Macro/Finance Group, NIPFP

Indian Economic Policy Strategy Conference

2015-01-08T16:10:00.001+05:30

The program is up.

Call for papers for the 13th Research Meeting of the NIPFP-DEA Research Program

2014-09-15T12:32:00.001+05:30

On behalf of National Institute for Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, and the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance, New Delhi, the organisers invite papers for the 13th Research Meeting of the NIPFP-DEA Research Program. This builds on the preceding 12 such meetings (http://macrofinance.nipfp.org.in/meetings.html). The meetings have a blend of academic scholars, senior policy makers and finance practitioners.

THEME:

Macroeconomics and Finance, with an accent on capital controls, capital flows, international finance including firm internationalisation, the exchange rate regime and monetary policy. Papers that illuminate these issues in emerging markets are of particular interest.

DETAILS:

Date: 6 to 8 March 2015
Check in: 5 March 2015 (14:00)
Check out: 8 March 2015 (12:00)
Venue: Neemrana Fort Palace, Rajasthan, India

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:

Extended abstracts or papers (completed papers preferred) should be sent to the e-mail address anurodh54@gmail.com on or before 5 December 2014.

SUPPORT: The organisers will provide local hospitality and partial air fare for academic presenters.

Opportunities at Macro/Finance Group, NIPFP

2014-04-03T11:28:00.001+05:30

The Macro/Finance Group at NIPFP has openings in analytical economics and public policy work.

Economists

We require individuals with a Ph.D. in economics or finance, with an interest in original research in our fields. These would be contractual appointments for a period of two years. One or more publications in international journals would be helpful, as would be the ability to carry research from inception all the way to publication.

Policy research associates

We require people who can participate in large complex projects in the field of public policy, ranging from envisioning the future to implementing it.

Policy work is highly inter-disciplinary, spanning the fields of public economics, finance, economics, law, and public administration. Deep finance practitioner knowledge is important. Equally important is looking beyond the present and envisioning the future, with first principles reasoning that is informed by international experience. We welcome interest in these positions by people with strong capabilities in some of these areas, and curiosity about the others. The ideal candidates would have read the Percy Mistry, Raghuram Rajan and FSLRC reports, and have familiarity with the things being talked about in this blog.

Quantitative research associates

We require individuals with a Masters degree in economics, finance, public policy or statistics. The work involves participating in academic research projects in the fields of macroeconomics and finance, and practical macroeconomic policy analysis. Desirable features include: domain knowledge; knowledge of computer programming, ideally in R; experience with CMIE databases and datastream. Some of the people who have done this for a couple of years have gone on to do Ph.D. in economics or finance at top schools.

Research programmers

We require a senior person who would play a dual role. On one hand, he would be responsible for an existing system which includes linux desktops, linux servers, and a project management system based on redmine and svn. This is expected to take up roughly 20% of effort. The prime focus will be participating in development work of complex analysis of economic and financial data. This development work is primarily in R. It includes building internal tools and also packages released as open source, such as our R packages fxregime, eventstudies.

Such work could be particularly appropriate for a person who is at present a computer engineer but desires knowledge of economics and finance.

Generic features

The Macro/Finance Group at NIPFP is a conducive research environment including a modern office. Compensation is generally superior to that seen in government academic institutions. The policy and the quantitative teams are strongly interconnected with significant spillovers of knowledge. We are a research environment: non-hierarchical, low politics, high IQ, high intensity and high involvement.

Please look up our websites:

If this interests you, please contact Anurodh Sharma (anurodh54 at gmail.com) with your resume by 20 April 2014, where you clearly identify where your interests and capabilities lie.

12th research meeting of the NIPFP-DEA Research Program (correction)

2014-03-07T13:28:00.002+05:30

The 12th Research Meeting of the NIPFP-DEA Research Program will take place at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi on 13 and 14 March.

The program design is up on the website.

The previous post which stated this had a mistake on the URL. Please ignore it.

Food inflation: micro and macro perspectives

2014-02-17T16:00:00.002+05:30

On 25 February, we have a one-day meeting on this subject. All are invited.

Kit of materials on the Indian Financial Code

2014-01-31T21:15:00.004+05:30

Ila Patnaik and Ajay Shah have a big picture, expository paper about the Indian Financial Code, which has been released by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. This is a useful starting point that enables access to four documents about the IFC:

The FSLRC report;
The Indian Financial Code;
A blog post on the Handbook;
The Handbook.

Call for papers for March 2014 conference

2013-12-08T18:10:00.003+05:30

Please see our call for papers for the March 2014 conference.

India macro policy review

2013-11-14T14:53:00.003+05:30

On 19 November, we have a day-long meeting, India Macro Policy Review at NIPFP. All are welcome.

Seminar on Collateral and monetary policy

2013-11-14T14:53:00.001+05:30

Manmohan Singh of the IMF will do a talk at NIPFP on 18 November titled Collateral and monetary policy. We start at 4 PM. It will be followed by coffee and snacks. All are welcome.

11th conference of the Macro/Finance Group

2013-09-11T12:55:00.001+05:30

All the materials are up on the website.

A new web page: Commentary

2013-06-10T14:10:00.003+05:30

We have collected together our discussions of current events and public policy debates at a Commentary page on the website.

Recruitment

2013-05-13T15:22:00.001+05:30

The National Institute of Public Finance and Policy is inviting applications for the post of Consultants / Research Associates to work with the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi. The consultancy assignment will be valid till 28 February 2014. The applicants should have a Masters degree in Economics and should have a working knowledge of Microsoft Office. Applicants with experience in Reuters and Bloomberg terminals are preferred. Interested applicants should send an application to Mr. Anurodh Sharma at anurodh.sharma@nipfp.org.in by 9 am on 15 May 2013. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

10th Conference of the NIPFP-DEA Research Program

2012-12-18T08:19:00.001+05:30

As part of the NIPFP-DEA Research Program, we have been running a conference series in the fields of macroeconomics and finance. The 10th of these conferences was a joint effort with Journal of International Money and Finance: a subset of the papers will appear as a special issue on the Macroeconomic and financial policy challenges of China and India. The materials of the conference are up on the website.

Cost-benefit analysis of UIDAI

2012-11-21T23:31:00.004+05:30

At the main page for this project, there is a paper, the full spreadsheet where you can modify assumptions and explore alternative variants of the calculations, a video of the presentation, a non-technical summaries, and some media treatment of this work.

Did the Indian capital controls work as a tool for macroeconomic policy

2012-11-21T23:28:00.003+05:30

A recent article: Did the Indian capital controls work as a tool for macroeconomic policy, Ila Patnaik and Ajay Shah. IMF Economic Review, page 439--464, volume 60, 2012.

At the main page for this paper, you will find all the materials: a video presentation, PDF paper, link into the journal, a compact summary on voxEU.

Modified dates for financial law seminar

2012-11-06T03:49:00.001+05:30

In consideration of a number of requests for extension of the last date for paper submission for Financial Law & Policy: An Inter-disciplinary Approach, the dates for submission of paper and intimation of shortlisted papers have been extended which are as follows:

Crucial Dates

The last date for submission of the completed paper: November 12, 2012 (23.59 hrs)
Intimation of shortlisted papers: November 20, 2012
Date of the seminar: December 01, 2012

Other details about the seminar are as provided in my earlier post.

Approach paper released by the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission

2012-10-01T00:06:00.001+05:30

The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) is rethinking the legislative foundations of the Indian financial system. FSLRC was setup by a notification on 24 March 2011 and asked to submit its findings on 24 March 2013. FSLRC constitutes the first time in Indian history that a large-scale re-examination of multiple laws in a sector is being undertaken.

FSLRC has released a compact approach paper showing preliminary findings about the strategy that will be adopted. The release of this report is part of the consultative mechanisms that have been followed within the Commission. The Commission has invited feedback from experts and interested parties on this document.

Finance and law: Call for papers

2012-09-21T13:08:00.001+05:30

National Seminar on Financial Law & Policy: An Inter-disciplinary Approach (December 1, 2012) Organised by National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi in collaboration with National Law University, Delhi

The National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi invites papers for a national-level seminar titled "Financial Law & Policy: An Inter-disciplinary Approach" to be held at the National Law University, Delhi (NLU Delhi) on December 1, 2012.

Background

The financial sector in India is currently governed by more than sixty legislations along with a plethora of rules and regulations. This has led to a lot of ambiguity in the legal framework applicable for doing business in the country. The problem gets compounded by the fact that many of these legislations were enacted more than sixty years ago, with objectives and purposes that are largely not in sync with the realities of the present day globalised competitive world.

Realising the need to address these issues and for formulating a legal framework geared up to facilitate growth of the financial sector in the future, the Government of India set up the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) on March 2011 under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) B.N. Srikrishna. The mandate of FSLRC involves overhauling these existing legislations and laying down a policy and legislative landscape geared towards creating a more coherent and dynamic financial environment. This exercise will also involve identifying regulatory gaps and overlaps seen in the existing system. In this regard FSLRC is focusing towards of rewriting and harmonizing the existing financial sector laws in the country, to bring them in tune with the requirements of a modern financial system.

In an evolving financial world, FSLRC intends that the new legislations will cater to the requirements of a large and fast growing economy. This is indeed a unique challenge not only because it is the first time in the history of independent India that such a large scale organised legislative reform initiative is being undertaken but also since the work involves absolute cutting edge inter-disciplinary research involving law, economics and finance.

For fulfilling its mandate, FSLRC has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with NIPFP whereby NIPFP is engaged in providing research and technical support services to FSLRC; managing the process of conducting the core legal, public policy, economic research for the various working groups established by FSLRC and drafting of the relevant draft legislation.

However, this ambitious reform will be meaningful only if a culture of inter-disciplinary thinking and research can be encouraged in Indian academia. In this context the NIPFP is organising a national level seminar on "Financial Law & Policy: An Inter-disciplinary Approach" at NLU Delhi, on December 1, 2012.

Topics

To engage with a wider audience in a constructive debate over the various issues of contemporary relevance raised in FSLRC's Terms of Reference (available at http://finmin.nic.in/fslrc/fslrc_index.asp), the broad issues from which the authors may choose are:

Appropriate means of oversight over financial regulators and their autonomy from the government;
Consumer protection as an aspect of financial regulations;
Role of the Central Bank in financial market regulation and supervision
Resolution of financial firms;
Principle-based or ruled-based legislation: what will work in India?
Unified regulator or sectoral regulator: which will work in Indi?
Financial Regulation and competition policy
Emergency powers in systemic risk situation
Legal process in financial regulation

Procedure

The author(s) has to submit the completed, original and unpublished paper with the Seminar Co-ordination Committee by November 1, 2012 (23.59 hrs). The Seminar Co-ordination Committee will be responsible for evaluation and selection of the top 5 papers. The authors of the 5 selected papers will be invited to NLU, Delhi to present their papers before an elite panel composing of legal practioners and members of FSLRC.

Word Limit: The paper must not exceed 5000 words (excluding footnotes or endnotes).

Format: The paper must be in Times New Roman font, character size 12 and with 1.5 spacing. Footnotes or endnotes must be in Times New Roman font, character size 10 and with single spacing. No specific style of footnotes/endnotes is required. However, the footnotes/endnotes must be written in a uniform style and provide necessary information.

Submission Procedure: The Paper must be mailed to ankur.saxena@nipfp.org.in in soft copy (pdf format) by November 1, 2012 (23.59 hrs) along with:

Duly filled-in attached registration form (soft copy)
Presentation in .ppt/.pdf format that the author seeks to use in the course of the presentation (optional)

Please note that the subject of the mail should be 'Paper submission'.

Eligibility: Papers may be contributed by any person (academicians, researchers, practitioners, students etc.) interested in contemporary financial regulations.

Co-authorship: Papers may be works of joint authorship.

Publication of selected papers: The 5 selected papers will be published on the NIPFP website with appropriate disclaimer.

Composition of the Seminar Co-ordination Committee

The Co-ordination Committee Comprises of:

Chairman:

Mr. Dhirendra Swarup, Member Convenor, FSLRC

Moderator:

Prof. Ajay Shah, Professor, NIPFP

Evaluators:

Mr. Rajshekhar Rao, Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Mr. Somasekhar Sundaresan, Partner, J. Sagar Associates
Mr. Risham Garg, Assistant Professor of Law, NLU Delhi

Contact Person:

Mr. Ankur N. Saxena, Legal Consultant, NIPFP, email id: ankur.saxena@nipfp.org.in

Other Relevant Information

Crucial Dates

The last date for submission of the completed paper: November 1, 2012 (23.59 hrs)
Intimation of shortlisted papers: November 15, 2012
The date of seminar: 1 December, 2012

Expenses:

The authors of the selected papers will be provided boarding and lodging facilities at NLU Delhi.

Venue: National Law University, Delhi Sector 14, Dwarka, New Delhi- 110078

REGISTRATION FORM

National Seminar on Financial Law & Policy: An Inter-disciplinary Approach

Name of the Author(s):

Designation:

Institute/Organisation:

Title of Proposal/Paper:

Contact Number:

Email :

Seminar today at NIPFP: Tarun Ramadorai on individual investor behaviour on the equity market

2012-08-21T06:57:00.001+05:30

At 4 PM today, Tarun Ramadorai will do a seminar titled "Understanding India's equity trading behaviour". This uses unique data from NSDL about the behaviour of individuals on the equity market. Please do join us in this.

Opportunities in the Macro/Finance Group at NIPFP

2012-06-13T14:42:00.001+05:30

The Macro/Finance Group at NIPFP offers opportunities for interesting and important policy work which is connected with the ground realities of India's economic reform. One of the important projects being undertaken, at present, is research support for the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission.

Policy work is highly inter-disciplinary. The policy group at NIPFP is particularly looking for people with a knowledge of financial regulation and law. Deep practitioner knowledge, about the ground realities of law and regulation are important. Equally important is the instinct of looking beyond the present and envisioning the future, drawing on strong foundations of public economics and international experience. We welcome interest in these positions by people with strong capabilities in at least one of these areas, and curiosity about the other. The ideal candidates would have read the Percy Mistry and Raghuram Rajan reports, and have familiarity with the things being talked about in this blog.

If this interests you, please contact Anurodh Sharma (anurodh54 at gmail.com) with your resume by 22 June 2012, where you clearly identify where your interests and capabilities lie.

NIPFP-DEA Research Program: third MOU going out till 2014

2012-03-29T02:13:00.001+05:30

From August 2007 onwards, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) has collaborated with NIPFP on a new kind of research arrangement titled the `NIPFP-DEA Research Program'. This institutional innovation induces capacity building in the fields of macroeconomics and finance at the Macro/Finance Group of NIPFP, original academic and policy papers in these fields which are released into the public domain, and policy advice in these fields for DEA.

Earlier this month, the third MOU was signed for the NIPFP DEA Research Program, thus carrying this working arrangement forward till March 2014.

R. Gopalan, Thomas Mathew, M. Govinda Rao and Manoj Govil at the signing ceremony

John Vickers seminar

2012-03-20T23:00:00.000+05:30

John Vickers is the author of an important new government committee report in the UK, where he is proposing an approach through which the exchequer limits its exposure to bailing out / recapitalising banks, while simultaneously allowing a flexible approach in policy for the remainder of finance. He will do a seminar at NIPFP titled "Stability and competition in UK banking" at 3 PM on 21st (Wednesday,

i.e. tomorrow). Please do join us in this.

Our 9th research meeting, 15 and 16 March

2012-03-09T20:19:00.001+05:30

The program is up. Do join us.

Talk by Thomas Laubach on inflation expectations, inflation targeting, monetary policy

2011-12-02T22:52:00.001+05:30

Thomas Laubach will do a talk titled Inflation: Expectations, Targets and the Institutional Framework for Monetary Policy at the NIPFP auditorium at 3:30 PM on December 9 (Friday). He is Professor at Goethe University in Germany. All are welcome.

Two seminars

2011-09-27T09:18:00.001+05:30

Seminars by Sanjay Banerji (today) and Tarun Ramadorai (Thursday).