Prabir De

Research and Information System for Developing Countries · ASEAN-India Centre

The study unravels the relationship between trade and connectivity and presents a narrative to re-energise the South Asian regional economic integration in the post-pandemic period. In addition, the study also examines the effect on conflicts and institutional factors in South Asian trade. The study uses the bilateral gravity analysis in 2SLS (T...

The North Eastern Region of India (NER) is the gateway to Southeast and East Asia. However, transport and logistics bottlenecks have long been identified as serious constraints to the growth of the NER. Trade has special significance for the economies of the NER states. The value chain potential of the NER can be unlocked if border infrastructure a...

Transport and logistics bottlenecks have long been identified as serious constraints to the growth of the North Eastern Region of India (NER). To strengthen the connectivity between India and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Trilateral Highway (TH) between India, Myanmar, and Thailand is being developed, and there is a plan to...

Transport and logistics bottlenecks have long been identified as serious constraints to the growth of the North Eastern Region of India (NER). To strengthen the connectivity between India and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Trilateral Highway (TH) between India, Myanmar, and Thailand is being developed, and there is a plan to e...

ASEAN and India are bound together by their shared history and culture. Relation with ASEAN is one of the cornerstones of India’s foreign policy. Trade between India and ASEAN in recent months has faltered due to the Covid-19 pandemic and trade policy uncertainties, but there is still untapped potential for further enhancing ASEAN-India trade. The...

The Covid-19 has triggered an ongoing global crisis, which has had a huge effect on people's lives and livelihoods, as well as their basic well-being and productivity of countries across the world. Besides, it has also disrupted the supply chain networks and the supply of intermediate inputs and final goods in the developing world, especially those...

This chapter deals with trade facilitation measures for India with particular reference to soft-side of trade facilitation. It seeks to shed light on the significance of overcoming trade barriers through trade facilitation, particularly in case of India. Based on quantitative analysis, the chapter also discusses the trade facilitation reforms agend...

ASEAN and India are bound together by their shared history, culture and civilisation. Relation with ASEAN is one of the cornerstones of India’s foreign policy. ASEAN and India are more integrated now as compared to the year when the Act East Policy (AEP) was introduced. However, the global slowdown in the last few years and the current pandemic hav...

This commentary investigates the perspectives of Indo-Pacific proposed by different stakeholders and the common key elements and areas of cooperation that the countries share on Indo-Pacific. This commentary also identifies the possible areas of cooperation leading to greater integration of the Indo-Pacific region.

This article discusses the growing trends of India's engagement in terms of maritime cooperation and development assistance with the Island Nations in the Indian Ocean Region. The article also covers India's responses to the Covid-19 in the Island Nations and its way forward.

Abstract This paper investigates the potential economic effect of ‘Indo-Pacific’ regional economic cooperation and compares with the extended CPTPP. The Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) results show that the quadrilateral alliance between the United States, Japan, Australia, and India shows although a substantial economic gain whilst South and...

Trilateral Highway (TH) has the potential to become an economic corridor. At the same time, completion of TH assumes high significance for ASEAN-India cooperation. Chairman’s Statement of ASEAN-India Summit, held at Singapore 2018, suggested to complete a study on how to make Trilateral Highway an economic corridor, and requested ERIA to conduct th...

This article discusses the trends of ASEAN-India trade in the context of before and after ASEAN-India FTA and analyses how has India fared on the ASEAN trade front for the last two decades. The article also suggests the steps to promote trade between India and ASEAN.

BIMSTEC is a unique regional cooperation initiative in terms of geographical contiguity and access to ocean.

South Asia could unleash its full potentials, provided, it improves the infrastructure facilities, which are at present not sufficient to meet the growing demand of the region. The renewed and shared agenda of the South Asian regional cooperation should aim to reduce both intra- and inter- regional trade facilitation gaps as well as to expand the c...

Indo-Pacific construct has picked up a motivating pace in recent years. Several countries across the world have shown their interest in joining the Indo-Pacific region. Indo-Pacific region has been the world’s leading source and destination of foreign investment. This article analyses the trends in investment, bilateral and multilateral investment...

India and ASEAN are the fastest growing regions in the world. Both of them have implemented the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in goods since 2010. India and ASEAN are also gaining production linkages in electronics, automobiles, digital and financial services, etc. While the trade between them has grown over time, the rise in Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs...

One of the main constraints to development in North East India is the lack of connectivity. How the existing East–West Corridor and the proposed transboundary corridors such as the Trilateral Highway, the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project, and the Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Economic Corridor connecting India with neighbouring countri...

This chapter discusses the application of the Gravity model in trade cost analysis. The Gravity model is one of the most powerful tools in analysing trade potential. Following a brief explanation on the evolution of the gravity model and the theoretical foundation, this chapter presents an application of the gravity model using STATA to assess link...

Indo-Pacific construct has pick up a motivating pace in recent years. Several countries in across the world have shown their keen interests to join the Indo-Pacific. Indo-Pacific region has been the world’s leading source and destination of foreign investment. This article analyses the trends in investment, bilateral and multilateral investment eng...

Corridor-based infrastructure development promotes economic growth and regional development through reduction in time and cost of the transportation; creates employment opportunities due to higher transportation activities, and contributes to poverty reduction. India’s several infrastructure development initiatives are aimed to provide cost effecti...

Recent restoration of democracy in Myanmar is one of the most important developments witnessed by Asia in the contemporary period. Owing to its strategic position, Myanmar connects Asia’s three big markets—the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, and India. Since 2011, Myanmar has embarked on a path of political and economic refor...

This book comprehensively investigates the challenges to Myanmar’s access to the global market. Myanmar is a late entrant in the global trade and investment scenario after years of isolation. However, it has large untapped potentials for trade and investment in minerals, agro and forest based industries, other labour intensive industries, services...

The present Report studies various aspects of issues such as India-Mekong trade, strengthening regional value chains, facilitating foreign direct investment, connectivity, harnessing border economic zones, Mekong-Ganga cultural fusion, among others. The comprehensive Report makes signifiant policy recommendations for further strengthening of Mekong...

Theoretical and empirical works related to international trade are confined to models which have labour and capital as explicit factors of production. Although income inequality and trade openness have been given importance in the literature, the role of quantity and quality of infrastructure in international trade has not been investigated extensi...

A whole series of changes in world economic order in the last decade such as globalisation of production and consumption, and structural changes in inter- port relations, port-hinterland relationships and logistics have strengthened the role of ports as nodes in the global transport system. In such an environment, port production economics plays an...

The cost of trade among South Asian countries is far too high. There is a need to simplify procedures for trade, and reduce the cost and time taken to handle cargo to ensure that t rading within the region is more cost effective. The Trade Facilitation Agreement (2013), agreed upon at the World Trade Organisation Bali Ministerial Meeting, promises...

Restoration of democracy in Myanmar is one of the most important developments witnessed by Asia in the contemporary period. After a prolonged isolation, Myanmar has embarked on a path of political and economic reforms since 2011, paving the way for unlocking the country’s large potential. This paper presents the trade and connectivity links between...

This study undertakes Business Process Analysis (BPA) to help assess the trade processes and procedures. One of the research objectives in BPA is to identify administrative and procedural barriers that unnecessarily impede the participation of more firms and more countries in regional and global trade, and propose solutions.

International trade in services has become more important in recent years as advances in technology have permitted new means of providing services across borders. Services have emerged as crucial economic activities in India, more prominently over the last decade. Apart from providing the bulk of employment and income in India, the services sector...

Governance is an important determinant for both national and regional infrastructure development for many parts of Asia. This study shows that institutional governance is an important determinant for national and regional infrastructure development. Improved national governance is a necessary condition for enhancing regional governance for effectiv...

The primary objective of this study is to analyze the impact on Bangladesh of increased market access in India, both within a static production structure and also identifying dynamic gains. The study shows that Bangladesh and India would both gain by opening up their markets to each other. Indian investments in Bangladesh will be very important for...

India's services trade has grown at a very fast pace and now contributes more than one-third of the export revenue. India has also succeeded in raising its penetration in global markets more rapidly for services than for goods. Discussing the theoretical and empirical basis of the flourishing world trade in services, this book analyses the factors...

Through the agreement on the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), South Asian countries are now looking towards deeper integration of the region. Nevertheless, South Asia is far from realising its full potential. The econometric evidence provided in this article strengthens the existing linkage of trade costs, transit and trade flows; the higher th...

This study aims to assess barriers to service trade in the education, health, telecom, transport and travel and tourism sectors of selected South Asian economies such as India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, including both trade and domestic restrictions. The analysis is focused on computation of aggregate and modal service trade restri...

This study investigates the impact of global crisis shocks on India's trade and industry. The authors use panel data modeling and vector autoregression techniques to understand the dynamic effects of global crisis shocks on Indian industry and trade. Changes in trade composition are positively associated with changes in manufacturing composition in...

This study was conducted in three South Asian countries viz: India, Bangladesh and Nepal. In order to gain insights into the trade in health services in India, the study examines the opinions of patients, hospitals owners and doctors involved in this service trade. A total of 190 foreign patients from SAARC countries that came to India to receive m...

This study investigates the impact of global crisis shocks on India’s trade and industry. We use both panel data modeling and vector autoregression techniques to understand the dynamic effects of global crisis shocks on Indian industry and trade. The estimated results of panel data models show that changes in trade composition are positi...

In a supply-constrained region like Asia, promoting exports has always been a challenge particularly at a time when Asia’s trade has been severely affected by lack of external demand. This paper argues that price barriers have taken a new shape during the global financial crisis period which may generate differential impacts on trade flows as we pr...

This study estimates the trade potential for India using an augmented Gravity model and then attempts to determine the importance of trade remedies. Based on the panel data, this Gravity model is the first-ever attempt to estimate India’s trade potential in the pre- and post- global economic and financial crisis period. The estimates of India’s glo...

This study estimates the trade potential for India using an augmented Gravity model and then attempts to determine the importance of trade remedies. Based on the panel data, this Gravity model is the first-ever attempt to estimate India's trade potential in the pre- and post- global economic and financial crisis period. The estimates of India's glo...

With the South Asian Free Trade Agreement, South Asian countries are now looking towards deeper integration of the region. In reality, South Asia is far from realizing its full trade potential. One of the critical factors preventing South Asia from achieving its full potential is the absence of regional transit. Unlike the European Union, South Asi...

This study is a comprehensive, empirical analysis of the linkages between governance, institutions, and regional infrastructure. The empirical results indicate that governance and institutions are crucial for regional infrastructure development: every one point improvement in governance results in a 1 to 1.5 point rise in regional infrastructure. C...

This paper attempts to unravel the interlinkages and interconnections among infrastructure, trade openness and income inequality, using panel data of 14 Asia-Pacific countries at different levels of development.

This study examines a range of cross-border infrastructure development issues related to the Asian countries. Despite active pursuit of private investment in infrastructure by most developing countries in Asia and a growing number of success stories, the pace of such investment remains slow. Participation by the private sector in infrastructure dev...

The primary objective of this paper is to find whether or not the governance and institutions matter for enhancing Asia’s trade. In this study, we have performed a comprehensive empirical analysis of the linkages between governance and trade at the Asian subregional level. Our results indicate that all individual governance indicators except regula...

Korea has been witnessing a sharp rise in merchandise trade and showing greater trade interdependence on a large variety of goods. At the same time, rising transportation costs continue to impede Korea's merchandise trade. This paper provides sufficient evidence to ascertain that variations in ad-valorem transportation costs strongly influence trad...

This paper estimates the trade potential for India using the augmented gravity model and then attempts to determine the importance of trade remedies. Based on panel data, this gravity model is the first-ever attempt to estimate India’s trade potential in the pre- and post- global economic and financial crisis period. The estimates of India’s global...

This paper highlights the issues surrounding trade in education services in India. Concentrating on the ease and difficulty of trade in education services through different modes in India, it shows that the process of trade in education services through World Trade Organisation modes 3 and 4 has just begun in India, whereas mode 2 is still the most...

In recent years, south Asia has received growing attention as a region that has successfully begun the processof regional Integration. The opening offree trade in the region has led to countries in south Asia experiencing high trade costs due to inadequacy in trade and transport facilitation. South Asia's trade is constrained by poor infrastructure...

The analysis of this paper shows that a regional transit arrangement would perhaps enhance the regional trade, controlling for other variables. At the same time, implementation of e-governance at border is found to be significant determinant of trade flows thus indicating e-filling of Custom formalities has been helping the trade to grow in eastern...

D uring the last decade, the services sector has seen modest liberalization through the removal of trade and investment barriers. Most members of WTO are committed to multilateral liberalization of services trade. However, within the services sector, the liberalization of trade in education services has seen little progress. Using a panel regressio...

Development of infrastructure is one of the key priorities of East Asia Summit (EAS) countries. By constructing an Infrastructure Index for 104 countries comprising all the EAS members, this paper examines the levels of infrastructure attainment of EAS countries in a comparative global perspective over time and space. It makes observations on the g...

The study, thus, touches only tip of an iceberg in terms of its analytical power to explain movement of students across nations. It points out to the definite existence of country specific barriers and from a pilot case study in India, highlights some of these possible barriers. However, future studies should be attempted to understand the extent o...

Findings of this paper have important policy implications for Asian countries seeking to expand trade. Addressing rising auxiliary shipping charges as well as the overall rise in shipping costs may require serious consideration by regulators and policymakers that wish to further promote trade in Asia. In addition, if improvements in the quality of...

Recent literature has emphasized the importance of transaction costs and infrastructure in explaining trade, access to markets, and regional cooperation under globalization. For most Asian countries, transaction costs are a greater barrier to trade integration than import tariffs. By estimating a structural model of economic geography using cross-c...

Services trade has registered a dynamic evolution in almost all developing countries. Despite the rising share in world services trade by developing countries, the gap between developed and developing countries in service exports have been widening. Developed economies have become service exporters, while developing economies are found to be more r...

Globalisation has led to the increasing importance of port performance. Productivity and efficiency are the two important concepts in measuring performance. The present study aims to assess the total factor productivity (TFP) growth of the Indian port sector. TFP is a measure of technological change in industry. This study shows that ports in India...

Trade costs are often cited as an important determinant of the volume of trade. A growing literature has documented the negative impact of trade costs on the volume of trade. Most of these studies show that integration is the resultant of reduced costs of transportation in particular and other infrastructure services in general. Direct evidence on...

Trade costs are often cited as an important determinant of the volume of trade. This paper provides enough evidences to ascertain that today’s trade issues in Northeast Asia go beyond the traditional mechanisms of tariffs, and include “behind-the-border” issues. By estimating a modified gravity equation, controlling for endogeneity and remoteness,...

This presentation discusses the rising cost of transport, its impact on international trade, and the failure of many neoliberal economic models to take into account the cost of transport. It summarizes the findings of a working paper that attempts to determine how non-price and price determinants of international trade such as infrastructure and tr...

Regional integration is of long-standing concern in South Asia. Despite increasing general levels of prosperity observed in some of its countries, an ongoing problem is how to ensure a good quality transportation system for the entire region. The purpose of the present study is to investigate opportunities for cooperation in the transport sector in...

The paper tries to find out the role played by economic and social infrastructure facilities in economic development across Indian states over the last quarter century. Infrastructure services have been indexed with the help of principal component analysis. Both parametric and non-parametric estimates are done to assess per capita income disparity....

Open regionalism and integration between the world's two largest developing countries. People's Republic of China (PRC) and India, in trade, investment and infrastructure can foster outward-oriented development, and economic and social benefits that could result in poverty reduction. In view of the increasing trend of regional integration, particul...

The asymptotic distributions of cointegration tests are approximated using the Gamma distribution. The tests considered are for the I(1), the conditional I(1), as well as the I(2) model. Formulae for the parameters of the Gamma distributions are derived from response surfaces. The resulting approximation is flexible, easy to implement and more accu...

Since the 1980s the economic development of countries in East Asia has had a marked impact on the world port community, particularly in container transport. This paper analyses changes in the competitive environment of the world container port sector using some standard tools of market concentration. Initially, this paper reviews the competitive po...

A whole series of changes in world economic order in the last decade such as globalisation of production and consumption, and structural changes in inter-port relations, port-hinterland relationships and logistics have strengthened the role of ports as nodes in the global transport system. In such an environment, port production economics plays an...

This paper explores the role played by infrastructure in determining the level of economic development across the states over different time spans during the past quarter century. A comparative static framework is developed in order to test the movement of the development trajectory of the states in the infrastructure-income plane. The findings of...

The recent economic development of East Asian countries has remarkably changed the marine transportation market, particularly the container transport market. This paper provides comparisons by using the Gini co-efficient and Theil's entropy among the major world economies in terms of container port traffic concentration over time. In terms of conta...

This paper attempts to find out the causal relationship between port performance and port traffic by using Indian data. The use of cointegration analysis has come out with the result that performance precedes traffic in most of the ports of India. Hence, government policy towards performance augmenting facilities should be given priority so that hi...

This paper attempts to explore the relationship between productivity, efficiency and technological change in Indian ports. By employing a comparative static framework, we have shown that Indian ports have witnessed a significant technological metamorphosis in terms of capital use. Increasing use of overhead capital has produced significant improvem...

This paper is concerned with the economics of Indian ports as one important phenomenon in Indian economic geography, and its relationship with regional development under the free market economy. A port performance index derived with the help of principal component analysis of eight individual port performance indicators shows that overseas traffic...