NCAER

10 September, 2026 Should lead to better jobs, more productive firms. India’s economy has started the new financial year on a strong note. Real GDP grew 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter, making India once again one of the fastest-growing major economies. Consumption remained reasonably strong, investment picked up and exports also performed better. These are encouraging signs at a time when the global economy remains uncertain. The number deserves to be celebrated.

The ultimate measure of success will not be the sophistication of the algorithms. It will be whether the farmer is better off Summary India’s farm sector is embracing AI amid climate stress, tiny landholdings and tighter resources. The article argues that the key question is who captures the productivity gains: farmers, tech platforms or input suppliers.

Crop-specific yield assessment should be intensified in rain-fed districts. Tur, soybean and maize deserve particular attention. India’s 2026 monsoon is becoming an increasing concern for the economy—not simply because rainfall is deficient, but because the deficit is highly uneven across regions and is concentrated in areas important for rain-fed agriculture.

24 August, 2026 Published in: The Indian Express What are the hopes and desires of young job seekers in urban India? In the summer of 2023, armed with a long list of questions, we set out to survey over 3,000 randomly sampled men and women, 24 years of age on average, and living in the middle-class residential areas of Delhi. Our interest lay in understanding their journey towards employment — whether they were currently working or looking for work, or were planning to start their job search soon.

Globally and in India, the platform economy has emerged as a rapidly growing engine of employment. However, women are under-represented within this sector. The flexibility of platform work appeals to women balancing household and care responsibilities, but their participation remains constrained by gaps in skills and digital literacy, mobility and safety concerns, and restrictive social norms.

El Niño can set off a chain from rainfall shocks and crop losses to lower farm incomes, higher food prices and weaker rural consumption. Irrigation can help break this chain—but only when water reliably reaches farmers, particularly those at the tail end of command areas Summary El Niño is emerging as an economic shock for Asia’s farm economies, threatening crops, farm incomes and food prices.

The EU and India concluded FTA negotiations in January 2026, just as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism entered its definitive financial phase. In this post, Banerjee and Morotti argue that while the two policies are not inherently at odds, differences in how the EU and India measure and recognise carbon costs risk saddling Indian exporters with a double compliance burden – eroding potential gains from the trade deal.

West Bengal is one of India’s largest states, accounting for around 7.1 percent of the country’s population and about 5.5 percent of national GDP. Although its economy is larger than that of many states and consistently ranks among the six to eight largest state economies, it remains smaller than those of leading economic states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Gujarat.

This paper analyses the fiscal position of Chhattisgarh in comparison with Odisha and Jharkhand, focusing on revenue mobilisation, expenditure quality, fiscal deficits, debt sustainability, and compliance with fiscal responsibility targets. While Chhattisgarh performs relatively well in revenue generation and developmental spending, its fiscal position remains vulnerable due to high subsidies, rising committed expenditure, widening deficits, and large contingent liabilities.

Volatility in West Asia has disrupted LPG supply chains, exposing an unresolved vulnerability. Rising prices are forcing vulnerable households back to firewood, crop residue and dung cakes A woman in rural India who received an LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana also received a promise of smoke-free cooking, better health and dignity. A decade later, she is back to burning firewood because the cylinder is probably empty and a refill costs more than her weekly grocery budget.