Announcements

Roundtable on public procurement and its impact on firms in India

The Finance Research Group and the Chennai Mathematical Institute are organising a web-roundtable on 'Public procurement and its impact on firms in India' on 22nd January, 2021 from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm. The roundtable will focus on identifying key issues in public procurement in India, distinguishing the symptoms from the causes and the pathways to building greater capacity in commercial contracting by the state.

Context

The Indian state is a large procurement body. Beginning with the central government and its agencies, CPSEs, state governments, SPSEs, municipal bodies, the state has a large presence in commercial contracting. Estimates suggest that the size of public procurement in India ranges from anywhere between 15-20% of GDP.

The discourse on public procurement in India has conventionally focused on issues of red tape, corruption and payment delays. Dues of the government to private enterprises are reported to have reached a magnitude large enough to be a drag on the economy. However, much of this discourse has been largely anecdotal. Over the last few years, digitisation of large parts of the Indian economy has created new sources of data that could support research-based analyses of the problems of public procurement and its impact on the financial health of firms.

This roundtable brings together academic researchers, practitioners and policymakers, to present and discuss their research to an interested group of peers and experts to elicit views and comments on their work.

Agenda

08:55 - 09:00	Welcome address Susan Thomas, Economist
09:00 - 09:35	A cross-country comparison of procurement laws Diya Uday, FRG-CMI and Anjali Sharma, S.P.Jain Institute of Management and Research         Discussant: Sudha Krishnan, Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India (Retired)
09:35 - 10:10	Inefficiencies in government procurement processes: a demonstration Anjali Sharma, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research and Shubho Roy, University of Chicago         Discussant: Santhosh Mathew, BMGF
10:20 - 10:55	Break
10:10 - 10:20	Dispute resolution in public contracts: evidence from courts Devendra Damle and Karan Gulati, NIPFP, Anjali Sharma, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research & Bhargavi Zaveri, FRG-CMI         Discussant: Surya Prakash B.S, Daksh
10:55 – 11:55 Presentation: Moderator: Panelists:	Panel: Payment delays in public procurement contracts Susan Thomas, Economist Ajay Shah, Economist Junaid Ahmad,World Bank Rajiv Mehrishi, Former Comptroller and Auditor General of India K.P. Krishnan, NCAER Pradnya Saravade, Maharashtra State Police Housing Corporation
11:55 - 12:10	Summing up Devesh Sharma,, BMGF
12:10 - 12:15	Closing remarks Susan Thomas, Economist

For those interested in attending the roundtable, please get in touch with Shyna Adhia on shyna.adhiya@gmail.com.