Gaurav Chiplunkar on the Frictions in India's Labor Market

Today my guest is Gaurav Chiplunkar, who is an Assistant Professor in the Global Economies and Markets group at the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia. We talked about labor market frictions in India, understanding the reasons for low female labor force participation in India, the importance of information flows and networks, the role of middlemen, and much more. Recorded July 8th, 2026. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links. Prefer to watch this episode, see the full length video here. Connect with Ideas of India Follow us on X Follow Shruti on X Follow Gaurav on X Click here for the latest Ideas of India episodes sent straight to your inbox. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:15 - Examining Female Labor Force Participation in India 00:08:38 - Broad Patterns in Female Employment 00:14:15 - Barriers to Entrepreneurship for Indian Women 00:21:50 - Well-Intended Labor Policy and Unintended Consequences 00:29:20 - Female Employment After Career Breaks 00:35:52 - Female Labor Force Participation and Economic Growth 00:46:02 - The Trouble with Piecemeal Reforms 00:50:40 - Frictions in the Job Market 00:57:04 - Rivalry, Information Flow, and the Nerd Effect 01:05:11 - Challenges to Placement and Retention 01:18:31 - On the Potential of Job Portals and Leapfrogging 01:27:08 - Defining the Goalposts 01:30:38 - Outro