About the Book Take a deep dive into the regional economy of India to understand the big debates of our time – Is it wiser to develop specialized regional hubs or should they be diversified? Do high-growth regions within developing economies experience divergence or convergence? How do firms and households decide where to be located? Are there ways to make sense of regional patterns in the absence of granular data on output and skilling? This book explores such questions that lie at the core of decisions taken by business leaders, investors, multilaterals and policymakers in order to be future ready. It uses evidence to underscore that a vibrant regional economy is the backbone of progress. Several key issues namely financial inclusion, digital access, job creation, boosting cities as engines of growth and so on, depend upon the regional economy’s ability to attract industry and respond to policy stimuli. The authors give a counter-intuitive twist to public datasets, and analyse markers of regional advancement. They provide invaluable insights and lessons that can fuel growth plans across countries and sectors. About the Author Dr. Poornima Dore</b> is an Economist and Business Leader, driving impact through finance, innovation and digital transformation. Her exposure ranging from villages and businesses to board rooms, has made her a strong advocate of harnessing risk capital for sustainable growth and development. She serves on the Board of select institutions as well as Ministerial Committees with the Government of India and has been recognised as one of the top 100 Analytics Leaders in South Asia.<br>A member of the prestigious TAS cadre, she has catalysed private sector investments in digital public goods, market access, jobs, urbanisation and has designed special institutional programs on SME and Impact financing. She currently works as Director - Analytics, Insights & Impact at the Tata Trusts. She developed the pioneering area of Data Driven Governance, anchoring investment and advisory work with governments on tech for good and SDG localisation. Prior to this, she led the Structured Investments vertical at Tata Capital Ltd, completing marquee transactions in automotive, pharma, tech, insurance and other sectors, through equity, preferred and mezzanine capital.<br>A Principal’s award holder in economics from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, and a management grad from XLRI Jamshedpur, her journey with the regional economy began with helping businesses make investment and growth choices. This later became the theme for her doctoral research at IIT Bombay, alongside her extensive work travels. She teaches at premiere management and technical institutes, and has a number of peer-reviewed publications with research interests covering social cost benefit analysis, agglomeration and local economy insights. The research journals in which she has published include Millenial Asia, India International Centre Quarterly, Area Development and Policy.<br></b>Dr. K. Narayanan is India Value Fund Chair professor of economics in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Bombay, India. His research interests span the areas of industrial economics, international business, Socio-economic empowerment through ICT, Environmental Economics, Economic impacts of Climate Change and Development Economics.<br>He has a number of publications in the field of industrial competitiveness, technology transfer, ICT, international trade and socio-economic impacts of Climate Change. The research journals in which he has been published include Research Policy, Studies in Regional Science, Technovation, Oxford Development Studies, Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Water Policy, Foreign Trade Review, Current Science, and Economic and Political Weekly.
