Dr. Puneet Kumar Arora

Dr. Puneet Kumar Arora is an Assistant Professor at the University School of Management and Entrepreneurship (USME), Delhi Technological University, in the discipline of economics. He has around 8 years of experience in delivering courses in Economics to UG and PG students including Statistics, Econometrics and Mathematical Methods for Economics. He was previously associated with India Infrastructure Publishing, where he tracked the Indian telecom and renewable energy sectors. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hansraj College, University of Delhi and master’s degree in economics from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and a PhD in economics and trade policy from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. He has to his credit several research papers in national and international journals. He is a regular contributor to leading economics and finance newspapers such as Mint and Nikkei Asia. His areas of interest include development economics and international trade.

India Infrastructure Publishing Private Limited, New Delhi (July 2015 – December 2017)

Research Analyst                                                             

• Co-authored domestic research reports on sectors such solar energy, banking infrastructure, banking technology, affordable housing, and irrigation
• Authored several features, policy reviews, company-focussed stories and cover stories on the Indian telecom and renewable energy sectors for monthly magazines tele.net and Renewable Watch, respectively  
• Worked independently with consultants in writing sector-specific domestic research reports, populating forums for the magazines and meeting with ministries and concerned authorities to gather information 

   

Courses Taught:

1. Econometric Methods
2. Mathematical Methods for Economics
3. Statistical Methods for Economics
4. Introductory Econometrics
5. Applied Econometrics
6. Time Series Analysis
7. Business Environment
8. Microeconomics
9. Macroeconomics

• "The Nexus between Financial Development and Trade Performance: Empirical Evidence from India in the presence of Endogenous Structural Breaks (2020)", Journal of Financial Economic Policy, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 279-291 (Co-authored with Dr. Jaydeep Mukherjee) (Ranked B in ABDC Journal Ranking)
• “Assessing Working Capital Management Efficiency of Indian Manufacturing Exporters (2020)", Managerial Finance, Vol. 46 No. 8, pp. 1061-1079 (Ranked B in ABDC Journal Ranking)
• “Financial Development and Sub-National Export Performance: Evidence from the Indian States”, Indian Economic Journal (Forthcoming) (Ranked B in ABDC Journal Ranking)
• “External Finance Dependence, Financial Development and Exports: A Firm-Level Study from India”, International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 2364-2385 (Ranked B in ABDC Journal Ranking)
• “Does domestic monetary policy affect foreign direct investment to India? (2024)”, Economics Bulletin, Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 173-181 (Ranked C in ABDC Journal Ranking)  

• Arora, P. K., & Mukherjee, J. (2022). Financial Constraints and Export Participation: A Case Study of Indian Textile Industry. In Revisiting the Indian Financial Sector (pp. 63-73). Springer, Singapore.

Newspaper Publications

• “The elusive Indian social media giant: Why homegrown apps struggle to scale”, published on November 5, 2025, in Mint newspaper (https://www.livemint.com/industry/social-media-platforms-indian-social-media-apps-hike-messenger-koo-app-11762320131077.html)
• “Can India create homegrown giants to rival the Big Four firms?”, published on October 15, 2025, in Mint newspaper (https://www.livemint.com/companies/can-india-create-homegrown-giants-to-rival-big-four-consulting-firms-ey-kpmg-deloitte-pwc-11760423663914.html)
• “Repo rate fell, but loans stayed costly: How RBI rate cuts have been lost in transmission so far”, published on September 28, 2025 in Mint newspaper (https://www.livemint.com/economy/rbi-repo-rate-monetary-policy-transmission-india-banks-lending-rates-deposit-rates-11759032818010.html)
• “Trump’s metals tariffs forge economic mayhem”, published on April 15, 2025 in the East Asia Forum (https://eastasiaforum.org/2025/04/15/trumps-metals-tariffs-forge-economic-mayhem/)
• “Don’t let the chips fall: Why India’s semiconductor push is a step in right direction”, published on September 27, 2024 in Firstpost https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/dont-let-the-chips-fall-why-indias-semiconductor-push-is-a-step-in-right-direction-13819688.html)
• “Not as $trong, but $till $ignificant”, published on July 6, 2024 in The Economic Times (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/et-commentary/not-as-trong-but-till ignificant/articleshow/111522067.cms)
• “New European trade pact marks a milestone for India”, published on April 30, 2024 in Nikkei Asia (https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/New-European-trade-pact-marks-a-milestone-for-India)
• “India cannot afford to let its savings rate keep slipping”, published on November 10, 2023 in Nikkei Asia (https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/India-cannot-afford-to-let-its-savings-rate-keep-slipping)
• “All that you need to know about India’s new foreign trade policy”, published on April 3, 2023 in Mint Newspaper (https://www.livemint.com/news/india/government-unveils-new-foreign-trade-policy-with-targets-to-boost-exports-and-simplify-export-processes-ftp2023-boostexports-simplifyexportprocesses-indiatrade-11680457184304.html)

    Non-paywall Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U_Tszta9fq3elKGoLpgSOuAsj5V8D6Xl/view?usp=sharing

• “How a trade deal with the EU could shape up”, published on May 4, 2022 in Mint Newspaper (https://www.livemint.com/economy/the-significance-of-a-free-trade-deal-with-the-eu-11651602073894.html)

Non-paywall Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_L_bSnzAXxdDa2ESYm-YgmkaJ5_Yd6Yt/view?usp=sharing

• “The telecom bailout package is not a silver bullet”, published on November 2, 2021 in Mint Newspaper (https://www.livemint.com/industry/telecom/why-recent-reforms-aren-t-enough-to-bring-telecom-sector-out-of-the-woods-11635746109844.html)

Non-paywall Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1amPBu1TttjRG19OqzVbLfVrMVDEvH6T6/view

• “A global tax deal is cooking. Are we ready?”, published on September 14, 2021 in Mint Newspaper (https://www.livemint.com/technology/tech-news/global-tax-deal-will-get-tech-firms-to-pay-up-more-but-here-s-india-s-challenge-11631510469247.html)

Non-paywall Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IDphdPHdBqV-O19MyV6Yu2l8sxjyZh-z/view

• “Why India is warming up to a trade deal with UK”, published on July 27, 2021 in Mint Newspaper
• https://www.livemint.com/economy/why-india-is-warming-up-to-a-trade-deal-with-the-uk-11627281554442.html)

Non-paywall Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E28Ek7TV19uN-UPhIVKNrOP3xFcQE8eE/view?usp=sharing

• "The spectre of inflation is raising its ugly head in India”, published on June 1, 2021 in Mint Newspaper https://www.livemint.com/news/india/the-growing-threat-of-inflation-in-five-charts-11622441542784.html)

Non-paywall Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V7B1dLftInicaZfTyZchppE_QdxSmM_Y/view