by analysing data from the latest budgets (i.e., budgets for fiscal 2021-22) of all 28 states.

Bi-annual Review of the Compliance of the Provisions of Madhya Pradesh FRBM Act for 2017-18, 2018-19, and December 2020 to September 2021

  • Start date Dec., 2020
  • Completion date Sept., 2021
  • Sponsor Government of Madhya Pradesh
  • Project leader Pratap Ranjan Jena
  • Consultants/Other authors Abhishek Singh
  • Focus
    This evaluation report is prepared and submitted as part of an independent review process of state finances and compliance to the state Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM Act). The evaluation report summarizes the key conclusions and lessons of the fiscal management process for these two years. In addition to highlighting the state’s compliance to the fiscal responsibility Act targets, the report contains broad trend of fiscal management. Budgetary projections relating to avenue and expenditure were analysed keeping the outturns in consideration to assess the ability of the State Government to implement the budgetary plans.

Intra-State Distribution of Public Spending on Health in Gujarat: Horizontal and Vertical Equity

  • Start date Nov., 2020
  • Completion date Sept., 2021
  • Sponsor Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) under Approaches to Public Financing of Health in India: The Way
  • Project leader Mita Choudhury
  • Consultants/Other authors Jay Dev Dubey
  • Focus

    This study focuses on the intra-state distribution of public spending on health in the State of Gujarat Much of the evidence on state-level public spending has been confined to state-level aggregates and intra-state distribution has received limited attention. We examine both the horizontal (across districts) and the vertical (across levels of care) equity within the state. The study is a continuation of our ongoing work on intra-state distribution of public spending on health across Indian states.


Two studies: (1) Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS): Restructuring and Rationalization and (2) Post-Covid Fiscal Framework: Issues and Options were completed for EAC-PM during the year

  • Start date July, 2021
  • Completion date Sept., 2021
  • Sponsor Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM)
  • Project leader Pinaki Chakraborty
  • Consultants/Other authors A.N. Jha, Yash Jaluka
  • Focus
    (1) The study identified the various issues in CSS and suggested design and operational changes that can be made to improve them. It was a comprehensive analysis of the rationale, constitutional background, evaluation, recommendations of past committees, current framework and suggestions for resolving the existing issues and challenges in them.
    (2) The study analysed the responses of various governments across the spectrum on their efforts to contain the fiscal deficit in the post-Covid fiscal framework. The study looked at various issues and options and made specific recommendations on targeting the revenue deficit as well as an appropriate level of fiscal deviations.

Environmental/Ecological Fiscal Transfers

  • Start date Aug., 2019
  • Completion date Aug., 2021
  • Sponsor Self-initiated
  • Project leader Lekha Chakraborty, Amandeep Kaur, Divy Rangan
  • Focus

    Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the paper explores the empirical evidence for flypaper effects in the ecological fiscal space in India. Using the panel data models, we analyse whether the impact of intergovernmental fiscal transfers or state’s own revenue determines the expenditure commitments on ecology at the state level. The econometric analysis shows that the aggregate intergovernmental fiscal transfers rather than state’s own income determines the ecological expenditure at sub-national government levels. The evidence for the efficacy of flypaper effects either stem from bureaucratic fiscal behaviour or the fiscal illusion of the economic agents about the exogeneity of ecological fiscal space. The results hold, when the models are controlled for ecological outcomes and demographic variables. However, at the disaggregated levels of intergovernmental fiscal transfers - grants and tax devolution - the evidence for flypaper effects is mixed. This result has policy implications and provides empirical evidence to Ministry to Finance about the efficacy of intergovernmental transfers on ecological expenditure at the state government level. 


Environmental/ Ecological Fiscal Transfers

  • Start date Aug., 2019
  • Completion date Aug., 2021
  • Sponsor Self-Initiated
  • Project leader Lekha Chakraborty
  • Other faculty Amandeep Kaur and Ranjan Mohanty
  • Focus
    Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the paper explores the empirical evidence for flypaper effects in the ecological fiscal space in India. Using the panel data models, we analyse whether the impact of intergovernmental fiscal transfers or a state’s own revenue determines the expenditure commitments on ecology at the state level. The econometric analysis shows that the aggregate intergovernmental fiscal transfers rather than a state’s own income determine the ecological expenditure at sub-national government levels. The evidence for the efficacy of flypaper effects either stem from bureaucratic fiscal behaviour or the fiscal illusion of the economic agents about the exogeneity of ecological fiscal space. The results hold when the models are controlled for ecological outcomes and demographic variables. However, at the disaggregated levels of intergovernmental fiscal transfers – grants and tax devolution – the evidence for flypaper effects is mixed. This result has policy implications and provides empirical evidence to the Ministry to Finance about the efficacy of intergovernmental transfers on ecological expenditure at the State government level. The paper was presented at the International Institute of Public Finance Meetings 2021, at University of Iceland, Reykjavik (online), 18 August 2021, and also in the NIPFP-IIPF international conference on Public Finance, 29 June 2021. This paper was published as Working Paper at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, New York, in January 2022.

Issues before Tamil Nadu Sixth State Finance Commission

  • Start date Dec., 2020
  • Completion date Aug., 2021
  • Sponsor Sixth State Finance Commission, Government of Tamil Nadu
  • Project leader Pinaki Chakraborty
  • Other faculty Manish Gupta
  • Consultants/Other authors Sampreet Kaur
  • Focus

    The study highlights the issues and challenges faced by the Sixth State Finance Commission of Tamil Nadu in addressing its Terms of Reference in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, which adversely affected the finances of local governments, and the local body grants recommended by the Fifteenth Finance Commission. The Fifteenth Finance Commission, in its final report of the period 2021-22 to 2025-26, recommended a substantial increase in local body grants. However, to avail these grants, the state has to meet a number of entry-level conditions. Additionally, a sizable proportion of its grants were tied grants.


Data for Justice Challenge

  • Start date Dec., 2020
  • Completion date June, 2021
  • Sponsor Vayam Forum for Citizenship
  • Project leader Ila Patnaik
  • Consultants/Other authors Devendra Damle, Tushar Anand, Karan Gulati
  • Focus
    The objective of the study is to create a dataset to understand India’s contract enforcement machinery.
    This will include:
    Time series dataset at case-level on contract enforcement litigation, tracking disputes related to contracts across select district and high courts across states. The data itself will be released periodically as a product.
    Contract Enforcement Index, which will be generated from the aforementioned data. The index will be computed at periodic intervals in order to monitor and compare the performance of various courts and states on this basis. The results generated can then be used to inform policy decisions.
    Contingent on the availability of usable data, the objective is to develop a Text Processing Module to extract information pertinent to contract enforcement from the unstructured text of the judgment/order by way of regular expression matching or on a classification algorithm.
     

Efficiency of Public Spending on Health and Governance Quality

  • Start date Aug., 2020
  • Completion date June, 2021
  • Sponsor Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) under Approaches to Public Financing of Health in India: The Way
  • Project leader Mita Choudhury
  • Consultants/Other authors Dweepobotee Brahma and Ragini
  • Focus

    Health systems in low and middle-income countries are plagued by inefficiencies which lead to diminished performance by the overall health system and cause poor health outcomes. In this study we investigate the efficiency of public spending in health across the Indian states. Using state-level panel data and stochastic frontier analysis, we first estimate the technical efficiency in public spending for the different states. We identify the most and least technically efficient states. We investigate the relationship between technical efficiency and the quality of governance in the states and discuss several ways of improving efficiency and overall health system performance.


Public Procurement Mechanism in India: Exploring the Alternatives for L1

  • Start date Feb., 2020
  • Completion date June, 2021
  • Sponsor Self-initiated
  • Project leader Bhabesh Hazarika, Ayushi Jain
  • Focus

    The present study focuses on the mechanism of public procurement in India. For many decades, now, the least cost selection (L1) is method has been followed for public procurement in goods, works and services. Various institutions such as the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), NITI Aayog, FICCI etc. have suggested the need to replace this with a more suitable method which focuses both on technical as well as financial aspects of procurement. This study highlights the issues associated with the public procurement mechanism and suggests quality and cost based selection (QCBS) as an alternative mechanism which is more efficient in every aspect.The present study focuses on the mechanism of public procurement in India. For many decades, now, the least cost selection (L1) is method has been followed for public procurement in goods, works and services. Various institutions such as the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), NITI Aayog, FICCI etc. have suggested the need to replace this with a more suitable method which focuses both on technical as well as financial aspects of procurement. This study highlights the issues associated with the public procurement mechanism and suggests quality and cost based selection (QCBS) as an alternative mechanism which is more efficient in every aspect.


Understand and Evaluate the Recommendations made by the Fifteenth Finance Commission

  • Start date Feb., 2021
  • Completion date June, 2021
  • Sponsor The World Bank
  • Project leader Pinaki Chakraborty
  • Other faculty Manish Gupta, Amandeep Kaur
  • Focus

    Finance Commission transfers constitute more than two-thirds of the total transfers to states. There is a need to understand the implications of the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission in terms of progressivity, fiscal stability and fiscal space at the sub-national level. Fiscal stability between the Centre and the States, sectoral grants focused on outcome, and strengthening finances and service delivery at the local level are some of the key highlights of the Fifteenth Finance Commission’s recommendations. The paper discusses the implications of the recommendations of the Commission on the fiscal space of both the Central and state governments. It also examines the issue of horizontal equalisation addressed by the Finance Commission and will review the public finance management and fiscal transparency issues at the state and Central level recommended by the Fifteenth Finance Commission.


Central Bank Digital Currencies

  • Start date June, 2020
  • Completion date May, 2021
  • Sponsor Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance
  • Project leader Sabyasachi Kar and the Macro-finance group
  • Focus

    The paper identified foundational themes such as key design features for both wholesale and retail/general purpose central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), motivations for introducing CBDCs, practical implications for public policy objectives such as financial stability, monetary policy, cross border payments etc., and key legal and regulatory considerations germane to issuing a CBDC.  More importantly, the working paper identified the pros and cons of issuing a CBDC in the context of an emerging market economy like India.


Covid-19 and Analysing Economic Stimulus Packages in Asia Pacific

  • Start date Aug., 2020
  • Completion date May, 2021
  • Sponsor BMGF under the Innovation in Public Finance Project
  • Project leader Lekha Chakraborty (with Amandeep Kaur, Divy Rangan and Jannet Farida Jacob)
  • Focus
    The paper analyses the fiscal and monetary policy components of the economic stimulus packages, incorporating gender and human rights assessments. The four specific components are:
    􀀁 Food security
    􀀁 Social protection
    􀀁 Social infrastructure and service provisioning and
    􀀁 Economic activity and employment.
    The empirical evidence from the Asia-Pacific countries can provide insights to the Ministry of Finance in designing economic stimulus packages to deal with the second wave of the pandemic. The study was published as an NIPFP monograph in May 2021. The findings were presented in the UN and ILO meeting in Geneva in November 2021.

     


New techniques for forecasting growth and inflation

  • Start date June, 2020
  • Completion date May, 2021
  • Sponsor Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance
  • Project leader Sabyasachi Kar and the Macro-finance group
  • Focus

    This working paper conducted a critical review of the literature concerned with using Big Data and machine learning techniques to forecast gross domestic product (GDP) growth and inflation, along with examining their applicability in the context of a developing country, taking India as a case-study. It will first address existing issues in data collection for GDP growth and inflation forecasting and issues related to Big Data. It reviewed of pre-existing forecasting techniques in the context of India and their efficacy, moving on to examining the advantages and disadvantages of machine learning techniques in the context of a developing country.


Utilizing Pensions and Insurance Pools in Infrastructure Investments

  • Start date June, 2020
  • Completion date May, 2021
  • Sponsor Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance
  • Project leader Sabyasachi Kar and the Macro-finance group
  • Focus
    The two-fold objective of the study was to:
    undertake a comparative study of the structure and regulation of the pension and insurance industry in India with that of countries such as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, China and Brazil; and 
    recommend measures to enhance the flow of investment funds with pension and insurance funds into infrastructure sector and alternative investment funds (AIFs)/venture capital funds (VCFs)/start-ups, and identify high level reforms to grow the Indian pension and insurance pools in the medium and long term.
     

A study on public procurement of pharmaceutical drugs and quality control

  • Start date June, 2020
  • Completion date April, 2021
  • Sponsor Thakur Family Foundation, Inc.
  • Project leader Ila Patnaik
  • Consultants/Other authors Harleen Kaur, Madhur Mehta, Ashim Kapoor, Siddharth Srivastava
  • Focus
    The objectives of the study are: 
    research on Central and state government expenditure on public procurements;
    the procurement process evaluation; 
    the tendering process; 
    blacklisting policies; 
    how India can leverage the public procurement system to improve drug quality across the pharmaceutical industry; 
    whether or not there is a need for a public procurement law specific to the procurement of drugs; 
    profile of national companies which supply drugs to states; 
    Not of Standardised Quality (NSQ) drugs is published by Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on the Sugam portal periodically. What role does this information play in procurement process and what actions do agencies take against repeat offenders.
     

Study on Public Procurement of Pharmaceutical Drugs and Quality Control

  • Start date June, 2020
  • Completion date April, 2021
  • Sponsor Thakur Family Foundation, Inc.
  • Project leader Ila Patnaik
  • Consultants/Other authors Harleen Kaur, Madhur Mehta, Ashim Kapoor and Siddharth Srivastava
  • Focus
    The objective of the study is to:
    􀀁 Research on Central and State government expenditure on public procurements; the procurement process evaluation; the tendering process;  blacklisting policies; how can India leverage the public procurement system to improve drug quality across the pharmaceutical industry; is there a need for public procurement law specific to procurement of drugs; profile of national companies which supply drugs to states; role of information about not of standard quality (NSQ) drugs published by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Sugam portal in the procurement process; and what actions do agencies take on repeat offenders.
    􀀁 The study will produce two papers for the research study on public procurement by a representative cross-section of Central and state public  procurement agencies from a quality perspective.

Making Land Markets Work Better

  • Start date April, 2019
  • Completion date March, 2021
  • Sponsor Omidyar Network
  • Project leader Ila Patnaik
  • Consultants/Other authors Devendra Damle
  • Focus
    Land is an important factor of production and possibly one of the least reformed factors of production in the Indian economy. The increased pace of growth and consequent urbanisation over the past two decades have led to demand-driven transformations in land markets. The objective of this study is to:
     
    1. Gain knowledge of land administration systems, in order to improve in administrative design and capacity.
    2. Understand role of rights and restrictions on land in order to reduce inefficiencies, lower transaction costs and create better property rights in land markets.
    3. Understand market failures in land markets, and the role and design of regulations governing land

How Effective is e-NAM in Integrating Food Commodity Prices in India? Evidence from the Onion Market

  • Start date April, 2020
  • Completion date March, 2021
  • Sponsor NIPFP
  • Project leader Rudrani Bhattacharya
  • Consultants/Other authors Sabarni Chowdhury
  • Focus

    A series of market distortionary rules and regulations hinder the development of an integrated agricultural market in India. In order to ensure greater transparency and uniformity of food commodity prices across states, various reform measures have to be undertaken to develop agriculture marketing. The Central government established e-NAM in 2016 as a first step toward inducing competition in the agricultural markets. e-NAM is a pan-India electronic trading portal which integrates the existing Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities.  This paper examines whether the introduction of e-NAM has improved the spatial integration of onion markets in India. Using cointegration analysis, the study investigates onion market price integration of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and West Bengal with the average wholesale onion price of India for the period 2010-2016 (before e-NAM ) and 2016-2019 (after e-NAM ). It provides evidence in favour of market integration for the period 2016-2019, while multiple relations are found to govern onion prices across states during 2010-2016. The evidence, in effect, suggests that the introduction of e-NAM in 2016 has improved market integration for onion in India.


Study of legal considerations for the implementation of the spatial planning component of the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission

  • Start date Jan., 2021
  • Completion date March, 2021
  • Sponsor Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India (MoRD)
  • Project leader Ila Patnaik
  • Consultants/Other authors Devendra Damle, Tushar Anand, Karan Gulati
  • Focus
    This project was done on a voluntary basis upon a special request from the Ministry of Rural Development and no remuneration was charged for the work. 
    The study is a research product that aims to produce a report to:
    Identify potential challenges in the implementation of the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) with respect to:
    o The jurisdiction of land revenue departments over agricultural land, and how it can affect the scheme’s objectives of preparing spatial plans, and zoning regulation and enforcement mechanism for clusters of villages under the Panchayati Raj Acts of the respective state.
    o Special considerations for spatial plan preparation and its enforcement in Schedule V and VI areas, and gram panchayats governed by the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, and Forest Rights Act, 2006.
    o Implications of notifying and enforcing the Town and Country Planning Acts in rural areas via a study of two sample states.
    Devise appropriate recommendations to mitigate the identified issues for successful implementation of SPMRM.
     

Data Governance Network

  • Start date April, 2019
  • Completion date March, 2021
  • Sponsor IDFC Foundation and Omidyar Network
  • Project leader Renuka Sane
  • Consultants/Other authors Rishab Bailey, Smriti Parsheera, Faiza Rahman, Varun Sen Bahl, Trishee Goyal
  • Focus
    The research areas proposed under the study are:
    Identify what drives the understanding of privacy policies— whether factors such as age, education, intelligence quotient, comfort with English, urbanization, familiarity with Internet-based services, all play a role in how an individual evaluates what is on offer. It also proposes a survey to explore different concepts and modalities (of expression) of privacy rights in India. 
    Agency design for the Data Protection Authority (DPA). The ongoing work on the creation of the data protection framework is expected to create a new regulator, the Data Protection Authority. The DPA is expected to be entrusted with significant regulatory and supervisory functions. In this study, we propose to devise an implementation plan for the creation of the DPA.
    The current surveillance related laws, policies and mechanisms in India. The study proposes to identify gaps in the present systems and suggest policy initiatives for reforming the surveillance laws.
    Studying the privacy issues around the use of specific technologies/ applications such as drones, CCTVs, facial recognition, cell tower tracking, encryption tools, etc.
     

Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and Finance Solutions for Lahaul-Pangi and Kinnaur Landscapes in Himachal Pradesh

  • Completion date March, 2021
  • Sponsor United Nations Development Programme
  • Project leader Rita Pandey, Rathin Roy
  • Consultants/Other authors Priya Yadav, Anuja Malhotra and Garima Jasuja
  • Focus
    To identify threats to biodiversity in the Lahaul-Pangi and Kinnaur Landscapes in the state and make policy recommendations for improving the status of biodiversity, natural resources and ecosystem services in them.  
    Prepare a process document for the implementation of two financial solutions for the conservation of the snow leopard landscape — Lahaul-Pangi Landscape and Kinnaur Landscape.
     

Updating the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP) of Himachal Pradesh and Preparing the Resource Mobilization Strategy for Implementing the BSAP with focus on Lahaul-Pangi and Kinnaur Landscapes

  • Completion date March, 2021
  • Sponsor United Nations Development Programme
  • Project leader Rita Pandey, Rathin Roy
  • Consultants/Other authors Priya Yadav, Anuja Malhotra and Garima Jasuja
  • Focus
    To update the existing Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP) of Himachal Pradesh, based on current state priorities and in alignment with national and global priorities of biodiversity conservation and wildlife protection. 
    To develop a resource mobilization strategy for implementing BSAP in Himachal Pradesh. 
    Prepare a process document for the implementation of two financial solutions for the conservation of the snow leopard landscape — the Lahaul-Pangi Landscape and Kinnaur Landscape.
     

Updating the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP) of Sikkim and Preparing the Resource Mobilization Strategy for Implementing the BSAP with focus on Kanchendzonga - Upper Teesta Valley

  • Completion date March, 2021
  • Sponsor United Nations Development Programme
  • Project leader Rita Pandey, Rathin Roy
  • Consultants/Other authors Priya Yadav and Anuja Malhotra
  • Focus
    To update the existing Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP) of Sikkim, based on current state priorities and in alignment with national and global priorities of biodiversity conservation and wildlife protection.  
    To develop a resource mobilization strategy for implementing BSAP in Sikkim.  
    Prepare a process document for the implementation of one or two financial solutions for the conservation of the snow leopard landscape, the Khangchendzonga Landscape, located in North Sikkim district.
     

Revenue Impact of GST for the Government of NCT of Delhi

  • Start date July, 2020
  • Completion date Feb., 2021
  • Sponsor The Department of Trade and Taxes, Government of NCT of Delhi
  • Project leader Sacchidananda Mukherjee
  • Consultants/Other authors Shivani Badola
  • Focus
    Following its introduction, the goods and services tax (GST) has subsumed a substantial share of the own tax revenue of state governments. Given the revenue importance of GST, understanding the potential revenue risks associated with revenue realization from GST is important for individual states. Ongoing shortfall in GST collections is another area which makes states vulnerable to revenue shocks. Therefore, it will be important for states to look for alternative revenue sources as well as strengthen the GST administration for effective enforcement of tax compliance in order to meet the revenue targets. The emerging revenue challenges of states require an in-depth assessment of the GST system so that additional resources can be mobilized. In this context, the Department of Trade and Taxes, Government of the NCT of Delhi approached the NIPFP to conduct a study to assess the revenue performance of Delhi in GST collections.
     

MCA Research Programme

  • Start date Feb., 2019
  • Completion date Jan., 2021
  • Sponsor Ministry of Corporate Affairs
  • Project leader Ila Patnaik
  • Consultants/Other authors Pratik Datta, Sudipto Banerjee, Karthik Suresh, Medha Raju, Shubho Roy
  • Focus
    The proposed framework has been designed for a formal research programme between MCA and NIPFP for three years. Under this programme, NIPFP will provide necessary legal, policy and research support to MCA in connection with the statutory responsibilities of the MCA.

MCA Research Programme

  • Start date Feb., 2019
  • Completion date Jan., 2021
  • Sponsor Ministry of Corporate Affairs
  • Project leader Ila Patnaik
  • Consultants/Other authors Pratik Datta, Radhika Pandey, Sudipto Banerjee, Karthik Suresh, Medha Raju, Shubho Roy
  • Focus
    The proposed framework has been designed for a formal research programme between MCA and NIPFP for three years. Under this programme, NIPFP will provide necessary legal, policy and research support to MCA in connection with the statutory responsibilities of the MCA (Feb 2019–Jan 2021).