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Using a discounted cash flow methodology, we have performed a detailed analysis of the current costs of electricity from two Indian nuclear reactors. We compare these costs to that from a recently constructed coal-based thermal power plant of similar size. Our results show that for realistic values of the discount rate, electricity from coal-based thermal power stations is cheaper than nuclear energy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines digital finance usage in the UK, US, India and Nigeria. Using data from the global financial development indicators, the findings reveal that the UK and US have higher digital finance usage than India and Nigeria. The US has higher credit card usage compared to the UK while the UK has higher debit card usage compared to the US. Also, Nigeria has higher debit card usage than India. The findings also show that higher debit card usage is correlated with higher domestic credit to the private sector in the US and Nigeria. Higher credit card usage is correlated with lower domestic credit to the private sector, lower private credit by deposit money banks, and fewer remittances to the UK. The implication of the findings is that policy makers in developing countries should develop the digital finance and payment systems in their countries to close up the wide gap in digital finance adoption between developing and developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the magnitude of changes that is happening in the Indian banking sector in terms of the technology used, human resource deployed and change in the customer experience. The emergence of gig workforce has made banks rework their strategy. Here, we will describe how Indian banking sector is battling legacy systems and trying to adopt to latest technologies. The gig economy which has been playing a major role in many other sectors have not made a significant impact in the banking industry. The paper discusses the reasons this and gives a first-hand perspective of how the banking sector is getting disrupted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women make significant decisions during desperate situations and even choose to do odd jobs to care for their families. Particularly Indian women put an end to their true identity to care for their children. India is known for its varied language and cultural practices. Different languages are spoken across the country, their culture differs from state to state, and their customs play a vital role with regard to religion. They worship different Gods, yet they remain united which is why it is called the country of 'Unity in Diversity. Despite the differences, all Indian women have certain common featured in them. Chastity is blended in the blood of every Indian woman. They tend to protect it throughout their lifetime. But unfortunately, some women are pushed to the position where they have to sell their chastity to provide for the family's sake. Even though the husband or the father is regarded as the primary breadwinner, today in so many Indian families women take up the family responsibility. They even choose to take up odd jobs such as surrogates and sex workers. This paper deals with the bottled-up emotions of one such woman and the consequences of the choice she made to take care of her family. The paper also argues the interconnection between the feminist concepts that are taken up for analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper analyses the relationship between financial sector development (FSD) and life insurance inclusion in India during the period from 1971–1972 to 2016–2017. The study analyses the effect of financial deepening on life insurance inclusion in India. Design/methodology/approach: The study employs augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) unit roots test to check the stationarity properties of the time series data. It estimates a life insurance inclusion model using the auto-regressive distributed lag model (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration. Findings: The study finds evidence of a cointegrating relationship between financial deepening and life insurance inclusion in India. A significant error correction coefficient indicates automatic adjustments to short-run disequilibrium, reinforcing the cointegrating relationship between financial sector and life insurance inclusion. Research limitations/implications: A major limitation of the study is that it excludes the first-time sum assured (FSA) contributed by the private sector life insurance companies due to lack of data availability. Practical implications: The results of the study call for faster expansion of the financial sector and provision of a low interest rate regime in the Indian economy. The study invokes the need for sufficient training to the personnel in the banking and non-banking institutions to cater to the complex needs of life insurance buyers. Originality/value: The paper estimates the link between FSD and life insurance inclusion and introduces a new measure of life insurance demand, the life insurance inclusion, measured using the FSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between financial development and economic growth remains an enigma for the economists. Extensive review of the literature points out conflicting empirical evidence. Results also vary depending on the choice of indicators, stage of development of the economy and kinds of tests used. The present paper has explored the complex relationship between financial development and economic growth in India. The Indian banking sector is now well developed and the stock market also competes well with leading economies in terms of technological development, timely settlements, etc. However, it is still not clear whether India is integrated with the world financial markets or it is decoupled from it; as was experienced during the 2008 US financial crises. The paper has used appropriate indicators of financial development and the real economy to understand the relationship. The data has been analyzed using appropriate econometric techniques after testing for stationarity and cointegration. ECM has also been conducted to explore the direction of relationship between indicators of economic growth and financial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Timely access to reasonably priced financing is critical to promote and sustain small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). This study aims to examine the role of the newly constituted SME exchanges in funding the growth of Indian SME firms. The impact of obtaining public equity capital on the firm's growth prospects, capital structure and credit profile is the focus of this paper. In addition, this study compares the cost and speed of raising capital on specialised SME exchanges to the main board. Design/methodology/approach: To examine the impact of raising public equity capital, this study uses a difference-in-difference (DID) regression analysis. SMEs that raised financing on the SME exchange between 2013 and 2018 make up the treatment sample. This study uses a propensity score matching technique to find the control group from a sample of unlisted enterprises to reduce the likelihood of selection bias. Findings: This study finds that SME profitability drops after an initial public offering (IPO), which is consistent with previous research. This study also discovered that after a company is listed, its total debt falls. This study also shows that after the IPO, there is no change in the borrowing costs of SME enterprises. Finally, this study finds an evidence of a decline in sales growth following the IPO, implying that the firms use the IPO money to rebalance their accounts after a period of heavy investment rather than for growth finance. Originality/value: A thriving and efficient equity financing market for SMEs has the potential to establish itself as a viable alternative to the existing dominant bank financing option. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this research is the first to examine the role of SME exchanges in the funding of Indian SME firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: The purpose if this paper is to examine the turn-of-the-month effect in the equity market of three major emerging countries – Brazil, India and China – from January 2000 to December 2017. Design/methodology/approach: Ordinary least square regression analysis is used to examine the presence of the turn-of-the-month effect and to test the efficiency of the emerging stock markets. The characteristics of the returns during the turn-of-the-month days are compared with that of the non-turn-of-the-month trading days. Findings: The average returns during turn-of-the-month days for all the considered emerging market indices are significantly higher than the non-turn-of-the-month days for the full sample. For the subsample analysis, the average returns for Brazil and India for pre-GFC period are higher on the turn-of-the-month days than on the non-turn-of-the-month days. However, the effect disappears in China during the GFC period. During the crisis period, the results show that the turn-of-the-month effect disappears in Brazil and India, whereas for China, the effect is significant. For the post-GFC period, the-turn-of-the-month effect reappears for all the countries. Practical implications: The results have important implications for both traders and investors. The authors' results indicate that the market participants can time the stock markets of these countries by taking long positions especially during the times when the turn-of-the-month effect is highly significant. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to study the turn-of-the-month effect, in the key emerging countries such as Brazil, China and India. Second, the authors divide the sample into three subperiods based on the 2008 GFC such as pre-GFC, GFC and post-GFC to understand the dynamic behavior of turn-of-the-month effect over time. Most importantly, the authors control for the day-of-the-week effect while examining the turn-of-the-month effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the presence of market discipline in the banking sectors of India and Pakistan, using the CAMEL approach and the stringent calculations of liquidity and capital as per Basel II. It employs a fixed effects model to market discipline as reflected in the capital adequacy, asset quality profitability, management and liquidity of banks, with bank size and changes and GDP as control variables, for the years 2008 to 2017. The results show varying degrees of market discipline in both India and Pakistan, which manifest through different variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aims to focus on data envelopment analysis for assessing the microfinance institutions (MFIs) efficiency over the footings of its undesirable output, i.e. non-performing loans (NPLs). The attention is not only to evaluate the efficiency but also to identify the variable wise inefficiencies incorporating the quality of the portfolio. Design/methodology/approach: The paper assessed MFI efficiency using three different methods of treatment of undesirable output to portray the significant difference. It also has used an advanced methodological model, i.e. weighted Russell directional distance model (WRDDM), under the non-radial assumption that allowed us to find the variable-wise inefficiency contribution. The study also investigated the efficiency differences concerning ownership, including all sizes of MFIs. Findings: The study findings evidence the fall in efficiency score as NPL integrated, and it is found to be statistically significant. In the context of inefficiency assessment, among all input and output variables, total employees and operating expenses, portfolio quality inefficiencies are the leading causes of MFI inefficiencies. Undesirable output inefficiency accounts for almost one-third part of the total inefficiencies and remaining due to input inefficiencies. It is significant to draw attention that there is no improvement in undesirable output inefficiency. By contrast, input inefficiencies retained gains for two years and gradually showed a decreasing trend throughout 2015–2017. Research limitations/implications: The authors have used balanced panel data of 72 Indian MFIs for five years' period from 2013–2017 whose complete data were available in the Microfinance Information Exchange. Practical implications: The paper has focused on identifying the inefficiencies that are needed to be focused on to attain efficiency. It could provide vital information to the managers, policymakers in identifying the causes of inefficiencies, which is crucial to improve for long-term sustainability. It will be a roadmap for benchmarking, strategy building and policy-making processes. Social implications: The findings of the study help in finding the benchmarking information for the inefficient decision-making units to identify the target units that need particular attention to focus. These practices could give a positive outcome, not only for institutions but also for the MFI clients. Originality/value: The study provides an insight in to variable-wise inefficiency measurement using advanced model WRDDM in Indian context MFIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the predictability of earnings information before the quarterly disclosure date. Two categories of firms are contrasted: the firms that announce better quarterly earnings than the prior period and the firms that do not. The paper uses a sample of 67 large-cap Indian stocks over 33 quarters from 2010 to 2018. Panel data estimation with fixed and random effects is applied to examine the impact of quarterly earnings announcements on stock returns. Results show that all stocks experience return premiums in the pre-announcement period, which is already documented in the literature. The paper adds to the literature by finding that the firms that report better earnings numbers than the previous period generate significantly higher stock returns. It is inferred that the market can anticipate whether the firm will announce better earnings than the prior period. The paper shows that changes in revenue and core earnings are better anticipated. Post-announcement, stock prices adjust to reflect the disclosed earnings information, and only non-performers experience a drop in stock prices. It is the first comprehensive study of liquid large-cap Indian stocks that provides evidence on the behaviour of stock returns around earnings announcements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines the relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure to the firms in the mandatory regime in India. The paper has its theoretical basis from the instrumental aspect of the Stakeholder theory, which assumes a positive influence of CSR over financial performance. Therefore, the study hypothesizes that the firms which fulfil the CSR expenditure requirement will exhibit higher stock returns and lower systematic risk. Since India mandated CSR in the year 2014, the data of four years (2016-2019) for the sample of 426 National Stock Exchange (NSE) listed Indian firms are taken to employ the OLS regression method. The CSR expenditure in the mandatory regime was not found to be relevant to the firms because of an insignificant positive impact of mandatory CSR expenditure on stock returns. Thus, the instrumental aspect is not supported by the findings. However, the findings indicate a decrease in the systematic risk of the firms. Only a few studies in India investigated this phenomenon in the mandatory regime. Further, the contributions of the study to the CSR literature are fairly useful from the perspective of firms, investors, policy-makers, regulators, scholars, and countries that are planning for legislating CSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages with debates around microcredit, once a development success story, but now much critiqued. Arguing that microcredit can only be understood within the wider context of debt, we draw on ethnographic material from two villages in Tamil Nadu, to examine how microcredit through self‐help groups sits within a broader context of indebtedness among the rural labouring classes. We describe patterns and sources of borrowing among the poor, the ways in which debts are managed, negotiated and settled within households and the ways in which the management of debt is mediated by gender, caste, class and aspiration. The paper calls for a more nuanced understanding of debt: some debts are seen as 'good' and others as 'bad'. We explore the ways in which microcredit, channelled through self‐help groups, is—against much contemporary criticism—perceived by women borrowers in our study villages as a source of 'good debt' and praised as an enabling factor in their everyday household management as well as in aspirations for mobility and development. We also argue that microcredit can have positive impacts by enabling social investments that enhance status and reduce dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to document the impact of fractionalization on the demand of informal finance in India. Using the data provided by the World Bank's Enterprise Survey, we show that firms headquartered in states/provinces with higher degree of fractionalization are more likely to use informal finance (such as the financing from trade creditors, moneylenders, and friends) than firms headquartered in states/provinces with lower degree of fractionalization. Our results are robust across various proxies of informal finance and various sub-samples. We also report that the effect of fractionalization on the use of informal finance is weaker where state-level or firm-level governance environment is strong. We also show that (when it comes to the use of formal finance) fractionalization is associated with higher use of retained earnings and lower use of funds provided by the banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper discusses about a new concept of establishment of Farmers' University and Farmers' Bank in India. The trend of university more focuses into academic, research and education related programmes for students. The university supports more student growth than farmer's development. The proposed Farmers' University emphasizes farmer-participatory education, research and extension activities with active involvement of scientists, farmers and agriculture graduates The research and training programmes, demonstration etc. will be provided by employing agriculture graduates. The university will conduct scientific crop production and farm - centred activities for farmers' growth. The farm linked activities and crop production would be clubbed with research for technology development. The Farmers' University will function with farmers involvement. The proposed Farmers' Bank is a specialized bank for farmers' services. The Farmers' Bank will assist to manage risks of Farmers associated with crop and livestock, initiate Risk Protection Insurance and guide farmers in government schemes and benefits to farmers. The Farmers' Bank is available for farmers in Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Virginia, Princeton and Union ville countries. The university and bank may be established in the main district of the state. The university and bank would generate employment for agriculture graduates and promote rural, urban and education development. This step forbids violence and miscreant and forms harmony and peace in the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The life insurance sector suffers from the problem of policy lapsation which is an undesirable output in the context of this sector. The present paper makes a humble attempt to integrate lapsation risk in the context of efficiency analysis of the Indian life insurance sector for the period 2005-06 to 2009-10. For the purpose of efficiency measurement, the paper uses the undesirable output model proposed by Tone (2003), and includes policy lapsation as an undesirable output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First longitudinal study of a FinTech ecosystem on a global, national and city level. • Network visualization of foreign and domestic investments in FinTech. • Documenting Bangalore's emergence as India's FinTech capital and the rise of New Delhi. • Demonstrating how Mumbai and Bangalore structure India's financial geography as complementary ecosystems. • Conceptualizing FinTech in India as a "Tech-Fin-State" ecosystem. This paper explores the potential of FinTech to change the geography of finance and financial centres through a longitudinal and multiscalar analysis of FinTech in India. Using a financial ecology approach, we combine quantitative data on firm creation and funding with insights from corporate interviews to unpack and examine the key elements of the Indian FinTech ecosystem. At the national scale, our results highlight how the export-oriented ICT sector, the implantation of large-scale, open digital infrastructures and enabling regulatory frameworks have enabled and shaped the growth of FinTech as a state-supported, tech-driven "Tech-Fin-State" ecosystem. At a city scale, the paper demonstrates how FinTech transforms India's financial geography in two directions. First, locational patterns and investment networks have established New Delhi and Bangalore as international FinTech hubs, ahead of Mumbai. Second, the re-intermediation of finance by FinTech firms should be understood as the connection between the two distinct yet complementary ecosystems of Bangalore, India's FinTech capital, and Mumbai, the incumbent financial capital, while advancing regional integration beyond India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper looks at whether under‐compliance with governance standards leads to bank instability. The empirical analysis is executed using a novel and unique panel dataset on the governance of Indian banks from 2009 to 2018. The study gauges the governance compliance on 48 norms, covering six key dimensions of corporate governance: board effectiveness, audit function, risk management, remuneration, shareholder rights and information, and disclosure and transparency. A measure of bank stability is obtained using 14 important financial ratio indicators, encompassing five critical dimensions of stability: soundness, asset quality, profitability, management efficiency and liquidity. The composite indices for both governance compliance and bank stability are constructed using the innovative non‐parametric constrained "Benefit‐of‐the‐Doubt (BoD)" approach. The governance compliance‐stability nexus is tested econometrically using the panel ordered probit regression. Empirical results are found to be robust and suggest that governance compliance emphatically explains bank stability in India. The most significant policy implication, which emerges from the empirical findings, is that any sort of regulatory under‐compliance with selected governance norms by banks would be costly and may have a destabilising effect on the banking system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors which are crucial in determining the extent of financial inclusion in geographically remote areas. The study also aims to provide suggestive measures for banks to tap unexplored markets. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data were collected via structured questionnaire from 411 households from the states of Assam and Meghalaya in north-east India. Factors significantly contributing to inclusion were identified using a logistic regression model. Findings – Level of financial inclusion in north-east India remains very low. Income, financial information from various channels and awareness of self help groups (SHGs), and education are influential factors leading to inclusion. Nearness to post office banks increases the likelihood of inclusion. Factors like area terrain and receipt of government benefit individually do not facilitate inclusion. However, recipients of government benefits in plain areas show increased level of inclusion. Research limitations/implications – The study was restricted to north-east India, which limits the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications – Banks and policy makers should work in close co-ordination to spread financial information as those efforts are seen to directly impact inclusion, thereby providing new business opportunities to banks. Originality/value – Using primary data, this study explores the potential predictors of financial inclusion in geographically remote areas. The study is unique in capturing the conditional relationships among variables which are bound to exist in real life scenarios. The findings of the paper are valuable for banks and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay critically examines the discourse of participation in development finance directed at the poor in the Global South from national and international development agencies. This discourse, often termed financial inclusion, posits the ability of development actors to reach the poor involving them in important economic decisions affecting their lives, provides access to products that improve their material conditions, and ensures their credit worthiness through highly nuanced information technology and social media tools. The paper presents evidence from two ethnographically inspired studies undertaken by the author in India and Kenya to ascertain the ways in which the participatory discourse in finance is understood among societal participants themselves. The paper presents relevant epistemes for analyzing what 'grassroots' actors understand as their participation in development-oriented financial inclusion projects. The study forwards two major conclusions: (1) 'habits of authority' among various development actors thwart effective participation; (2) technology platforms that allow for successive innovations and interconnections from businesses and other organizations encourage financial inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Resource allocation decisions for disease categories can be informed by proper estimates of the magnitude and distribution of total spending. In the backdrop of a high burden of Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries (NCDI) in India, and a paucity of estimates on government spending on NCDI, this paper attempts to analyse public sector expenditure on NCDI spending in India. Methods: Various recent budget documents of the Centre and States/Union Territories have been used to extract expenditure on NCDI. The aggregates thus arrived at have been analysed to estimate aggregate and state level per capita spending. State level spending have been compared against disease burden using DALYs. Patterns of spending on NCDI across states were also analysed together with state level poverty to observe possible patterns. Findings: The total spending on NCDI by the government is low at less than 0.5% of GDP. NCDI spending is little more than one-fourth of total health spending of the country and most spending takes place at the state level (80%). The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s share in Central spending on NCDI is around 65%, and currently it spends 20% of its total health spending on NCDI. The gap between spending and DALYs is the most for the economically vulnerable states. Also, the states with high poverty levels also have low per capita expenditure on NCDI Interpretation: India does not depend on donor funding for health. It will have to step up domestic funding to address the increasing disease burden of NCDIs and to reduce the high out-of-pocket expenditure on NCDI. Policies on NCDI need to focus on UHC, service integration and personnel gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper questions the orthodox Marxist view of merchant capital as "unproductive," by highlighting the importance of traders in subsuming the countryside to the logic of capital. However, it also argues that in order to properly understand the role played by traders in agrarian change, critical Marxist scholarship on merchant capital needs to recognize the complex marketing systems in which traders and farmers operate. These markets have their own internal relations, organizational and institutional logic which in turn is tied to the specificity of the commodity. Using wheat markets in colonial Punjab as a case study, it then utilizes the framework of complex marketing systems to highlight the range of firms and farms that operated in these markets; the importance of personal relations and informal institutions of family, caste, and religion for establishing trust; and the class stratified nature of market participants. It was from within these informally organized markets that commercial capital first emerged in colonial Punjab. By creatively combining the concept of commercial capital with markets as complex systems, it hopes to provide a richer framework for the study of agrarian change in diverse contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the link between capital account liberalization and growth for a cross - section of seventeen developing countries, including India, both theoretically and empirically. It also explores the different measures of capital account openness and the empirical evidence on the association between financial openness and growth. Theoretically, capital account openness leads to growth through two main channels: increase in aggregate investment and an improvement in productivity and efficiency. Existing empirical evidence however suggests that the link between capital account openness and economic growth is weak. The paper uses a de jure measure of capital account convertibility, calculated as the proportion of capital flows to total flow of funds. The results find a positive association between financial openness and growth. However growth is associated with an increase in the efficiency of inputs rather than due to an increase in investment per se. JEL Classification Numbers: F21, F36, F43. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on supply side funding gaps inherent to financial inclusion schemes that threaten their efficacy and sustainability. We model the double bind problem that providers of banking services for the poor face as they struggle to achieve economies of scale to drive down average fixed financial infrastructure costs, while average account balances are low due to insufficient income. This model is applied to the Prime Minister Jan-Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) financial inclusion scheme in India, that was started in 2014. An innovative approach based on cross sectional bank level data from 2014 till 2017 is used to quantify the incentives and costs involved in targeting unbanked households. This gives a monetary estimate of the economic shortfalls or surpluses for participating banks, measured as bank balances relative to outlay costs and subsidies per PMJDY beneficiary. A lack of economic viability of PMJDY accounts is found in the majority of Indian public sector banks, a matter which is problematic in view of their extant financial fragility. We provide evidence for cross subsidization of rural bank accounts by urban accounts. We use fixed effects panel methods to determine what cost public sector banks bear and also quantify the extent to which account ineffectiveness is ameliorated by exogenous factors, primarily the tie up of PMJDY accounts with bio-metric Aadhar cards and electronic direct benefit transfer of G2P payments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper shows the trend of Internal Financing of Cement and Cement Product Industry over the period 2003-04 to 2012-13. Here we have seen that External Financing is the major fund of Cement Industry. Moreover, we have also seen that there is a positive relationship between Internal Financing and Total Financing of Cement Industry over the period of the study. Moreover, we have also observed that Retention of earnings is the major component of Internal Financing over Depreciation over the period of the study. This paper also tries to address us that Retained earnings and Depreciation both are positively correlated with Internal Funds of Cement Industry. Due to the nature of Cement Companies i.e. heavy industry, External Financing is the major source of fund by having strong equity base or having good accession to Money and Capital Market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Government of the India is giving emphasis on 'Growth with Social Justice' with the basic objective of planning for the development of India since its independence and made significant strides in developing rural India through Five Year Plan. A Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) was introduced in the budget of 1995-96. The RBI governs this fund through NABARD with corpus from the nationalized banks. The NABARD was setup by the Government of India as a development bank in July 12, 1982 which operates through its head office at Mumbai, 28 regional offices situated in state capitals and 391 district offices at districts levels. The mandate also covers supporting all other allied economic activities in rural areas, promoting sustainable rural development. The various functions of NABARD are supervisory functions, institutional and capacity building, role in training etc. The paper analyses some of the issues that arise in the context of utilization of the fund under watershed for farm irrigation in Agra District of Uttar Pradesh, India [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of Foreign direct investment on the exports performance of different firms. The study is based on 195 firms belonging to 8 different sectors including different subsectors and industries related to manufacturing covering a period of 2000-01 to 2012-13. The study uses OLS regression and Compound annual growth rates to find out the trends and pattern of performance for different firms. The results of the present study suggest that FDI has significant impact on the export performance of different firms. Although the impact becomes visible after 5 to 6 years of FDI coming into Indian corporate firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The authors examine the industrywise investment preferences of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and retail investors in the Indian context. They also investigate the factors influencing their preferences. Design/methodology/approach: Using the quarterly shareholdings and returns data of the Indian market from March 31, 2009 to March 31, 2018, the authors employ analysis of variance to study investors' preferences and a random effect panel data model to examine the factors that influence these preferences. Findings: FPIs hold proportionally more stocks in service-oriented industries and large-cap firms, DIIs hold proportionally large numbers of shares in paper industries and retail investors hold proportionally more shares in chemicals and textiles. FPIs prefer stocks with a high export-to-sales ratio and firms registered on a foreign stock market. Domestic investors, especially retail investors, prefer small-cap stocks and firms whose operations require local knowledge. In addition, industry heterogeneity determines investment decisions. Firm-specific and macroeconomic factors that influence investment decisions differ across industries. Finally, government policies and reforms also play a key role in attracting investors. Practical implications: Policymakers can identify the key variables that influence investment, which can help direct and regulate investment in India and similar emerging markets. Originality/value: This study fills a research gap by addressing how industry-level heterogeneity affects investors' preferences in terms of the industrywise preferences of different types of investors and the factors that influence their preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to see whether Government of India is successful to make credit accessible to the poor; to examine the role of competition in microfinance sector in ensuring credit to the ultra poor borrowers; to see the role of subsidy in microfinance movement. Design/methodology/approach -- The paper is based on secondary data. This paper examines, in an analytical framework with a variety of assumptions, the role of microfinance institutes (MFIs) in bringing capital to the ultra poor. Findings -- In an attempt to make credit accessible to the poor, Government of India took several measures, but did not succeed to a significant extent. This paper has shown that the microcredit has become accessible to the "working poor," but not to the ultra poor. Initially the model shows that in the absence of competition MFI and moneylender are equally exploitative to the ultra poor borrowers. The model further shows that in the presence or absence of competition in the credit market, credit may be accessible to the ultra poor borrowers under certain conditions. Excessive subsidies might drive out the poor borrowers from the microfinance sector. Originality/value -- For the poor clients served by the microfinance institution, the argument goes, the access not the cost (interest rate) that matters (Robinson, 2001). Here the implicit assumption is that the interest rate elasticity of demand for micro credit is close to zero (Emran et al., 2006). In an interesting paper Deheja et al (2005) has shown that the interest rate elasticity of loan in the microfinance system is significantly negative. The author is of the opinion that this is the cost of credit as well as inability to pay a minimum price of credit, which denies the access to credit. JEL Classifications -- G21, G38, L12, L14, O18 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates the trends in the allocation of capital in an emerging economy, India, during the post-financial liberalization regime. In contrast to the conventional wisdom that financial liberalization leads to better allocation of funds, the study could not find any obvious evidence of increase in efficiency over the reform period, especially during the early years of reform. Further, the study highlights the disturbing trend of convergence of efficiencies across various strata of firms towards a lower level over the reform period. This paper rationalizes the decline as a result of excessive capacity creation in certain industries, financed by cheap external sources of finance, without any consideration of return or demand conditions. This paper, as a policy recommendation, highlights the importance of creating appropriate institutions prior to pursuing financial liberalization in developing countries like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) have turned out to be a major stumbling block, affecting the performance of Indian banks. Several measures were initiated by the Reserve Bank of India to reduce incidence of NPAs. For the first time in the last several years, public sector banks in India witnessed decline in gross NPAs for the year 2018-19. In this paper, an attempt is made to understand the reasons for the incidence of NPAs during 2006 to 2019 by studying the public sector and private sector banks in India. Dynamic regression model was deployed to understand the influence of past NPAs on incidence of current NPAs. Surprisingly, the influence of previous year asset quality is not significantly influencing current year asset quality. Size of the bank, profitability, credit growth, priority sector lending, accretion of NPAs and economic growth continue to have significant impact on the asset quality of the banks in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the micro and macro factors affecting liquidity creation by scheduled commercial banks (excluding Regional Rural Bank) in India from 2005 to 2018. Design/methodology/approach: Two measures of liquidity creation, the broad and narrow measures, are constructed using RBI data available on Indian banks. System generalized method of moments has been applied to explore the factors affecting liquidity creation. Findings: This study finds high level of persistence in liquidity creation in banks. Variation in the broad measure is explained by equity ratio, market share, GDP, gross savings and lending rate, whereas the narrow measure is explained by equity ratio, market share, size and lending rate. The Global Financial Crisis had a negative effect on liquidity creation as per both the measures, and the impact was more severe for the broad measure as compared to the narrow measure. Research limitations/implications: This study finds a positive correlation between bank value and liquidity creation which suggests that the investors favourably evaluate banks that create more liquidity. This study is confined to India only. Practical implications: There is a negative influence of capital on liquidity created by banks, which implies a trade-off that exists between financial stability and liquidity creation. Basel III norms impose higher capital and liquidity standards which will have negative implications for liquidity creation. Originality/value: To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study in the Indian context that focusses on factors affecting liquidity creation in a dynamic framework and determines the relationship between liquidity creation and market value of a bank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decision on immediate lockdown in India put economic, social and religious activities to a grinding halt. The paper examines the impact of the lockdown and social distancing policies on economic activities in India, using a multivariate econometric model for the data collected in the period from 1st January to 31st August 2020. While the social distancing policy is captured in terms of internal movement, domestic travel and international travel restrictions, its effect on the economic activity and the business activity is captured through stock prices, purchasing managers' index and the exchange rate. Confirmed COVID-19 cases and related deaths are also used as the independent variables. The results reveal a significant negative impact of social distancing policies on the economic activity and the business activity, the stock market and the exchange rate. Furthermore, the economic stimulus provided by the Government could not bring a positive influence on the stock market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An impact of globalization on a country's economy is that it brings in many participants from various countries to invest in the capital market. This increases the importance of the role of the financial market in that country. Financial markets help in capital formation to develop the economy in a country through industrial development and are the primary source of capital for various economic activities in a country. Capital formation is very important for the development of the business environment as well as economic growth. The economy of a country depends on its stock market for capital formation as, through the stock market, surplus funds get channelized to meet the industry's need. Capital formation through the stock market provides a platform that offers a win-win situation to both industry as well as the investor as it may provide the highest return. The paper tries to examine the performance of sectoral indices of BSE from April 2010 to March 2018 for which S&P BSE sectoral indices like S&P BSE Consumer Durables, Realty, Health Care, Oil & Gas, AUTO, Information & Technology (IT), Telecom, Banking, FMCG Index and BSE Sensex have been used. Descriptive Statistics, Augmented Dicky-Fuller Test, and GARCH model have been used for all sectors. GARCH (1, 1) is the best one in modelling the volatility of the return series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Staged financing is a prominent feature of the venture capital investment process. With staged financing, venture capitalists (VCs) may choose to either make an investment or delay it at each round. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of market uncertainty, project-specific uncertainty and agency problems on these decisions. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses data from Indian firms that received venture capital funding between 2000 and 2017. The duration between funding rounds is analysed using survival analysis. An accelerated failure time model is used to estimate the influence of market uncertainty, project-specific uncertainty and agency problems on the length of time between funding rounds. Findings: VCs delay investment when there are high levels of uncertainty in the market; if market uncertainty increases by 1%, delay in funding increases by more than 6% (almost a month) on average. There is no statistically significant relationship found between the funding duration and project-specific uncertainty. Agency problems motivate VCs to invest sooner. An increase in agency problems results in a reduction of 55% (almost five months) in the length of time before the next funding round. Practical implications: This study has useful business policy implications. It provides VCs with real option value drivers such as market uncertainty, agency problems, which influence the timing of decisions in staged investment processes. It will help to make the choice between investing and delaying at each round of financing more robust. Further, it is useful for VCs to differentiate between market uncertainty and agency problems against the backdrop of their different implications for staging decisions. Originality/value: Few studies have examined staging decisions from a real options perspective in the context of a developed economy and very few from a developing economy perspective. This study increases understanding of staging decisions in the Indian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an empirical study of microfinance institutions in the state of Maharashtra, India. Topics discussed are role of microfinance institutions to provide financial service to rural population without collaterals, thereby improving the rural economy, providing employment opportunity and promoting entrepreneurship among rural women, and chart on interest rates, loan disbursement, and unemployment.

India is young nation where average age of an Indian is 27years. Giving employment to this bulge in the population pyramid in the organized sector is not possible. Infact, 93% of the workforce in the country is engaged in informal/unorganized sector, which is the backbone of Indian economy. Entrepreneurial activities have emerged as the best channel to create more jobs in the country, and the MSME sector largely takes the share in it. Similarly, with globalization and the IT sector booming in India - there has been quest for innovation and technology based services. However, the entrepreneurial ecosystem is facing several challenges. More than 80% startups are estimated to shut-down within first 3-years of starting. India was placed 104th (below all BRICS economies) on Global Entrepreneurship Index in 2015. This paper strategically looks into the health of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, in terms of the existing challenges and contemporary policy framework. A considerable sample size across micro-small-medium businesses in Pune and National Capital Region of India were surveyed, besides interviewing experts, analysts, investors and other relevant stakeholders, to complement the research objectives in this context. The findings of the study reveal contemporary requisites of a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem, wherein community participation plays a major role. The paper also gives a resourceful insight into lubricants of entrepreneurial ecosystem, which has changed lives of many. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of financial development on the rural-urban income inequality in India using annual data from 1965 to 2008. Design/methodology/approach – The Ng-Perron unit root test is utilised to check for the order of integration of the variables. The long run relation is examined by implementing the ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration. Findings – The results confirm a relation among the variables. Evidence suggest that financial development, economic growth and consumer prices aggravate rural-urban income inequality in the long run. Research limitations/implications – The present study offers fresh insights to policy makers on crafting appropriate policies that reduce rural-urban income inequality in India. Originality/value – The contribution of this paper is lies in extending the literature in the context of India towards an extensively researched area of rural-urban divide but in time series framework and utilization of a better approach of time series approach, i.e. ARDL. Specifically, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study to test poverty-finance nexus using the basic principles of the GJ hypothesis and provide evidence of short- and long-run dynamics on the postulated relation for India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access of financial services to the poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable groups at affordable cost is seen as a prerequisite for poverty reduction. Through financial inclusion those at the margin could be brought to the mainstream of save-borrow-invest loop, provide with the benefits of the financial revolution and extend necessary resources/ finance and thus pull out from the quagmire of poverty and vulnerability. The role of financial inclusion in poverty eradication has been approved on theoretical as well as practical plain by many researches. There are, however, some questions raised about the relatively poor impact of it in some states and persistence of poverty there. Against this background, this paper looks at various dimensions of financial inclusion. It uses experiences drawn from primary survey of households in two selected villages of backward states of the country (Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) to investigate how financial inclusion operates and what causes its success or otherwise. The paper provides insights into the nature of exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the quality of financial reporting by Indian companies in their annual reports. The quality of disclosure has been measured using an index of disclosure, an extensive list of items that may be disclosed through the annual reports. Item wise and company wise disclosure have been analysed for studying the inter item and inter company variation on disclosure. Further, an attempt has also been made to examine the relationship between select corporate attributes and the extent of disclosure to explain the variations in disclosure across the sample companies. The analysis revealed that there are wide variations in disclosure scores across different information items. Multiple regression analysis was applied for estimating the relationship between six corporate attributes and the extent of disclosure in corporate annual reports. Paper found that profitability of a company, company size and international listing status have a positive and statistically significant relationship with the extent of disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper seeks to assess the fiscal sustainability of the 14 major State (subnational) governments in India employing the deficit indicators approach. Evidence from the 14 States indicates to a deep fiscal stress across rich and poor States with just a third of the States showing a sustainable revenue account and primary revenue balance and even fewer States showing a sustainable primary deficit thereby reinforcing the serious concern for State-level (subnational) fiscal health as weak State finances can have an impact on the stability of overall government finances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dividend Policy is one of the hotly debated issues in finance. While shaping dividend payment; a sensible management strikes a balance between shareholder's expectation and firm's long-term interest. Several questions related to dividend decisions remain perplexing because of diverse and conflicting theories and empirical results. This paper attempts to give a focused overview of the important dividend theories and identify the leading factors that determine the dividend behavior in the corporate financial management using various econometric techniques. It may be concluded that lagged dividend, PAT, depreciation and sales are the most important factors affecting dividend decisions of file industry. However, Target payout ratio of the industry has increased to 57% in 2005-06 from negative number in 1996-97. The paper may serve as a structured signal for future researches in corporate dividend policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fintech in simple terms is leveraging technology to deliver banking and financial solutions to individual and enterprise customers. This is one of the fastest-growing sectors in both developed & developing countries with India amongst the top three fintech startups globally. Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, AI, Data Analytics, Machine learning, Big data, Robotics, and Cloud are some of the top technologies leveraged by fintech firms to deliver products. Domestic & global broadband connectivity setup by telecom service providers made available basic infrastructure needed for fintech growth. One of the early fintech innovations was the installation of the first ATM by Barclays Bank in 1967. Post global financial crisis in 2008, many ex-employees of financial firms came up with innovative fintech products. The objective of this paper is to identify globally emerging fintech trends. The Qualitative research methodology was used relying on a review of literature, discussion with the professionals and researchers. The emerging trends include IMF focus on leveraging fintech for cross border payments using distributed ledger technology, Augmented reality for customer satisfaction, Digital insurance, Digital invoicing, Crowd-funding, Crowd investing, Robotics investment advisory, Future relationships between Banks and Fintech firms, Central bank regulatory role. It also came out that although there are many research papers on fintech globally, however, there is not much research work carried out on fintech in India and there is an opportunity for further research on innovation and growth of fintech in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the motives behind equity holding by banks in non-financial firms. It has been argued that banks hold equity in firms primarily for two reasons: to support their debt holding or for returns as capital investments. This paper tries to examine which among these two motives drive equity holdings by Development Financial Institutions in India (DFIs). Results indicate that equity holding by DFIs in India is primarily driven by their interest as creditors. In poorly performing firms, equity holding by DFIs is also driven by debt restructuring in firms in the form of conversion of debt to equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kisan Credit Card (KCC) has now been regarded as the only medium of short-term credit for agriculture. The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme was introduced by the Finance Minister in his budget speech in the year 1998-99. From the year 1998-99, the scheme was implemented by public sector commercial banks, RRBs (Regional Rural Banks) and cooperative banks in the country. It has emerged as an innovative credit distribution system to meet the production credit requirements of the farmers in a timely and easy manner. The present paper is aimed to study role of Kisan Credit Card in the rural credit facilitation in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to understand the perception of SMEs' promoters in choosing equity as one of their sources of finance. To explore reasons the research has been done in five phases which included: a literature review, offer document objectives, ratio analysis, and in-depth interviews of five SME owners of Gujarat. In the last phase, all the reasons have been simplified by including them in five broad themes. The study analyzed the five broad themes as bank loan barriers, financial factors, growth factors, economic factors, and other barriers. The research has been carried in Gujarat so there is a need for further research all over India. This is going to help SMEs in understanding the pros and cons of selecting a particular avenue as a source of finance. SMEs are the engine of most of the developing nations. This makes it necessary to study them in detail so that the environment can be made friendly for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the problem of establishing a network among the stocks of a market at high frequency level and give an application to program trading. Our work uses high frequency data from the National Stock Exchange, India, for the year 2014. To begin, we analyse the spectrum of the correlation matrix to establish the presence of linear relations amongst the stock returns. A comparison of correlations with pairwise mutual information shows the further existence of non-linear relations which are not captured by correlation. We also see that the non-linear relations are more pronounced at the high frequency level in comparison to the daily returns used in earlier work. We provide two applications of this approach. First, we construct minimal spanning trees for the stock network based on mutual information and study their topology. The year 2014 saw the conduct of general elections in India and the data allows us to explore their impact on aspects of the network, such as the scale-free property and sectorial clusters. Second, having established the presence of non-linear relations, we would like to be able to exploit them. Previous authors have suggested that peripheral stocks in the network would make good proxies for the Markowitz portfolio but with a much smaller number of stocks. We show that peripheral stocks selected using mutual information perform significantly better than ones selected using correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to confirm the adherence of double bottom line objectives by the microfinance institutions (MFIs) of India and, further, to identify the causal factors that work out their double bottom line commitments.Design/methodology/approach The study uses an empirical data set for the period of 10 years, i.e. from 2005–2006 to 2014–2015, gathered from www.mixmarket.org. It follows an exploratory approach with overall and segmented performance analysis. Further, a panel data regression model is applied to identify the causal factors of double bottom line.Findings The study finds that MFIs are adhering to the notion of double bottom line. The segregated analysis does not give any solid indications of trade-off. The mature and small MFIs are found to be better in attaining social objective but the new and large are better in sustainability. The non-governmental organization (NGO) category is more committed to the double bottom line than the non-NGO. The causal analysis could not show any relationship between financial performance and outreach. Though age and outreach size show relationships with small loan sizes, they do not influence sustainability. The operating and financial expenses along with portfolio quality are found to be the main causal variables of sustainability.Practical implications There are indications for the policy makers to frame regulations and prepare a roadmap for the mature and the large MFIs. This would help them adhere to the double bottom line, which would further streamline the operations of the MFIs in the long run. Containing operating expenses and controlling the asset quality still remain to be the challenges which need to be addressed with proper policy guidelines.Originality/value The analysis of the study focuses on industry classifications, which make it more intriguing in nature given the fact of the varied features like age, legal status and outreach. India being the largest microfinance market in the world has limited studies. Most of the studies in double bottom line are based on a cross-country analysis, which generalizes the individual characteristics. The study fills this gap and adds to the understanding of the double bottom line commitments in the Indian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]