SANEI is a regional initiative to foster networking among economic research institutes in South Asia. Initiated in June 1998, the network seeks to establish strong research interlinkages among diverse economic research institutes in the region.
In the first year of its inception, SANEI commissioned ten studies in the areas of finance and trade carried out by eight different institutes in the region.
In the second phase, collaboration is the hallmark of research conducted under the auspices of SANEI. It implies that instead of stand-alone work, SANEI is funding projects that are carried out jointly by at least two research institutes belonging to two different countries in the region. Under this arrangement, there is a lead institute working in tandem with a collaborating institute/s in a different country.
Seven collaborative studies have been funded which are being carried out jointly between sixteen research institutes in the region on areas of economic relevance to South Asia which include: causes of fertility decline; economic reform and the power sector; economics and institutions for the sustainable use of coastal wetlands; economics of pensions and social security; exports and economic growth; gender and local governance; and informal trade in the SAARC region