The fifth session of the FAS Young Scholars’ Online Seminar Series 2022-23 featuring Kranthi Nanduri, Assistant Professor, Jindal School of Banking and Finance, Sonipat, was held on August 25, 2022.

Her presentation in the seminar covered a part of her PhD thesis submitted to the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Her seminar was titled, “Patterns of Accumulation and Differentiation in the Non-Agrarian Informal Sector in India.”

Starting with various definitions of informality and how it has been applied in the Indian context, Kranthi talked about how little attention has been paid to rural industrial activity as a site of accumulation. There are variations in terms of industrial productivity across India, which exhibit a positive correlation with agricultural productivity. The States with high per-capita income and high agricultural productivity also have informal enterprises with high labour productivity. Her analysis was based on NSSO surveys of unorganised enterprises.

She also found that the labour productivity and capital intensity levels differ across the different types of informal enterprises. Her results show a tendency towards differentiation in the informal sector, with establishments hiring wage labour on one hand and own-account (self employed) non-contracting enterprises on the other hand. The probability associated with an enterprise becoming an establishment was higher for high income and agricultural productivity States.

The session was Chaired by Barbara Harriss-White, Emeritus Professor of Development Studies, University of Oxford. Dr Bheemeshwar Reddy, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Hyderabad Campus, acted as the discussant.

A Q&A session, moderated by the Chair, followed the presentation.

For more details, contact us at events[at]fas[dot]org[dot]in.