Budget 2026; Gains from decontrol; The art and science of economic policy, on Coursera

Budget 2026

Understanding Budget 2026, my column in the Business Standard today.

Gains from decontrol

Net FDI in India for the full 2024-25 was $29 billion. In calendar 2025, there were five FDI transactions into banks/NBFCs that added up to $11 billion. Small shifts in policy, in favour of decontrol of cross-border transactions, generated this large impact. These developments are good for Indian finance, an industry with outsized importance for Indian economic growth. They remind us of the outsized gains feasible through removing state restrictions upon cross-border private activity. My column in the Business Standard on this: Gains from decontrol.

The art and science of economic policy, on Coursera

Aromar Revi, Vijay Kelkar and I built a course, The Art and Science of Economic Policy. This was based on the book In service of the republic: The art and science of economic policy. This is a part of the `Digital blended learning’ initiative at IIHS. The course now has 10,004 learners, 5,928 active learners and 2,609 completers.

Srinivas Alavilli wrote a note on ideas of the book.