attention to rejuvenate growth. the revival of the annual rcf, which had been published uninterruptedly since 1937, after a gap of seven years has been widely appreciated. 16. a widely read publication of the department is the monthly " state of the economy " article in the rbi bulletin, which is being published since november 2020. this revived the tradition that began with the first issue of the bulletin in january 1947 but was interrupted in 1995. the bulletin also carries research articles on various topics of policy relevance that help inform and guide public debate. some of the important policy issues on which the economists of the department joined national debate through bulletin articles expressing their independent views include : the impact of rbi's pandemic related policy measures ; the relationship between rbi's balance sheet size and inflation ; the equilibrium real interest rate in india ; drivers of movements in the yield curve ; covid - 19 impact on food price mark - ups ; rural urban inflation dynamics ; risk analysis of state finances ; the quality of public 9 expenditure ; external debt sustainability and vulnerability ; privatisation / consolidation of public sector banks ; estimation of green gdp for india ; and the silent revolution in renewable energy. 4 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches 17. to further strengthen the general government statistics in india, the maiden report on municipal finances – detailing the local government finances data – was published by the department this month. the report covers finances of 201 municipal corporations ( out of around 221 ), accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the finances of urban local bodies in india. the coverage will be expanded going ahead. 18. the department has also been expanding its scope of research activities to meet evolving challenges in areas such as climate change, digitalisation and global spillovers. the department collaborated with domain experts outside the bank to compile klems ( i. e., capital, labour, energy, material and services ) data for india and has recently taken over the full responsibility for the same. the department would also be hosting the 6th asia klems conference in india next year. iii. challenges ahead for the research department 19. the world we face today is aptly described by using the acronym'vuca ', which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. many of the backwardlooking models, that run on past data, may fall short of providing useful information and estimates for policy. the department must further strengthen its consultative approach to collect first - hand information

a lot in this regard. we have to strengthen the legal framework as applicable to entities operating in the city and their counterparties in the domestic sector. it is possible that many business entities that can potentially relocate to gift city are waiting for this framework to be put in place. 16. an ifsc should have a legal structure that is sufficiently supportive of the swift resolution of conflicts and disputes arising from the settlement / enforcement of complex international financial contracts. the contract should be of international standard and enforceable in the court of law and preferably similar to isda documentation. 17. the existing laws governing financial contracts in india should be reviewed and gaps addressed. based on the review, a world class legal framework for financial contracts in gift could be enabled, either by appropriately amending the existing laws governing financial contracts or enacting a fresh law. either way, this should be expedited, may be by constituting a high level working group to address this gap in mission mode. 18. in addition, a unified financial regulatory framework providing for a single regulator for gift city could contribute to better regulation and supervision of the financial entities in the city. while individual regulators can supervise the entities initially when the size of the business is small, a unified regulator would be necessary to pay undivided attention to the ifsc. work on the design of such a framework should begin soon so as to be able to implement this in time. 19. in conclusion, fiscal incentives and other leeway will take gift forward only so far, work in areas that i have just suggested is essential for fully harnessing the ifsc ’ s business potential. 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches