Research Initiatives

1. Research Papers

Identities, Womanhood and Abenomics – A Comparative Analysis of the Works of Junichiro Tanizaki and Ismat Chughtai - WORKING PAPER NO: IIMB/MIJSC/2022/001

Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters and Ismat Chughtai’s The Crooked Line manage to capture the transformations being engendered in the societies of the two major Asian powers at the brink of watershed historical events. Despite the divergent writing styles and contextual differences of the authors, their texts bring out the experiences of women and the multitudinous attitudes surrounding womanhood in 1930s India and Japan. The comparison of these texts can therefore yield information about the similarities and differences in the ideas and experiences regarding womanhood in both nations. Moreover, this comparison can offer insights into factors which continue to influence women’s issues in both countries even in present times.

This paper utilizes the comparative method to cross-culturally examine the various constructions of womanhood, femininity, and motherhood present in 1930s India and Japan through the writings of Junichiro Tanizaki and Ismat Chughtai. The paper historically contextualizes the position of women in both nations during this period and provides an analysis of their changing roles within the familial sphere due to forces of modernity and reform. It also examines the interaction of femininity with the political and analyses its utilization and representations within Makioka Sisters and The Crooked Line. Various conceptions of motherhood are also analysed through its representations within both texts. The last section traces the continuity of these constructs in present times in both nations through their manifestation in certain policy decisions, and also looks at the future possibilities of comparative cross-cultural analyses within India-Japan studies.

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Insights into Understanding Japanese Crafts & Related Policies - WORKING PAPER NO: IIMB/IJSC/2020/004

Conventionally, cultural economics focus more on the arts than crafts. However, while art is acknowledged as a driver of innovation, crafts play an integral role in keeping traditions alive. While machinery and automation can provide convenience and better margins, handicrafts and their impact are often overlooked. Handicrafts connect us to the past, where hand-operated tools made everything. While we no longer need handcrafted products in the modern technological world, there is something about these imperfectly made products that make them aesthetically valuable to niche segments of the population. Making the products by hand required skills and training that took long years, and most of these skills are learnt under the guidance of master craftspeople than in a formal educational institution. Japan has been one of the nations that placed handmade objects high in value and therefore developed policy frameworks to ensure that Japanese handicrafts find a market and can remain economically viable for their producers. The objective of this study is to run through some of these unique policies that have helped handicrafts thrive and stay relevant even in today’s day and age. 

The study is divided into three parts. In the first part, I will be discussing the history of the craft policies. In the second, I will be discussing the handloom sector in Kyoto with a specific focus on the Nishijin area. In the final part, I will be highlighting the interactions with entrepreneurs, weavers and store owners which I had in Kyoto and Tokyo.

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India – Japan Relations in Services & the India – Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement - Prof. Rupa Chanda - WORKING PAPER NO: IIMB/IJSC/2020/001

India and Japan signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in February 2011. Lauded as one of India’s most exhaustive trade agreements, it aims to liberalize and enhance trade in goods, services as well as investment flows between the two countries. However, trends in bilateral trade suggest that the bilateral potential remains untapped. This study examines the prospects for expanding trade, investment, and other forms of engagement between India and Japan in the service sector and the factors that currently constrain this potential. It specifically focuses on four service subsectors, namely, education services, IT and IT enabled services (ITeS), technology-based start-ups providing services and engineering services. The study also assesses the extent to which there is awareness of the CEPA among stakeholders on both sides and the likely efficacy of this agreement in enabling the realization of expected benefits.

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“Business Groups in India and Japan” - Prof. Subhashish Gupta - WORKING PAPER NO: IIMB/IJSC/2020/002

This paper starts by discussing Asian business systems, their institutional characteristics and the types of Asian business systems. For example, on-the-job training is more prevalent in Japan, Korea and Taiwan and Asian business groups are usually controlled by a family or are state controlled, with Japan being an exception. The main types of Asian business systems are classified as post socialist, advanced city economies (e.g., Singapore), advanced Northeast Asian (e.g., Taiwan) and the remaining. We further discuss the effect of multinational enterprises on Asian business systems, which has been significant and the same could be the experience with Japanese multinationals in India. We then go on to discuss business groups in general, which is a prominent feature of Asian business systems. First, we distinguish between business groups and other structures such as conglomerates in terms of their internal structures and management. This is followed by a discussion on the difference between business groups between developed and developing economies. Another critical issue is the factors behind the creation of business groups, such as imperfect markets. It may be surmised that as an economy develops, the reason for the existence of business groups disappears. After that, we look at the features of Japanese and Indian business groups. Finally, we discuss three papers on location choices of Japanese firms, management of alliances and strategies of Japanese firms, respectively.

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‘‘Where Nothing is Everything’ – A Comparison of Japan’s Noh Theatre with its Indian Counterpart - Prof.  Damodaran. A - WORKING PAPER NO: IIMB/IJSC/2020/003

The Japanese theatre form Noh has striking resemblances with its Indian counterpart, Kutiyattam. Both theatres are frugal, austere and minimal in their own ways. Coincidentally, both were proclaimed by the UNESCO as the intangible heritage of humankind in 2001. Despite these similarities, there exist differences in the philosophical and aesthetic foundations of the two art forms. Comparisons of two cultural manifestations are odious but inevitable in a globalized world where inter-nations relations are presaged on cross-cultural comparisons. In this paper, the Noh Theatre is the axis of analysis and comparison. The paper attempts a major foray into the world of Noh as understood by an Indian academic. It attempts to delve into the origins, philosophy, performative dimensions and the institutional and economic foundations of Noh and its similarities and contrasts with Kutiyattam. Based on its analysis and findings, the concluding section proposes a co-creation mode of collaboration that involves artistes from the two streams to provide a vibrant depth to India-Japan cultural ties.

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The Trends in FDI Inflows from Japan to India - Prof. Rupa Chanda - WORKING PAPER NO: IIMB/IJSC/2019/001

This report on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) provides insights into the characteristics of FDI inflows from Japan to India. It outlines the changing nature of the inflows in terms of industry characteristics, volume of inflows and other aspects such as the business and regulatory environment, based on secondary sources of information. It compares the experience of Japanese investment in other emerging economies with that in India. The report explains that despite having a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries and government support, there exist unexplored synergies and business opportunities. However, renewed interest between the two countries is propelling their interaction. Technology transfers in infrastructure and other areas such as the IT-ITeS,healthcare, and financialservices sectors will help India’s development, while Japan can benefit from the young talent pool that is diverse, cheap and easily available, mitigating its demographic problems due to an ageing population.

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‘Speed and Socioeconomic Development: Influence of Indian Railways’ – Prof. N. Ravi – ADBI Working Paper Series – No 952 - May 2019

Indian Railways is a little over a century and a half old. Its development over the decades has been gradual. It has been and continues to be the “lifeline for the socioeconomic growth of India,” by connecting human settlements across the country and simultaneously transporting various resources to centres of production and markets. Nationalized in 1951, Indian Railways is among the largest rail networks in Asia and the world’s second largest network operated under a single management. We will feature its growth over the past seven decades. Indian Railways has always aimed to provide safety during travel. The rate of its development as a service organization has been modest, with two forces, one originating from political considerations balanced by another based on engineering competence. High-speed rail travel emerged in Indian Railways in 1969, when the first high-speed limited-stop train service was introduced between New Delhi and Kolkata. We will trace the origins of high-speed travel on Indian Railways and attempt to show how it has indeed helped passengers reach their destinations in less time. Any direct correlation between high-speed train travel and the growth of the economy, the effect on the environment and society, while significant over the long term, would be difficult to estimate empirically.

We will show, in terms of policy flow and implications, how Indian Railways has been unwavering in providing sustenance for economic growth. One common theme in these decades has been the inexorable drive to acquire and develop technology to ensure faster, inexpensive, and safer travel for all users. The increase in speed of travel has been steady, progressive, and not an attempt at creating records. Over the years, high-speed trains have enabled better quality of life for professionals in India, especially in the age of globalization. However, the effect of this has been generally restricted to medium distance and suburban travel. In this scenario, we will detail the steps that have to be taken by the provider and the user for making future high-speed rail travel profitable, productive, comfortable, and dependable.

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Dedicated Freight Corridor: Current Challenges – Prof. G. Raghuram and Apoorva Verma – World Conference on Transport Research - WCTR 2019 Mumbai 26-31 – May 2019

Indian Railways has been one of the drivers of the fast-growing Indian economy. Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) were planned along the Golden Quadrilateral rail route to further this growth. In this paper, we examine the current challenges for the DFC project. The first milestone in the genesis of the DFC was the setting up of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. in 2006, with the expected project completion in 2011. After quite a delay, the Detailed Project Report was completed in 2014. The project is now expected to be completed by the end of 2020. We examine the scope and status of DFCs. We bring out issues like implications of design parameters, traffic projection assumptions, feeder routes, development of industrial corridors, project timeline, land acquisition, market access, etc. based on the original scope and current status of the project.

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2. Research Projects

2018 – 2020

2020 – 2022