Announcements

Position for researchers In the field of Public Finance and Public Procurement

xKDR Forum is looking for researchers to work on a project with the Chennai Mathematical Institution (CMI), involving studying the impact of public finance management and public procurement issues on the private sector. xKDR Forum is a Mumbai-based inter-disciplinary group of researchers working in the fields of household and firm finance, financial markets, public finance management, public procurement and the land market. In these fields, the organisation engages in academic and policy oriented research, and advocacy.

At present, we are looking for candidates for the profile of Research Associate and Research Lead to participate in an ongoing research program in the field of public finance management and procurement.

Our work in this field includes:

1. How elements of the Indian state purchase drugs, by Harleen Kaur, Ajay Shah, Siddhartha Srivastava.

2. Lessons from the Delhi Metro by Pavithra Manivannan, Business Standard, 28^th July 2021.

3. Litigation in public contracts: some estimates from court data by Devendra Damle, Karan Gulati, Anjali Sharma and Bhargavi Zaveri, The LEAP Blog, 26^th May 2021.

4. How large is the payment delays problem in Indian public procurement? by Pavithra Manivannan and Bhargavi Zaveri, The LEAP Blog, 22^nd March 2021.

5. Monetisation lessons from NHAI by Charmi Mehta and Bhargavi Zaveri, Business Standard, 10^th March 2021.

6. The bottleneck of government contracting, by Ajay Shah, Business Standard, 25^th January 2021.

7. What ails public procurement: an analysis of tender modifications in the pre-award process by Shubho Roy and Anjali Sharma, The LEAP Blog, 26^rd November 2020.

8. The payment woes of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai by Anjali Sharma and Bhargavi Zaveri, Business standard, 23^rd November 2020.

9. The problems of public procurement and payment delays: A review of the recent literature by Sourish Das and Rabia Khatun, The LEAP Blog, 23^rd November 2020.

10. Does India need a public procurement law? by Shubho Roy and Diya Uday, The LEAP Blog, 19^th August 2020.

As a research associate, you will work on project deliverables under the supervision of a senior researcher. You will be expected to implement defined research tasks, work on written documents, reports and articles and interface with external collaborators and stakeholders. The requirements for the role of a research associate are:

• An academic background in the fields of Data Science, Law, Economics and / or Public Policy.
• Minimum one complete year of work experience, preferably in a research intensive organisation.

As a research lead, you will work on project deliverables along with the research head. You will be expected to jointly develop research outputs, work with research associates as well as with collaborators, engage in discussions with external stakeholders and generate at least one working paper in the field each year. The requirements for the role of a research lead are:

• A strong academic background in the fields of Data Science, Economics and / or Public Policy, with at least two research papers in any of these fields.
• At least three years of work experience, preferably in a research intensive organisation; very high quality spoken and written English. Experience with running surveys is additionally desirable.

For both roles, candidates with fluency in quantitative skills are preferred. Competency in programming language 'R is a bonus. In keeping with the current work environment at the organisation, a working knowledge of the document preparation system 'Latex as well as the operating system 'Linux are added advantages.

You must be comfortable with working in an inter disciplinary research environment consisting of people from varying backgrounds such as economics, law, public policy and data science. You must be curious and passionate about research and willing to work on independent outputs as well as in teams.

The remuneration offered will be commensurate with your skill and experience and will be comparable with what is found in other research institutions. Interested candidates must email their resume to careers@xkdr.org with the subject line: Application for "Research positions, public finance management"