India

Prior to the 1980s, India's electronics industry was heavily protected. The industry used inefficient production methods to produce obsolete products of low quality at high cost. Since 1983, various attempts were made to "liberalize" the industry. The overall effects have been accelerated growth, the entry of many new firms in the market place and an increased reliance on foreign technology and components. Four case studies, covering personal computers (PCs), colour TVs (CTVs), electronic switching equipment, and integrated circuits (ICs), demonstrate the impact which the government's new electronics policy has had on the industry's technological capabilities and international competitiveness. There is growing concern that liberalization has eroded the industry's technological base and made it far too dependent on imports. A policy shift is likely to occur in the near future to promote greater localisation of component production as well as local research and development ...

India's self-sufficiency in food production has been achieved by the adoption of chemicals-intensive farming methods which have contributed to serious deterioration of the environment. New evironmentally-friendly technologies, which maintain (or increase) current levels of productivity, are needed if the use of chemical inputs is to be reduced. This study examines the development and diffusion of biotechnologies in India, with respect to both products derived from conventional biological methods and those using the more advanced techniques of molecular biology.

Thus far, the contribution of available biofertilisers and biopesticides to reduced use of agro-chemicals is marginal, due to the vicious circle created by problems of supply as well as demand. By and large, biofertilisers and biopesticides are being produced on a small scale, using inefficient technologies. Inconsistent quality and poor performance thus combine to limit demand and their acceptance by farmers which, in ...

This paper examines the growth performance of Indian States during 1970-94. We, first, propose a grouping of States according to differences in the availability of physical, social, and economic infrastructure, using principal components analysis. Then, combining principal components analysis and panel data estimation techniques, we assess the contribution of various infrastructure indicators to growth performance. The analysis tackles endogeneity issues in the provision of infrastructure by way of instrumental variables estimation for many of the infrastructure indicators. We do find evidence of conditional convergence across States. This does not rule out persistent income inequalities due to the dispersion of steady-state income levels. Such disparities are accounted for by differences, first, in the structure of production, second, in infrastructure endowments, and, third, in Statespecific fixed effects in the growth regression. Consequently, economic policy measures aiming at ...

We present estimates, at the State level, of Indian manufacturing Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and Technical Efficiency (TE) from the estimation of production functions for 17 manufacturing industries from 1976 to 1992. Our analysis relates TFP and TE to the availability of infrastructure. We construct an aggregate infrastructure indicator from 12 indicators of core, social, and economic infrastructure. According to our findings, differences across States in manufacturing TFP and TE performance are accounted for, to a significant extent, by differences in infrastructure endowments. Our estimations make it possible, moreover, to measure the productive impact of the various types of infrastructure, as well as to identify the manufacturing industries where productivity gains are relatively more constrained by inadequate infrastructure. The findings could help in designing an effective policy of infrastructure investment, supporting both recent economic reforms towards industrial restructuring and efforts aiming to promote regional convergence in India ...

The paper analyses economic and political causes as well as outcomes of the sudden reversal of Indian economic policies in 1991–93, after four decades of autarky and interventionism. It argues that a changing political landscape and the emergence of new interest groups, coupled with a severe balance–of–payments crisis, left little choice to the governing party but to break with the legacy of a patrimonial state. More competition, at political and economic levels, forced the hand of politicians to remove direct quantitative controls on industrial production, imports and access to capital. These reforms remained, however, partial and did not fundamentally change the politico–economic equation. Systemic opposition to reform remained strong enough to capture or neutralise some of the gains of liberalisation. Thus, the reform movement faltered and eventually ceased ...

With the aid of a computable general equilibrium model, this paper estimates for India the magnitude of spillovers from limiting growth of greenhouse gas emissions to local air quality and the health of the urban population. The most important spillovers are reductions in emissions of particulates with associated declines in mortality and morbidity. By valuing these spillovers (or ancillary benefits), we can compare them with the welfare costs of climate policy, estimating that — on conservative assumptions — emissions could be reduced by somewhat more than 10 per cent from their 2010 baseline level without incurring net costs. With central estimates of substitution elasticities and willingness-to-pay for health improvements, “no regrets” abatement could reach around 17-18 per cent of baseline emissions. The analysis also permits assessment of the inter-regional variation in costs and benefits, finding that abatement costs are relatively low and ancillary benefits high in North and ...

 

Indian coal reserves are the third largest in the world, after the United States and China. India is the third largest coal producer in the world and the eighth largest importer. With annual production of 310 million tonnes and imports of almost 25 million tonnes, coal provides one-third of energy supply in India.

The Indian government forecasts huge increases in electricity capacity based on coal. Massive increases in coal supply would be required if these plans are realised, although it is not clear if they are feasible. The principal objective of Indian coal policy should be to improve the financial performance of the industry by creating a freely competitive coal industry. A financially viable electricity industry will be necessary to support reforms in the coal industry.

This report describes the Indian coal sector, and comments on government policies and the performance of India’s largely state-owned coal companies. There is a substantial need for reforms in India’s coal sector to improve efficiency and competitiveness.

The Chinese software industry is small and underdeveloped, compared with its computer and other information technology (IT) hardware industry and compared with India’s software industry. Yet, current status is not necessarily a good guide to future prospects, as China’s recent history amply demonstrates. An important difference between the Chinese and Indian software sectors is the former’s close links to domestic users, notably industrial and commercial users. This has fostered intensive learning in the area of product development for a large and rapidly growing domestic market. India’s software sector, lacking such a dynamic domestic user sector until very recently, has thrived on exporting software services.

Does the underdeveloped domestic user base constitute a long-term liability for India vis-à-vis China? Not necessarily, if Indian firms can play to their own strengths in process control and project management, perhaps forging alliances with Chinese companies strong in ...

What contribution can information technology (IT) make to India’s overall economic development? This paper provides an analytical framework centred around the concepts of comparative advantage, complementarities, and innovation. There is strong evidence that India has a strong and sustainable comparative advantage in software development and IT-enabled services. Complementarities — in particular some form of domestic hardware industry as well as growing demand for software within the domestic market — are also important to sustain the growth of the IT sector, as well as to broaden its developmental impact. The paper also reviews innovative experiments of IT use to improve interactions between citizens and governments, farmers and corporations, and students and teachers in rural areas. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of opportunities for future growth in IT-enabled services, constraints to such dynamics, and possible policy responses. India faces existing and potential ...

This technical paper presents the complete technical specification of the current version of the RE-GEM (Regional and Environmental General Equilibrium Model) for India. The document lists all the key structural and behavioural equations, providing a justification for the chosen model specification. In addition, a complete description is provided of the estimation methods and the sources of the Indian data used in the model; an aggregated version of the Indian regional Social Accounting Matrix we constructed is appended to this document. The object is to inform in the most detailed way possible researchers interested in building on the OECD’s modelling effort, and to provide a useful tool for informing the debate on the economics of environmental policy in developing countries ...

The quest for large numbers has been going on for some time in international trade economics: models of trade liberalisation have consistently produced results that, compared ex post with real world data, show the right sign but the “wrong” magnitudes. This paper proposes a new approach by considering transaction costs reductions as an important factor explaining developing countries’ actual performances. Rather than presenting econometric estimates of transaction costs from reduced form equations, this study explicitly introduces transaction costs in a system of structural form equations to build a general equilibrium simulation model. A clear mapping of the analytical channels through which changes of transaction costs affect the economic results is thus a primary objective. Additionally to the effect on aggregate income, the large number issue, this paper examines how transaction costs influence income distribution. Numerical simulations based on India are presented ...

This paper offers an analytical framework for understanding the evolution of India’s software industry and its place in the broader economy. It then considers how well the framework helps to answer three questions: i) What difference has the IT sector made to aggregate economic performance, at national and at state level? ii) What has been the impact of IT-sector growth on income distribution and on poverty? iii) What policy or other measures might enhance the benefits of the sector’s growth to ordinary Indians? ...

This paper provides estimates of the stocks and flows of human resources in science and technology (HRST) in India, and their breakdown by education and occupation. Furthermore, the paper provides estimates of the number of highly skilled people moving to India and out of India during the 1990s, mainly to the United States. This part of the study also includes a brief, critical overview of Indian concerns on policy matters pertaining to various forms of migration of highly skilled professionals.

Regarding the stocks of highly skilled people in India, the paper estimates that in 1991, between 13 and 16 million people in India could be classified as HRST because of their qualification, a number which had grown to approximately 25 million in 2000. When expressed as a percentage of the population aged 15-64, this meant an increase of more than one percentage point, from between 2.5% and 3% in 1991 to just over 4% in 2000. In 1991, 10.2 million people could be categorised as HRST because ...

The institutional framework of a country plays a determining role in the well-being of the women who live in it. This paper examines the cases of four case countries: India, Kenya, Sudan and Tunisia. In each of these case studies, the status of women has been analysed along with the reforms that have been implemented to improve it. Comparisons between the four countries have brought to light several obstacles to change in the institutional framework such as age-old traditions, religion, economic interests and parliamentary opposition. Where there are important initial obstacles, the government’s room for manoeuvre is limited, particularly in the short-term since magistrates, administrations, media and families often endeavour to postpone the application of new, more inclusive, laws. There are, however, examples of successful reform efforts. These successes are generally attributable to the presence of numerous women in parliament and government and in the legal service, the ...

This study analyses the impact of democratic decentralisation on the chances of socially excluded groups to participate in newly created local governance institutions – Panchayati Raj Institutions – in three Indian states. This institutional reform included a quota for the disadvantaged – women and lower castes – to ensure their effective participation. The comparative analysis on the determinants of participation of these groups and the poor vis-à-vis other groups across the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh yields highly interesting results, relevant beyond the Indian context. First, the outcomes of decentralisation on participation are different across states and between different marginalised groups. While in Kerala socially disadvantaged groups and the poor are represented more than other groups at the Panchayat level, in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh the socially disadvantaged groups are as represented as the others whereas the poor continue to be largely ...

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, an inventory is made of biotechnology data collection in India. This will include an assessment of how the need for biotechnology related statistics is being addressed, mainly in terms of patent data, commercialisation of genetically modified organisms, R&D allocations for biotechnology and industry statistics. In general, limited efforts have been made by different Indian agencies to collect statistics on biotechnology. One of the reasons for this scarcity of statistics is a missing consensus in India on a definition of biotechnology. However, initiatives are underway to address this and to establish a measurement framework. A second objective of this document is to present a broad overview of the status of biotechnology in India, with a focus on the agricultural and the health sector. First the funding and research programmes of various institutions are discussed, followed by an overview of human resources development and training possibilities in the country. A third section discusses capital venture funding and the role of financial institutions, while the last two sections look at initiatives by state governments and the policy regulations in place.