SANEI is a regional initiative to foster networking among economic research institutes in South Asia. Initiated in June 1998, SANEI seeks to establish strong research interlinkages among diverse economic research institutes in the region, with a view to making policy more informed.
SANEI organises regional research competitions within the South Asian region annually, and funds select research projects. While attempting to foster high-quality research, SANEI lends special emphasis on capacity building and formation of a South Asia wide professional network of researchers engaged in policy oriented studies. Collaborative research has received a major thrust under the aegis of SANEI. This implies that in addition to stand alone research, SANEI funds projects which are jointly carried out by at least two research institutes based in two different countries in South Asia. SANEI publishes studies carried out under its auspices. SANEI also holds Annual Conferences as part of its effort to promote exchange of ideas on economic research in the region, as well as disseminate its research findings.
The inception of SANEI can be traced back to meeting in Colombo, in 1998. The formalisation and funding of SANEI was made possible through a grant from the World Bank. The network thus emerged, with member institutes based in the countries of South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), with the objective of fostering strong research interlinkages. The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), based in New Delhi, India, was chosen by the World Bank as the anchor for the network. After its five years at ICRIER, SANEI is now based in the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Islamabad, Pakistan.