FICCI : Industry's Voice for Policy Change

Economic Affairs & Research

Objectives

To conduct applied research in the fields of economics, public policy, business and management.
To facilitate policy formulation at the national and sub-national levels through consultative mechanisms.
To ensure that industry opinion and corporate India’s perspectives find a reflection in the consensus on developmental issues.

Objectives

To conduct applied research in the fields of economics, public policy, business and management.
To facilitate policy formulation at the national and sub-national levels through consultative mechanisms.
To ensure that industry opinion and corporate India’s perspectives find a reflection in the consensus on developmental issues.

Activities

Information services:

The division maintains and regularly updates databases on statistics pertaining to Indian economy, industry and trade.

Research – studies and surveys:

In addition to studies on macro-economic, public policy and industry developments, the division undertakes issue-based research and it has to its credit a number of detailed research papers and study reports, which have been highly acclaimed. An indicative list of studies undertaken in the past is given below -

Green shoots in the Indian economy – What the lead indicators of economic activity show?
State of the economy and how to bring growth back?
Slowdown in industrial growth and its policy implications
India – Africa business and economic relations
India Inc’s acquisitions abroad
Diversifying India’s exports to China
Long-term financing needs of the Indian industry and the role of Development Financial Institutions
Job reservation in the private sector – A review
India’s manufacturing sector growth @ 12% - What needs to be done?

The division conducts several benchmark surveys, which are referred to by the government and the Reserve Bank of India.

The division conducts a quarterly Business Confidence Survey amongst members of corporate India. The indices developed by the division to gauge the confidence level of India Inc. serve as lead indicators of economic and industrial activity in the nation.
The division’s FDI Survey brings out the experience of foreign direct investors in India with respect to their current operations and their future plans. The Survey has often been referred to by international agencies like the UNCTAD and MIGA and the findings are used as a reference tool in Universities both in India and abroad.
The division’s regular Export Survey monitors the trends, direction and structure of India’s exports by gathering direct ground level feedback from India’s leading exporters. This survey has evolved as an important outreach tool and provides the exporting community an opportunity to present its views on a variety of issues to the government.

Some of the other surveys undertaken in the past include the following –

Survey on ‘FMCG industry in India’
Survey on ‘Consumer durables goods industry in India’
Survey on ‘Services sector in India’
Survey on ‘Emerging oil price scenario and the Indian industry’
Survey on ‘Bank Financing for the SSI sector’
Survey on ‘Ending of Multifibre Agreement and the Indian textile industry’
Survey on ‘Incidence of indirect taxes on the final price of products’
Survey on ‘India-Thailand FTA – Emerging issues’
Survey on ‘The State of Industrial Training Institutions in India’

Providing policy inputs to government:

The division from time to time provides policy inputs to the government on evolving industry, trade and investment policies. Working closely with FICCI’s specialist sectoral and regional teams, the Economic Affairs and Research Division has in the past produced research papers and survey reports that have been used as policy inputs by different government committees, study groups, ministries and departments. The division has in the past provided inputs to –

India-China Joint Study Group
India-Korea Joint Study Group
India-Japan Joint study Group
India-EU High Level Trade Group

Collaborative projects:

The division is presently undertaking a joint research and workshop project on ‘State level reforms in India - Increasing investments’ with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF), Germany. The objective of the project is to identify factors that acting as developmental constraints at the state level in India and suggest a set of practical and actionable reform measures for attracting greater investment into the State. The project aims at pinpointing the ground level procedural hassles, which are acting as deterrent for bringing in fresh investments into the state. Till date the project has been carried out in four states of India – Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Punjab. The reports prepared after extensive primary research at the ground level, state wide industry surveys and stakeholders’ meetings have been submitted to the respective state governments at industry – government interactive workshops organised at the respective state capitals.

Team Leader

Anshuman Khanna

Assistant Secretary General

Timeline

2023

May

Survey May 01,2023

FICCI Economic Outlook Survey - January 2023