State-Business Relations: India research
Introduction
While growth has accelerated in India since the 1980s, outcomes with respect to growth and poverty reduction have differed widely across Indian states. IPPG has undertaken three sets of sub-projects in India under the common theme of state-business relations (SBRs). The macro, micro and case studies listed below form part of IPPG's major project investigating state-business relations across India and a range of countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
India Macro Studies
The set of projects below examine this relationship between effective SBRs and economic growth at the macro level. The studies address how state business relations should be measured and how SBRs, as captured by these measures, affect economic growth across Indian states over time:
- The recent Indian macro study assessed how state-business relations have evolved in the main Indian states during the last thirty years. It did so by constructing a quantitative annual indices of SBR quality for each state based on extensive primary and secondary data collection. The indices allows comparison of Indian states over time against specific dimensions of SBRs and allows testing for the impacts of effective SBRs on economic growth and firms' performance. Read the finished report here
India Micro Studies
The micro-econometric studies examine the effects of state-business relations on firm performance. The studies will use panel data and cross-sectional econometric methods to ascertain:
- whether the differences in the evolution of state business relations had clear and robust effects on firm productivity;
- whether these effects differed by the size, ownership and location of the firm.
The current Indian micro studies will estimate the effects of changing state business relations on firm and industry productivity for all states in India. The studies will examine:
- whether the effects of SBRs on economic performance differ by firm size and ownership;
- whether the firm belongs to the formal or informal sector; and
- by technological complexity of the industry.
The studies will use a unique micro-data set that combines firm-level data from the formal (organised) and informal (unorganised) segments of the Indian manufacturing sector.
India Case Studies
This set of papers and projects address the origins of effective and ineffective SBRs, and how they are formed, maintained or changed. The studies are undertaken by economists and political scientists and mostly adopt a historical institutionalist approach.
- Industrialising West Bengal? : The case of institutional stickiness by Deepita Chakravarty and Indranil Bose (2009).
- State Business Relations and Performance of Manufacturing Sector in Andhra Pradesh - A Case Study by G Alivelu, K Srinivasulu & M Gopinath Reddy (2009).
- 'The decline and recent resurgence of the manufacturing sector of West Bengal: implications for pro-poor growth from an institutional point of view by Ajitava Raychaudhuri and Gautam Kumar Basu (2007), from the IPPG project 'The dynamics of state-business relations and their impact on pro-poor growth in manufacturing'.
- 'The role of organisations in the growth of rural non-farm Sector in Bangladesh by Atiur Rahman, Taiabur Rahman and Taifur Rahman (2007), from the IPPG project 'The local government engineering department and its role in the growth of the rural non-farm economy'.
Workshop: Analysing the Economics and Politics of State Business Relations in Africa and India
15-17 December, 2009
Emerging Themes and Policy Messages
The joint IPPG-CUTS workshop focussed on how best to synthesise messages emerging from IPPG's State Business Relations (SBR) research studies, which cover a number of African countries and Indian states.
Whilst a number of significant differences emerged from the various studies, one constant across the SBR research was the emphasis placed on the importance of SBRs for economic growth: SBRs, whether formal or informal, matter.
See the full report