Pharmaceutical Sector in India: Trade Dynamics and Unexploited Potential

Introduction India has become a global powerhouse in the pharmaceutical sector, establishing itself as the pharmacy of the world. India is the largest provider of generic drugs and the biggest supplier of low-cost vaccines.[1] This rise has been more predominant in the post-Covid era, as it gave India an opportunity to establish itself in the … Read more

Trade in Services: An Analysis of India’s Performance

Trade In Services

Over the years, trade in services has grown substantially, witnessing a much more impressive average annual growth rate (5.3%) than merchandise trade (3.4%) between 2005 to 2019. Service trade has played a special role particularly in India’s growth. IT boom, emergence of the BOP sector, advancements in information and communication sector and hospitality services are … Read more

Obesity in India, a Reality

Obesity in India

Globally, prevalence of overweight and obesity is on a rise, such that obesity rates have now overtaken hunger rates in many countries. World-wide 39% of the adults, population 18 years and above, are overweight and 13% are obese (WHO, Global Health Observatory Data). Last 2 decades have also seen a rise in overweight and obesity … Read more

How Empowered are Indian Rural Women?

Women Empowerment

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 focuses on “Achieve[-ing] gender equality and empower[-ing] all women and girls’, and recognizes that ‘women and girls, everywhere, must have equal rights and opportunity, and be able to live free of violence and discrimination”. With the aim of empowering its women and brining in gender equality, India in 2015 adopted … Read more

Why is there so much talk about Global Value Chains and where does India stand?

Global Value Chains

What are Global Value Chains (GVCs)? In this interconnected world, trade is now driven by multinationals operating in different countries. This is what forms the basis of Global Value Chains (GVCs). GVCs refer to interlinked production processes wherein stages of production are off-shored to other countries, that are able to undertake that particular task in … Read more

Union Budget of India 2021-22: A Case of Convergence and Divergence

Indian Budget

In her speech, India’s Finance Minister (FM), Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, highlighted that Budget FY22 is unique as it follows a global contraction caused due to Covid-19. To pull the country out of a slowdown, several noteworthy instruments have been laid out in the six pillars of the Budget, along with certain taxation measures. While there … Read more

Women and Crime Incidence Fallacies: Safety, a Reporting Brownie Point or Actuality?

Crimes Against Women

Recently released data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on crimes in India for 2019 shows that on an average 1,111 cases of crimes against women were recorded per-day in 2019, with a cumulative of 4 lacs+ cases in the year. About 50% of the total crimes against women were concentrated in 5 states … Read more

COVID-19 and Opportunities for India in World Trade

World Trade

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the entire world across all spheres — social and economic. Like other countries, India is also grappling with the repercussions of this pandemic. Currently, India has the 2nd highest number of COVID-19 cases across the world. With unemployment rates at 7.65% in August 2020[1], the Indian economy is expected to … Read more

A Brief Summary of the Economic Survey 2020-2021

Economic Survey 2020 2021

The Economic Survey 2020-2021, prepared under the guidance of the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) of India, Mr. K.V. Subramanian, was tabled in the Parliament on 29 Feb 2021 by the Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman. This was the 3rd survey prepared by the current CEA and was presented 3 days prior to the tabling of … Read more