Category Center for the Study for Finance and Economics

Decoding India’s Q2 GDP: Growth Drivers and Data Integrity

Insights, Center for the Study for Finance and Economics, Economy and Infrastructure, Livelihoods, Employment and Well-being, Public Finances and Macroeconomics, South Asia Studies Center

The Gross Domestic Product or GDP growth rate for quarter two of 2025-2026 has come at a whopping 8.2% – which is a six-quarter high – much faster than experts expected. The Reserve Bank of India had also expected a growth rate of 7%. This is surprising because the expected GST reduction impacted production and consumption of various items in August-September. The demand boost came after September 22 – which left just a week before the close of Q2. Reports have come in of many investment projects being withdrawn or curtailed and of net FDI becoming negative. These are not the signs of a robust economy.

IMPRI Desk and Arun Kumar
January 5, 2026

PM Modi in Oman: Advancing a Historic Maritime Relationship

Insights, Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies, Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies, Center for the Study for Finance and Economics, Economy and Infrastructure, Environment, Energy, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, International Relations and Strategic Studies

Anil Trigunayat Trade and economic cooperation have been the fulcrum of the relationship, with bilateral trade already exceeding $10 billion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting the Sultanate of Oman at the invitation of HM Sultan Haitham bin Tarik from…

Anil Trigunayat and IMPRI Desk
January 3, 2026

India’s Renewable Energy Push Needs Storage to Last

Insights, Center for the Study for Finance and Economics, Economy and Infrastructure, Environment, Energy, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Governance and Law, Public Policies, Programs and Schemes, Social Sector

India continues to add renewable power generation capacity without any coherent strategy for its full utilisation, often ordering RE generation to back down to maintain grid stability. A vital deficit is a policy for storing renewable power, which is intermittent and missing from action for much of the day, forcing reliance on thermal power as India's mainstay.

TK Arun and IMPRI Desk
December 31, 2025

How to and How Not to Privatise Airports

Insights, Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies, Center for the Study for Finance and Economics, Governance and Law, Livelihoods, Employment and Well-being, Public Policies, Programs and Schemes, Social Sector, Urbanization, Habitat, Transportation and Regional Development

Airports are local monopolies, for the most part. Who gets to operate them and on what terms matter to the public at large. Sure, there is a regulator, the Aeronautic Economic Regulatory Authority of India to regulate aeronautical and other charges at any given airport.

TK Arun and IMPRI Desk
December 31, 2025

Trump, AI and the Global Growth Test of 2026

Insights, Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies, Center for the Study for Finance and Economics, Center for Work and Welfare, Economy and Infrastructure, Gender Impact Studies Center, Governance and Law, International Relations and Strategic Studies, Livelihoods, Employment and Well-being, Public Finances and Macroeconomics, Public Policies, Programs and Schemes

Earlier this month, Sam Altman of OpenAI declared Code Red at the company: the latest version of its chatbot was underperforming Google’s latest offering, Gemini 3. That panic had one simple explanation: he believes artificial intelligence (AI) to be yet another technology service in which the winner takes all.

TK Arun and IMPRI Desk
December 31, 2025

Who Should Pay to Preserve Urban Commercial Heritage?

Insights, Center for the Study for Finance and Economics, Center for Work and Welfare, Economy and Infrastructure, Governance and Law, Public Finances and Macroeconomics, Public Policies, Programs and Schemes, Social Sector, Urbanization, Habitat, Transportation and Regional Development

When a sudden rent increase forces a thriving commercial establishment — that has a century-old legacy and is a hallmark of a historic locality — to shut shop, is there any sensible alternative to the mournful death of a chunk of the city’s living tradition?

TK Arun and IMPRI Desk
December 31, 2025

Vajpayee: The Gentle Architect of Modern India

Insights, Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies, Center for the Study for Finance and Economics, Economy and Infrastructure, Gender Impact Studies Center, Governance and Law, Public Policies, Programs and Schemes, Urbanization, Habitat, Transportation and Regional Development

I have a vivid memory of a gleeful and beaming laugh of the great statesman and leader, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was born on this day in 1924 in Gwalior. An affable personality, Vajpayee would express his love for Mithila’s Rohu and his appreciation for Maithili language.

IMPRI Desk
December 31, 2025