The constellation strives to investigate various micro- and macro- issues of contemporary relevance pertaining to Indian economic growth and development. It will bring together meaningful research focusing on aspects of the Indian economy, viz evolution of the economy from a historical perspective, measurement of poverty and inequality in household and individual outcomes, labour market dynamics, and issues relating to Indian agriculture, among others. To achieve this, the constellation attracts economic historians, development economists, applied microeconomists, macroeconomists, and other academics interested in deepening their understanding of the Indian economy through different lenses.
The聽"Missing Middle"聽in firm-size distributions聽continues to be聽a聽key puzzle, particularly in the Indian context.聽This study revisits the "Missing Middle" phenomenon in Indian manufacturing. Using聽the latest establishment-level data from the Annual Survey of Industries (2023-2024), and employing a density discontinuity design, Placebo tests and alternative measures of employment, it confirms the presence of a bimodal firm-size distribution in Indian manufacturing, consistent with the missing middle narrative. Further, it empirically evaluates whether the 100-worker threshold under the Industrial Disputes Act encourages firms to deliberately suppress their scale to avoid regulatory costs. The empirical evidence reveals no statistically significant bunching at the critical threshold, along with inconsistent and weak trends in regulated employment categories, indicating that firms do not systematically limit growth to avoid regulatory taxes. Instead, the findings identify the increased use of contract labour as a key margin of adjustment, enabling firms to expand capacity. The results challenge the policy rationale of the recent labour code reforms. It suggests adopting policies to address the structural inefficiencies, going beyond size-based regulatory easing to address the persistent issue of the missing middle in India.
Dr. Abhisek Sur
This is a book project that seeks to analyze the industrial policies adopted in India and suggest a suitable industrial policy for the Indian economy.
Dr. Abhisek Sur
This paper seeks to study the employment trends in rural vis-a-vis urban India before and after the Covid-19 pandemic involving other socio-economic variables, using the CMIE CPHS dataset.
Dr. Abhisek Sur
This study critically analyzes India's current approach to public financing for agriculture and its implications for growth, sustainability, and livelihoods. The objectives of this paper are, to examine the trends of public spending on agriculture and allied sectors; to understand the key priority areas of public spending within agriculture; to analysis the possible impacts of public spending approach on sustainability of the sector. The study examines the public spending patterns at the levels of Union and state governments.
By Gurpreet Singh and Dr. Avanindra Nath Thakur