| Role | Assistant Professor of Economics |
| Institution | Gujarat Institute of Development Research (GIDR), Ahmedabad |
| Tenure | October 2004 – November 2005 |
| Focus | Outward FDI, international trade & development economics |
| Highlights | Co-edited the Ashok Mathur festschrift · UNCTAD & IDPAD projects · 6 journal articles |
My year at GIDR was short — barely thirteen months — but unusually productive, and it sat right at the meeting point of scholarship and policy. It produced two of the most-cited pieces I would ever write, a co-edited volume in honour of my own teacher, and two sponsored studies that took my work on Indian outward FDI directly into international policy settings.
Two policy-engaged projects
The year’s research was anchored by two sponsored studies, both with an international dimension:
- Outward FDI by Indian SMEs (April–August 2005) — a consultative study for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva, carried out with M. K. Sahoo, on how Indian small and medium enterprises were beginning to internationalise.
- Globalization and Employment Patterns (2005) — my contribution to the Indo-Dutch Programme on Alternatives in Development (IDPAD) project Globalization and Informalization: Consequences for Skill Formation, Security and Gender, examining how trade, foreign investment, and technology were reshaping employment in organised Indian manufacturing.
Publications
The standout publication was the co-edited volume honouring Professor Ashok Mathur — my own doctoral and M.Phil. supervisor — Industrialization, Economic Reforms and Regional Development: Essays in Honour of Professor Ashok Mathur (with S. K. Thorat and V. Abraham; Shipra Publication, 2005).
Six peer-reviewed journal articles appeared during the period, several of them written with Vinoj Abraham:
| Year | Article | Journal |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | The Determinants of Outward FDI: A Firm-Level Analysis of Indian Manufacturing | Oxford Development Studies, 32(4) |
| 2005 | Overseas Mergers and Acquisitions by Indian Enterprises: Patterns and Motivations (with V. Abraham) | Indian Journal of Economics, 85(33) |
| 2005 | Social and Cultural Impact of Outsourcing: Emerging Issues from Indian Call Centres (with V. Abraham) | Harvard Asia Quarterly, 9(3) |
| 2005 | Internationalization of Production by an Indian Enterprise: Trans-Border Growth of NIIT Ltd. (with V. Abraham) | Journal of Asian Business, 20(2) |
| 2004 | Foreign Direct Investment and Labour: The Case of Indian Manufacturing (with V. Abraham & M. K. Sahoo) | Labour & Development, 10(1) |
| 2006 | Rise of Service Sector and Outward FDI from Indian Economy: Trends, Patterns, and Determinants | GITAM Journal of Management, 4(1) |
Two book chapters also appeared. One of them — “Foreign Direct Investment, Externalities and Economic Growth in Developing Countries” (with Nagesh Kumar), in Multinationals and Foreign Investment in Economic Development (Palgrave, 2005) — has since become my single most-cited piece of work. The other, “Women’s Status and Economic Growth: An Analysis of Indian States” (with V. Abraham), appeared in the Mathur festschrift above. Three GIDR working papers rounded out the period: on technology acquisition in Indian manufacturing (No. 157), export-oriented FDI in India (No. 156), and outward FDI from India (No. 153).
Engagement and institutional contributions
I presented the employment-patterns work at the Policy Review Seminar on Globalisation and Informalisation at the India International Centre, New Delhi (October 2005). Within the institute, I served on the committee developing the curriculum for GIDR’s M.Phil. programme in Development Economics.
In reflection
GIDR was brief but pivotal. In a little over a year it brought together the strands that would define my research — outward FDI, the internationalisation of Indian firms, and the development questions around both — produced work that has been cited for two decades since, and gave me the chance to honour the teacher who set me on this path. The momentum carried directly into the years that followed at ISID.
Related on this site
- Full academic profile — Who I Am
- The festschrift co-edited here: Industrialization, Economic Reforms and Regional Development (Essays in Honour of Professor Ashok Mathur) [add post link]
- The next chapter: Contributions at the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), New Delhi
