An autonomous research institute under the Ministry of Finance

 

A critique of RBI's proposal to regulate pre-paid payment instruments in India

03/05/2017

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[Co-authors: Gausia Shaikh and Bhargavi Zaveri]

 
Demonetisation has reportedly given a fillip to the use of digital pre-paid payment instruments (PPIs) in India. PPIs are stores of value which can be used for the purchase of goods and services. Some PPIs are akin to zero-interest …

Competition issues in India's online economy

05/04/2017

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[Co-authored with Ajay Shah and Avirup Bose]

 

The world of high technology companies is seen as a dynamic area with a rapid pace of creative destruction. There is, however, a class of industries where there are strong network effects, where the market tends to collapse into …


Is Aadhaar grounded in adequate law and regulations?

30/03/2017

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[Co-authored with Renuka Sane]
 
The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 ["the Aadhaar Act"], as the name suggests, aims at targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services by providing unique identity numbers based on an individual's demographic and …

Sustainable strategy to eliminate vector-borne diseases

02/03/2017

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[Co-authored with Shubho Roy]

 

In his budget speech of 2017, the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley announced that the government has prepared an action plan to eliminate two vector-borne diseases by the end of this year (para. 64):

 
"Poverty is usually associated with poor …

Building Infrastructure in India: Gap in Budgetary Allocation & Implementation

01/03/2017

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[Co-authored with Satadru Sikdar and Richa Jain]

 

Boosting infrastructure development is a thrust area in the agenda of the present Indian government. The total revenue and capital expenditure in the infrastructure sector as a share of GDP shows a steady increase over the years. The share …