• Publications

Books| Book Chapters| Book reviews| Journal articles| Op-eds| Media |Reports| Working paper/ policy briefs

Books 

1. Global value chains and the missing links: cases from Indian industry, Taylor and Francis, 2018. (with Smita Miglani) (hbk ISBN: 978-1-138-70902-7, e book ISBN: 9780429892011.) 

Link: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429469855. 

About the book : Global value chains (GVCs) are fraught with the phenomenon of fragmentation and dispersion of production across the world. India presents a unique example with its high potential in manufacturing capability but low integration in GVCs. This book examines the reasons why India has failed to integrate within GVCs so far and looks at key examples to understand the impediments in this process. The chapters bring together case studies from across the manufacturing industry – labour-intensive (garment, paper and diamond), capital-intensive (automobile and petrochemical), and knowledge-intensive (semi-conductor microchip, chemical and pharmaceutical) sectors. Together, they present stories of successful integration of some firms in GVCs as well as the difficulties faced by them. The volume also highlights the importance of GVCs in the context of developing countries in terms of benefits such as income and value generation, knowledge and technology collaborations, and advances in systems and processes. 

Podcast: Puliyabaazi in Hindi and English where I discuss global value chains and India’s role in it . Link: https://t.co/drsJOGo7s8

Book Reviews:  Published: 16 October 2019

a. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41775-019-00058-1?fbclid=IwAR2YTdBKxsO5Jq-LbCwso2wpTRz5AUDdK3bIkw3OBPOIKt1NbVKqtEi1yQc

b. https://www.routledge.com/Global-Value-Chains-and-the-Missing-Links-Cases-from-Indian-Industry/Ray-Miglani/p/book/9780367734503?utm_medium=email&utm_source=EmailStudio&utm_campaign=B190709564_3841516. 

Link to FB page: https://www.facebook.com/GVCMissingLinks/

2. Low Carbon Pathways for Growth in India, Springer. 2018. ISBN 978-981-13-0905-2 . (edited by Rajat Kathuria, Saon Ray and Kuntala Bandyopadhyay (eds.))

Link: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-13-0905-2.

About the book: This book comprehensively reviews the low climate pathways open to India and their possible outcomes. It is organized in three parts: the first part analyses the current energy demand and supply scene in India, identifies the key factors that feed into existing models of climate change and also examines the low carbon pathways available to India, and the cost of action versus inaction. The sectoral chapters in the second part of the book focus on more detailed analyses of the energy challenges and strategies in some key sectors. The concluding part of the book offers policy implications for low carbon growth of India.

Book review: In Ecology, Economy and Society, The INSEE Journal. Vol. 3 No.1. (2020) Link: https://ecoinsee.org/journal/ojs/index.php/ees/article/view/102

3. Impact of American Investment in India: A Socioeconomic Assessment. Academic Foundation and ICRIER, April 2014. ISBN 13: 9789332701458.  (by Saon Ray, Miglani, Smita and Neha Malik) 

Link: http://academicfoundation.org/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=218

https://www.amazon.in/Impact-American-Investment-India-Socioeconomic/dp/9332701458

Journal Articles:

1. Ray, Saon; Majumder, Piyali; Thakur, Vasundhara; and Ayush Patel (2022) A sectoral view of conceptualising macroeconomics of a ‘just transition’ in India, Indian Public Policy Review, Vol. 3, No. 5, (Sept-Oct), 22-48. Link: https://ippr.in/index.php/ippr/article/view/139
2. Knowledge Priorities on Climate Change and Water in the Upper Indus Basin: A Horizon Scanning Exercise to Identify the Top 100 Research Questions in Social and Natural Sciences, Earth’s Future. DOI: 10.1029/2021EF002619. (2022).  (co-authored). Link: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2021EF002619
3. Ray, Saon and Smita Miglani (2022) The Role of Technology in Increasing Competitiveness: An Examination of the Indian Garment Clusters, Foreign Trade Review, 1-21, 2022.
4. Ray, Saon (2019) Understanding the NBFC conundrum, Vol. 54, Issue No. 14, Economic and Political Weekly, April 6, 2019.
5. Ray, Saon and Nandini Kumar (2016) Weather conditions and Air Pollution: Impact of Odd-Even Policy in Delhi, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 51, Issue No. 10, March 5, 2016.
6. Ray, Saon; Goldar, Amrita and Smita Miglani (2012) Ethanol Blending Policy in India. Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. XLVII No. 1, Jan 7, 2012.
7. Ray, Saon (2012) Technology Transfer and Technology Policy in a Developing Country. Journal of Developing Areas. 2012, Vol. 46, No. 2, Fall, 37-96.
8. Taneja, Nisha; Ray, Saon; Kaushal, Neetika and Devjit Roy Chowdhury (2011) An Approach to Prune India’s Sensitive Lists under SAFTA. Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 46 No. 11 March 12-18, 2011.
9. Ray, Saon (2010) Trade and Environment: multilateral institutions and sustainable development. Journal of Resources Energy and Development, 2010. 7 (1), 1-10.
10. Ray, Saon (2007) Moving up the Value chain? Comparison of the Indian Textile industry with the Chinese textile industry post MFA, IJINB-ICFAI Journal of International Business, 2007, February.
11. Ray, Saon (2006) The changing role of technological factors in explaining efficiency in Indian firms”, Journal of Developing Areas, 2006, Vol. 40, No. 1, Fall.
12. Ray, Saon (2004) MNEs, Strategic Alliances and Efficiency of Firms: Emerging Trends, Economic and Political Weekly, January 31. 2004.

Book Chapters:

1. Ray, Saon and Sabyasachi Kar (2022) ‘Inclusive Structural Transformation in India: Past Episodes and Future Trajectories’ In Armida Alisjahbana, Kunal Sen, Andy Sumner, and Arief Yusuf (eds.) Developers’ Dilemma, Chapter 6, Oxford University Press (OUP), Oxford. Link: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-developers-dilemma-9780192855299?cc=in&lang=en&
2. Ray, Saon  and Smita Miglani (2021) ‘Implications of US-China trade war for India.’ In Choudhury, R.N. (ed.) The China-US Trade War and South Asian Economies, Routledge.
3. Ray, Saon (2020) ‘Trade Finance and Blockchain Usage in the Asia Pacific‘ “Digitalisation, Trade and Geopolitics in Asia.” Special report  published by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s Regional Program on “Social and Economic  Governance in Asia (SOPAS)”.
4. Ray, Saon (2020) ‘Revitalizing Multilateralism: A New World Order?’ In “The multilateral trade system under stress: Charting Asia’s path forward.” Special report published by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s Regional Program on “Social and Economic Governance in Asia (SOPAS)”.
5. Ray, Saon and Smita Miglani (2020) ‘COVID-19, India’s Trade and Global Value Chains’ in AIC-EEPC, eds. 2020. COVID-19: Challenges for the Indian Economy – Trade and Foreign Policy Effects. ASEAN-India Centre (AIC) – Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC), New Delhi. ·
6. Ray, Saon (2018) ‘Best Practices to be Adhered by SMEs to Integrate in GVCs’ in Handbook of the 7th Global Economic Summit 2018, WTC.
7. Taneja, Nisha, Ray, Saon and Devyani Pande (2017) Exploring the Trade in Textiles and Clothing between India and Pakistan, Taneja, Nisha and Isha Dayal (eds.) India Pakistan Trade Normalization, Springer, 2017.
8. Ray, Saon (2015) A Framework for Understanding Adaptation by Manufacturing Industries. In Soumyananda Dinda (ed.) Handbook of Research on Climate Change Impact on Health and Environmental Sustainability, IGI Global book series.  2015.
9. Saon Ray, Nisha Taneja and Neetika Kaushal-Nagpal (2014) Indo-Korea CEPA: Harnessing the Potential in Services. In Rajat Kathuria and Sanjana Joshi (Eds.) Forty Years of India-Korea Relations, Academic Foundation and ICRIER. 2014.
10. Ray, Saon and Neetika Kaushal (2012) Investment in the Indo-Korea CEPA. In Parthasarathi Shome and Choong Yong Ahn (eds.) Korea-India: Deepening Partnership for the 21st Century. KIEP. October 2012.
11. Nisha Taneja, Saon Ray, Neetika Kaushal and Devjit Roy Chowdhury) (2012) Pruning India’s Sensitive Lists under SAFTA. In Kelegama, Saman et al. (eds.) Regional Economic Integration: Challenges for South Asia during turbulent times. SAWTEE and SACEPS. October 2012.
12. Rajan, Ramkishen S; Rongala, Sunil; Ghosh, Ramya and Saon Ray (2011) Inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and External Policy. In Santosh Kumar (ed.) In the National Interest: A Companion volume. Business Standard books. October 2011.
13. Ray, Saon (2011) International technology diffusion and productivity. In Paul Robertson and David Jacobson (eds.) Knowledge Transfer and Technology Diffusion. Edward Elgar. April 2011.
14. Ray, Saon (2005) Non-Tariff Barriers to Exports and Imports in India. In Sengupta, Dipankar et al. (eds.) Beyond the Transition phase of WTO: An Indian Perspective, Academic Foundation. 2005.
15. Ray, Saon and Smita Miglani (2021) ‘Implications of US-China trade war for India.’ Choudhury, R.N., (ed.) In The China– US Trade War and South Asian Economies, Routledge.

Book reviews 

1. Ray, Saon (2020) Book Review of Sanjay Kathuria and Priya Mathur (Eds.), Strengthening Cross-Border Value Chains: Opportunities for India and Bangladesh (English), South Asia Economic Journal. Volume: 21 issue: 1, page(s): 181-183.
2. Ray, Saon (2020) Review of ‘Labour in Global Value Chains in Asia’ edited by Dev Nathan, Meenu Tewari and Sandip Sarkar. Cambridge University Press. 2016. Online ISBN: 9781316217382 and ‘Development with Global Value Chains: Upgrading and Innovation in Asia’ edited by Dev Nathan, Meenu Tewari and Sandip Sarkar. 2018. Cambridge University Press. Online ISBN: 9781316221730, Journal of Asian Pacific Economic Literature.

Working papers/ policy briefs 

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3.  

4. 1. Saon Ray, Peter Morgan and Vasundhara Thakur (2022) Digital Financial Inclusion and Literacy from a G20 Perspective. ADBI ICRIER Policy Brief, No. 2022-6 (November).  Link: https://www.adb.org/publications/digital-financial-inclusion-and-literacy-from-a-g20-perspective
   2. Jennifer Castaneda-Navarrete, Rajeev Kher, Carlos López-Gómez, Arun. S. Nair, Saon Ray, Adnan Seric, Yee-Siong Tong, and Ligia Zagato (2021). MSMEs’ Access to Global Value Chains and Trade Finance, T20 policy brief. Link: https://www.t20italy.org/2021/09/09/msmes-access-to-global-value-chains-and-trade-finance/
   3. Saon Ray, Samridhi Jain and Vasundhara Thakur (2021) Financing India’s Disaster Risk Resilience Strategy ICRIER Working paper 404 Read More
   4. Saon Ray and Kuntala Bandyopadhyay (2020) Energy Challenges for India: Transitioning to a Low carbon Economy, ICRIER Policy Brief 1, October 2020.
   5. Saon Ray, Kuntala Bandyopadhyay and Vasundhara Thakur and (2020) ‘Liberalisation of the Insurance Sector: An Analysis of India and BRICS,’ ICRIER Working Paper No. 396, September, 2020.
   6. Saon Ray, Vasundhara Thakur and Kuntala Bandyopadhyay (2020) ‘India’s Insurance Sector: Challenges and Opportunities,’ ICRIER Working Paper No. 394, July, 2020.
   7. Saon Ray and Sabyasachi Kar (2020) ‘Kuznets’ tension in India: Two Episodes’ WIDER Working Paper 2020/24, UNU-WIDER, Helsinki. March 2020. Also as Institute of Economic Growth working paper no. 386.
   8. Saon Ray and Smita Miglani (2020) ‘India’s GVC Integration: An Analysis of Upgrading Efforts and Facilitation of Lead Firms,’ ICRIER Working Paper No. 386, February, 2020.
   9. Saon Ray (2019) ‘What explains India’s poor performance in garments exports? Evidence from five clusters,’ ICRIER Working Paper No. 376, May, 2019.
   10. Saon Ray, Smita Miglani and Sandeep Paul (2019) ‘The probability of taking a loan: evidence from Indian cities,’ ICRIER Working Paper No. 370, February, 2019.
   11. Saon Ray, Smita Miglani and Sandeep Paul (2019) Use of Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence to promote financial inclusion in India, Asia-Pacific Tech Monitor, Jan-March, 2019.
   12. Saon Ray, Smita Miglani and Sandeep Paul (2018) ‘The growing importance of consumer finance for financial inclusion in India,’ ICRIER Working Paper No. 367, December 2018.
   13. Saon Ray, Sandeep Paul and Smita Miglani (2018) ‘Innovation, efficiency and inclusion: Integration of digital technologies in the Indian microfinance sector,’ ICRIER Working Paper No. 366, October 2018.
   14. Saon Ray and Smita Miglani (2018) ‘Upgrading in the Indian automobile sector: the role of lead firms,’ ICRIER Working Paper No. 360, June 2018.
   15. Taneja, Nisha; Ray, Saon and Devyani Pande (2016) ‘India-Pakistan Trade: Textiles and Clothing,’ ICRIER Working paper No. 326, June 2016.
   16. Ray, Saon and Smita Miglani (2016) ‘Innovation (and upgrading) in the automobile industry: the case of India,’ ICRIER Working Paper No. 320, May 2016.
   17. Ray, Saon and Smita Miglani, 2016. ‘The role of FDI in fostering growth in the automobile sector in India’ Asia-Pacific Tech Monitor, April-June 2016.
   18. Ray, Saon; Mukherjee, Prithvijit and Mishita Mehra (2016) ‘Upgrading in the Indian garment industry: a study of three clusters,’ ADB South Asia Working Paper series, No. 43, April, 2016.
   19. Tewari, M., Aiz, A., Cook, M., Goldar, A., Ray, I., S. Ray, Roy Chowdhury, S., and Unnikrishnan, V., 2015. ‘Reimagining India’s Urban Future: A Framework for Securing High Growth, Low Carbon, Climate Resilient Urban Development in India.’ ICRIER Working Paper 306, August, 2015.
   20. Ray, Saon; Miglani, Smita and Neha Malik, 2015. ‘Impact of American Investment in India.’ ICRIER Working Paper 296, February 2015.
   21. Akash Acharya, Andrei, Stepanie; Archer, Diane; Bahinipati, Chandra Sekhar; Bazaz, Amir; Bhat, G K; Bhatt, Mihir; Bolland, Jack; Devkota, Dinesh; Dodman, David; Hoppe, Michael; Karanth, Anup; Punia, Milap; Rajasekar, Mahesh; Ray, Saon; Sharma, Divya and Pritee Sharma, 2014. ‘Towards an urban agenda on climate-related loss and damage,’ Asian Cities Climate Resilience Policy Brief, International Institute for Environment and Development, November 2014.
   22. Ray, Saon, 2014. ‘What Explains the Productivity decline in Manufacturing in the nineties in India?’ ICRIER Working Paper 289, November 2014.
   23. Taneja, Nisha; Nagpal, Neetika Kaushal, and Saon Ray, 2014. ‘Indo-Korea CEPA: harnessing the potential in services,’ ICRIER Working Paper 280, July 2014.
   24. Ray, Saon, and Neha Malik, 2014. ‘Impact of Transaction Taxes on Commodity Derivatives Trading in India,’ ICRIER Working Paper 272, March 2014.
   25. Ray, Saon; Goldar, Amrita, and Swati Saluja, 2014. ‘Feedstock for the Petrochemical Industry,’ ICRIER Working Paper 271, February 2014.
   26. Meenu Tewari, Saon Ray, Sahana Roy Chowdhury, Indro Roy, Amrita Goldar, Zeba Aziz and Vidhya Unnikrishnan, 2013. ‘Economic Resilience of Cities in a Changing Climate.’ Policy Brief 6. ACCRN. UCCR Policy Brief, December 2013.
   27. Ray, Saon, Amrita Goldar and Smita Miglani, 2011. ‘Ethanol Blending Policy: Issues related to Pricing,’ ICRIER Policy Series No. 10, December 2011.
   28. Ray, Saon; Amrita Goldar and Smita Miglani, 2011. ‘Ethanol Blending Policy In India: Demand and Supply Issues,’ ICRIER Policy Series No. 9, December 2011.
   29. Nisha Taneja, Saon Ray, Neetika Kaushal and Devjit Roy Chowdhury, 2011. ‘Enhancing Intra-SAARC Trade: Pruning India’s Sensitive List Under SAFTA,’ ICRIER Working Paper 255, April 2011.
   30. Ray, Saon, 2005. ‘The changing role of technological factors in explaining efficiency in Indian firms,’ Institute of Economic Growth Working Paper E/261/2005.

    

5. Media appearance

   • Perspective: RBI’s Crypto Warning, 01 July 2022. Sansad TV, Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1KJGHynBWg

    

   Media Articles:

   1. 1. Saon Ray and Vasundhara Thakur (2022) Solar cell, module duty hike seems badly timed. Hindu Business Line, July 7 Link: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/solar-cell-module-duty-hike-seems-badly-timed/article65609522.ece?
      2. Saon Ray (2022) Increasing India’s exports through integration in global value chains. Trade Promotion Council of India, July 30,  Link: https://www.tpci.in/indiabusinesstrade/blogs/increasing-indias-exports-through-integration-in-global-value-chains/
      3. Saon Ray, Vasundhara Thakur and Samiha Singh (2022) EV Value Chain Needs to Harness Industrial, Investment Policy Linkages, Mobility Outlook commentary, 9th June. Link:  https://www.mobilityoutlook.com/commentary/ev-value-chain-needs-to-harness-industrial-investment-policy-linkages/?utm_source=LinkedIn&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=MOSMPost9June2022&utm_content=AutoB2BEVValueChainNeedsToHarnessIndustrialInvestmentPolicyLinkages
      4. Saon Ray (2021) Commerce and Connectivity for enhancing trade in the Indo-Pacific, Raisina Debates, ORF, Blog Link: https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/commerce-and-connectivity-for-enhancing-trade-in-the-indo-pacific/
      5. Saon Ray  (2021) India’s Vision for Indo-Pacific Trade, Commentary, The National Bureau of Asian Research, 12^th October, 2021. Link: https://www.nbr.org/publication/indias-vision-for-indo-pacific-trade/#:~:text=India%20was%20the%20fastest%2Dgrowing,and%20integrating%20its%20value%20chains
      6. Saon Ray and Vasundhara Takur (2021) (2021) ‘Union Budget 2021: Changing the Face of Insurance’ The Financial Express | February 4, 2021.
      7. Saon Ray, Vasundhara Thakur and Kuntala Bandyopadhyay (2020) ‘India’s Insurance Sector: Challenges and Opportunities, Ideas for India, 31 August, 2020.
      8. Saon Ray (2020) ‘India Should Engage in GVCs In Plastics, Hosiery, Garment Sectors, Says Dr. Ray’ in World Trade Centre Newsletter, Mumbai, May 7, 2020.
      9. Saon Ray (2020) ‘Impact of COVID-19 on MSMEs’ video for World Trade Centre, Mumbai, April 20, 2020.
      10. Saon Ray and Vasundhara Thakur (2020) ‘Insurance sector announcements unlikely to influence penetration rates directly,’ Financial Express, 6 February 2020. With Vasundhara Thakur.
      11. Saon Ray (2020) “We need to improve our market access to gain from free trade pacts,’ Livemint, 14 January 2020.
      12. Saon Ray and Smita Miglani (2019) “How real is India’s electric vehicle dream?”, Article in the Automotive Products Finder (APF) Magazine, with Smita Miglani, October 2019.
      13. Saon Ray (2019) ‘What explains India’s poor performance in garments exports?’ Ideas for India, 28 August, 2019.
      14. Ray, Saon, (2019) ‘RBI’s Sandbox Rules Need More Clarity’ Financial Express, 3rd May, 2019.
      15. Saon Ray, ‘How to increase exports of garments from India?’  Indian Textile Journal.  2019.
      16. Ray, Saon and Smita Miglani, 2018. ‘Tariff retaliation: No winners in trade wars’, Financial express, June 26.
      17. Ray, Saon 2017. ‘Cooperation between India and China over the energy sector can keep the earth safe,’ WION News, September.
      18. Ray, Saon 2017. “Every city is unique” ACCCRN Champion August – September Newsletter 2017.
      19. Ray, Saon, 2016. ‘Banning Chinese Goods: Nationalism, economic logic or bad call?’ WION, November 2016.
      20. Ray, Saon and Smita Miglani, 2016. ‘Start your engines: Automobile exports, comparing India and China,’ IGC blog, July 2016.
      21. Kaushal-Nagpal, Neetika Taneja, Nisha and Saon Ray, 2016. ‘India-Korea trade pact: Harnessing the potential in services,’ Ideas for India, May, 2016.
      22. Ray, Saon 2016. ‘India’s cities: limiting entrepreneurship?’ ACCRN blog, June 2016.
      23. Ray, Saon 2016. ‘Humanitarianism and resilience: engaging the private sector,’ACCRN blog, May 2016.
      24. Ray, Saon and Miglani, Smita, 2015. ‘Impact of American Investment in India.’ Ideas for India. May 2015.
      25. Ray, Saon ‘India’s Textile Trade with Eurasia,’ Diplomatist, October 25, 2013.
      26. Ray, Saon ‘The intricacies of natural gas pricing in India,’ Financial Express, February 21, 2013. (with Amrita Goldar and Swati Saluja)
      27. Ray, Saon ‘CTT: Is It a desirable Move?’ Financial Express, February 11, 2013. (With Neha Malik)
      28. Ray, Saon ‘Ethanol Blending Policy in India: Demand and Supply Gaps,’ July-August 2011, Commodity Vision, TAER. (With Smita Miglani and Amrita Goldar)
      29. Ray, Saon ‘Institutions in Technology Transfer,’ November 2009, Commodity Vision, TAER
      30. Ray, Saon ‘Gainers and losers, post MFA,’ Hindu Business Line, May 20, 2005 (with Soumya K. Ghosh)
      31. Ray, Saon ‘FTAs: adding to the ‘spaghetti bowl of tariffs’, Hindu Business Line, March 14, 2005 (with Soumya K. Ghosh).