Job Purpose:

The Economist will join the in-house Economic Research team and report directly to the Chief Economist. The successful candidate will support the team in monitoring the Indian economy and delivering forward-looking insights to senior management, as well as contributing to published research and reports.

She/He will also be responsible for independently managing research projects and contributing to the team's efforts in developing forward-looking analytical frameworks, with a particular focus on business cycles, structural trends, and their implications for credit quality.

Principal Accountabilities:

1. High Quality Research

- Assess and analyze the state of the Indian economy to provide actionable insights and strategic advice to senior management.

- Support the production of well-written, high-quality research reports and updates on key economic and financial market developments, data releases, and policy decisions for internal and external audiences. This includes generating ideas, planning, and conducting relevant research and analysis.

- Evaluate the impact of government and central bank policy decisions on the broader economy as well as specific sectors, products, and market segments.

- Monitor, analyze, and interpret national and regional economic trends, labour market conditions, and their implications for household finance, MSME performance, and financial markets (bond, currency, and credit).

- Assess credit performance and evolving credit quality across the economy to support internal risk management and identify potential business opportunities.

- Develop forward-looking analytical frameworks to strengthen the company's existing credit decisioning processes.

- Create tools and frameworks to enhance databases and analytical capabilities at the state/regional level and across select sectors for granular macroeconomic and sectoral analysis.

2. Data management and insights

- Analyze complex and diverse macroeconomic indicators to extract meaningful insights, distinguish anomalies from underlying trends, and articulate clear, actionable insights.

- Build and maintain a comprehensive macroeconomic database to support analysis, model development, forecasting tools, and forward-looking economic assessments.

- Ability to develop quantitative models for nowcasting, forecasting, and simulation to provide analytical rigour and strengthen the evidence base for insights and recommendations would be an advantage.

Essential Requirements:

a) Qualifications

- Qualification required: Postgraduate in Economics/Statistics from reputable college.

b) Work Experience and Skills Requirement

- 11 to 15 years of relevant experience in Indian economic research within the financial industry, research institutions, or rating agencies is preferred.

- Strong understanding of the Indian economy, credit cycles, and their linkages with global economic and market dynamics.

- Demonstrated analytical capability with the ability to extract key insights and contribute innovative ideas.

- Solid familiarity with India's macroeconomic data ecosystem including data sources, frequency, limitations, and experience with the CMIE database.

- Strong econometric and data-handling skills are an advantage; proficiency in at least one statistical/econometric software (e.g., EViews, R, STATA) is preferred but not mandatory.

- Proven ability to take ownership of assignments and deliver high-quality outputs independently.

- Excellent written and verbal communication skills are essential.