In the latest episode of Parisila Perspectives, Dr. Ratna Sahay, Professor, NCAER, emphasizes Bihar’s bifurcation burden, and Jharkhand’s advantage. “When it came to the financial liabilities, that was divided according to the population, so most of their liabilities went to Bihar." #Bihar #PublicFinance #StateFinances #ViksitBharat 🎙️ Full episode here: youtube.com/watch?v=BQKUi3V1…

NCAER Faculty Member, @aakash_dev94, participated in the Jobs and Development Conference, held on 9-10 October 2026 at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong, where he presented a working paper titled “Households, Frictions and Gender Gap: A Search Model of Labour Force Participation in India.” The conference was hosted by the HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS) and co-organised by the World Bank Group, UNU-WIDER, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Development Policy Research Unit (DPRU) at the University of Cape Town, and the Institute for Structural Research (IBS), Poland. The paper investigates the factors underlying India’s gender gap in labour force participation, with a particular focus on the interaction between household responsibilities and labour market frictions. The findings underscore the importance of policies aimed at reducing household constraints, improving labour market access, and creating an enabling environment for greater female workforce participation

"There cannot be a #ViksitBharat without viksit states." 📢 Out today: The Road to Viksit Bharat on Parisila Perspectives, with Suresh Goyal, Director General, NCAER, and Dr. @ratna_sahay, NCAER, on Bihar. 🎙️ Watch here: youtube.com/watch?v=BQKUi3V1… Co-authors: @santosh_econ | @Prof_Nishith_P | @aakash_dev94 #ViksitBharat #Bihar #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #PublicPolicy

"There cannot be a #ViksitBharat without viksit states." Suresh Goyal, Director General, NCAER, and Dr. @ratna_sahay, NCAER, on why Bihar is key, in The Road to Viksit Bihar on Parisila Perspectives. 🎥 Full episode out tomorrow. youtube.com/embed/y2WYuDYo5K… Co-authors: @santosh_econ | @Prof_Nishith_P | @aakash_dev94 #ViksitBharat #Bihar #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #PublicPolicy

The @ILONewDelhi and @ncaer convened a Policy Brief Launch event on “Advancing Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion in the Platform Economy” on 24 August at the NCAER campus in New Delhi. The event opened with welcome remarks by Mr. Suresh Goyal, Director General, NCAER, followed by opening remarks from Ms. Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director, ILO DWT SA-CO/India. The event was chaired by Dr Ratna Sahay, Honorary Professor, NCAER. The ILO–NCAER Policy Brief was presented by Dr Aakash Dev, Fellow, NCAER; Mr. Karun Gopinath, National Project Coordinator, ILO; and Dr Radhicka Kapoor, Senior Specialist–Employment, ILO DWT SA-CO/India. The Policy Brief highlights affordable access to payments, savings, credit and insurance as critical enablers of decent work, while underscoring the potential of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure, platform-generated data and cash-flow-based lending to expand women’s access to finance. Discussions also emphasised the importance of gender-sensitive design, robust data protection and safeguards against algorithmic bias to ensure that digital finance translates into greater economic opportunity, income security and resilience for women.

A paper by NCAER researchers, presented at the India Policy Forum (IPF) 2026, identifies six priority areas—education, health, governance and law and order, flood mitigation, private sector development, and women's empowerment—as critical to enhancing productivity and employment in Bihar and transforming the state's development trajectory. The session was chaired by Professor Arvind Panagariya (Columbia University) and featured Dr @ratna_sahay (NCAER), Dr @santosh_econ (University of Notre Dame), Dr Nishith Prakash (Northeastern University), and Mr @aakash_dev94 (NCAER) as panellists. The discussants were Professor @karthik_econ (University of California San Diego) and Dr Surjit Bhalla, former Executive Director for India at the International Monetary Fund.

Nearly 75% of working-age women in India are outside the labour force. Why? An NCAER Working Paper by NCAER faculty member @aakash_dev94 and co-author Partha Chatterjee finds that the interaction between unpaid household work and labour market frictions is central to explaining India’s low female labour force participation. Using a calibrated household search model, the authors show that women’s reservation wages are significantly higher than men’s. The gender gap is driven by household responsibilities (45%), labour market frictions (35%), and their interaction (20%). #FLFP #GenderEconomics #India #LabourEconomics Read more: ncaer.org/publication/househ…

Why does India’s female labour force participation remain among the lowest in the world? Writing for Ideas for India, NCAER faculty member @aakash_dev94 and his co-author Partha Chatterjee argue that a ‘household-market trap’, driven by macroeconomic conditions and the unequal burden of unpaid work, keeps many women out of the workforce. They argue that dismantling these structural barriers is essential for improving women’s employment and fostering inclusive economic growth. Read more: ncaer.org/publication/why-th…

Writing for Policy Edge, NCAER faculty members @ratna_sahay and @aakash_dev94 caution against viewing rising female labour force participation and leadership representation as sufficient indicators of economic inclusion. They argue that meaningful progress in women’s economic empowerment requires addressing structural barriers through stronger care systems, safer mobility, better skilling, more formal employment opportunities, and greater decision-making power. Read more: ncaer.org/publication/womens…

📢NCAER is hiring Research Associates! Join us to build your career and contribute to rigorous, evidence-based economic policy research in India. Apply here: ncaer.org/career/research-as…

How is India positioned to deal with the oil price shock and manage its inflation-targeting framework? NCAER faculty member, @ratna_sahay, explains, arguing that India is well positioned due to the buffers it has to absorb shocks, as well as the strength of its inflation-targeting framework. Watch interview 👇 at ANI:

Greater representation of women in policymaking leads to better social outcomes and stronger economic performance. NCAER faculty members @ratna_sahay and @aakash_dev94 argue that in settings marked by significant gender disparities and entrenched cultural biases, expanding women’s participation has played a critical role in advancing cultural change and enhancing macroeconomic results. #WomenInPolicy #GenderEquality #InclusiveGrowth Read more: bit.ly/4mLF0Mh

Despite recent improvements, women’s participation remains well below its potential, especially in urban areas and in higher-productivity sectors. Writing in the Deccan Herald, NCAER faculty member @aakash_dev94 reflects on what Budget 2026 signals for care infrastructure, women’s work, and the road ahead. 🔗ncaer.org/publication/from-c…

How can India unlock women’s labour market potential? Using a macro-simulation framework, this study by NCAER faculty members @aakash_dev94 & @ratna_sahay, finds that formalising part-time work and redistributing unpaid care responsibilities could increase female labour force participation (FLFP) by around 6 percentage points. Read more: bit.ly/49n0rgw