And for this, the project will focus to strengthen further the mechanisms of LoC trade, accompanied with adequate steps towards: scaling up of JKJCCI, capacity building of traders, capacity building of chambers on contemporary economic indicators and issues, creating platforms for discussion at both national and local level, focused research on other economic issues of the state, building strategic and economic linkages between J&K and rest of India, and leveraging opportunities to create a sustainable economy in J&K, etc. The project will adopt an approach that is mindful of the local sentiments, engages with key stakeholders, most importantly youth, and the one that promotes trade and pushes for locally-led peacebuilding initiatives from the grassroots.

The post Cross LoC Trade: Building Bridges, (Re)Connecting Communities in Jammu & Kashmir appeared first on BRIEF.

Economic & Policy

In order to revive the dialogue on economic (re)engagement between India and Pakistan, the project will aim to strengthen the bilateral trade ecosystem through establishing association level collaborations to enable sector-specific value chain linkages, and enhancing knowledge base and capacities by widening stakeholder participation. The project will undertake a pro-active and stakeholder intensive approach to:

• (Re)initiate the dialogue on economic cooperation
• Increase stakeholder constituency through multi-level interactions and engagements with decision makers, policy influencers and other key stakeholders
• Address knowledge gaps and build capacities of key stakeholders
• Facilitation of a joint business chamber for promoting and creating a positive ecosystem for bilateral trade
• Promote business collaborations between product specific associations and chambers

Our new book “Unilateral Decisions Bilateral Losses” – which is a micro level analysis of the impact the face-off between India and Pakistan in 2019 has had on their border economies – is an outcome of the ongoing program “Partnering for Prosperity: through enabling trade and connecting communities between India and Pakistan”, which seeks to generate momentum for an overall (re)engagement process by not just providing impetus to trade but bridging the trust deficit. Next in series is “The Dubai Angled Triangle” that focuses on the changing trends of informal trade between India and Pakistan after 2012, and dives deep into the role of the UAE based on primary research as well as using quantitative analysis.

The post Partnering for Prosperity: through Enabling Trade and Connecting Communities between India and Pakistan appeared first on BRIEF.

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Agricultural trade in South Asia has allowed countries to keep their food prices low, expanded access to different sources of nutrition and helped to improve the productivity of the sector in the last two centuries. Food grains, such as rice, have invoked emotive political responses in all trade agreements throughout history. This study feeds into The Asia Foundation’s larger endeavour to devise effective policies on farm incomes, nutrition, agricultural water use and challenges of climate change adaptation across the region.

The post An Analysis of the Political Economy of Rice Trade between Bangladesh, India, and Nepal appeared first on BRIEF.

The principal focus of the review study on Udaan Scheme is to create an ecosystem that would bridge the gaps existing in the present scheme. The study aims at:

• Identifying the bottlenecks, gaps or challenges that exist in the present Udaan scheme
• Providing suitable suggestions for better implementation of the scheme, to enhance employment opportunities for the educated youth of J&K

BRIEF will extensively interact with key stakeholders including the authorities, youth as well as corporate bodies and would also conduct a workshop as an effort to create a platform for the youth to engage with the policy establishment, implementer, corporate bodies and other relevant stakeholders.

The outcome of the study would be collated in the form of a comprehensive report covering the performance metrics of the scheme, positives as well as success factors, challenges faced/gaps to be bridged, perceptions of stakeholders and finally, recommendations aimed at assisting the policy establishment in the process of exercising necessary reforms in the implementation of the scheme.

The post Review of Udaan Scheme in Jammu & Kashmir appeared first on BRIEF.

In this context, this study ­– commissioned by Centre for WTO Studies – undertaken by BRIEF aimed at assessing the incidence and impact of private sustainability standards on India’s exports through a survey. The study focused on aspects such as the procedure of obtaining PSS certifications, scope and nature of compliance, periodicity of certification, perceived gains, multiple PSS on the same product, impact on market access, cost implications, impact on product quality and the desirability of obtaining PSS for domestic sales. It entailed the coverage of six sectors i.e. food processing, textiles and clothing, leather, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, wood products and marine (fisheries. BRIEF generated a comprehensive report covering the aforementioned aspects with respect to the chosen sectors.

The post Emergence of Private Sustainability Standards: Concerns and Challenges for India’s Exports and Domestic Industries appeared first on BRIEF.

A holistic evaluation exercise of the said scheme was undertaken by seeking responses from beneficiary SME organisations – across selected regions – and prime lending institutes (banks). NILERD engaged BRIEF to undertake in-depth questionnaire-based interviews with 130 such beneficiary organisations and 15 lending banks/financial organisations.

The post Evaluation of Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) appeared first on BRIEF.

The study proposes to fill the lacunae in the existing literature and take the case forward by assessing and analysing the complementarity of specific value chains of select commodities/sectors/clusters and the mechanism of their cross-border linkages. There is a lot of scope of strengthening these value chains across a range of sectors.

The objective of this exercise is to deepen economic engagement between India and Pakistan through value chain linkages in three chosen sectors i.e. textiles and clothing, surgical equipment and sports goods, with a view to increase overall trade efficiency and enhance trade complementarity.

The study would develop an initial understanding of the potential for developing value chain linkages between India and Pakistan. It would also play an important role in sensitizing the relevant stakeholders to pursue the objectives of the trade normalisation process.

The post Study towards Building Sector Specific Value Chains between India and Pakistan appeared first on BRIEF.

The post Study on Timeline of Export and Import of Containers through the JNP, Chennai port and APSEZ Mundra appeared first on BRIEF.

• Information Exchange Platforms
• Container Freight Stations (CFS)
• PPP Projects at Ports
• Trade Facilitation Committee Meetings (PTFC & CCFC)

This current exercise succeeds the project “Bridging Infrastructural Deficits at Select Trade Ports in India”, which was successfully completed in the previous financial year. The project was aimed at analysing critical infrastructural, operational and regulatory bottlenecks at select sea and land ports, and a detailed report was released on 30th March, 2016 in the presence of distinguished representatives of the policy establishment, key stakeholders and experts.
By the end of this project, BRIEF aims at successfully mobilising reform processes directed towards streamlining information availability through platforms for information exchange, facilitating improved functioning of Container Freight Stations (CFS), pursuing developments in the institutional mechanisms affecting the operations of PPP projects at ports and exploring avenues to make existing Trade Facilitation Committee Meetings (PTFC & CCFC) at the port level more inclusive, participatory and transparent.

The post Pursuing Reforms at Indian Ports to Improve the Trading Environment for International Business appeared first on BRIEF.