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• The paper documents developments in Indian economic performance and the role of structural change in this performance. • Manufacturing is dominated by informal labor, which has a deleterious effect on overall manufacturing performance. • Productivity growth is driven by within sector growth, with positive contributions of formal and informal activities to this. • Labor reallocation to the informal segment of the manufacturing sector is growth reducing in the Indian manufacturing sector. • A shift to more productive informal activities across sub-sectors exists, but this doesn't offset the negative within effect. This paper examines the role of structural change in India's performance, and in particular the role of the informal segment in the stagnant growth of the Indian manufacturing sector. Using counterfactual analysis – including a modified shift-share approach – the paper considers to what extent the informal sector can help explain the poor performance of Indian manufacturing over the period 1980-2011. The results suggest that the informal segment of manufacturing has been a drag on overall manufacturing productivity growth, with the informal manufacturing segment unable to provide a productivity bonus when absorbing workers from the agricultural sector. Results from the shift-share analysis indicate that labor reallocation to the informal segment of the manufacturing sector is growth-reducing, with structural change being the main source of this reduction, an effect which in turn is driven by movements of employment within manufacturing sub-sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between financial development and access to electricity for rural and urban India by incorporating economic growth, trade, and foreign direct investment in energy production function. In doing so, we have applied autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing to examine long run cointegration between the variables by accommodating structural break(s) stemming in the series. Our empirical results indicate the presence of cointegration association between access to electricity and its determinants. We note that financial development enhances access to electricity in rural India but declines it in urban India. Economic growth has positive effect on access to electricity. Trade openness and foreign direct investment lower access to electricity in rural India. In urban India, trade openness and foreign direct investment increase access to electricity. The association between financial development and access to electricity is inverted-U shaped for rural and urban India. This paper would present new policy direction for Indian government to enhance access to electricity by using financial development as an economic tool. • Financial development and access to electricity have a strong linkage. • In India financial development enhances access to electricity in rural area but has adverse effect in urban area. • Rise in economic growth of India has increased the access to electricity. • Growth of Trade Openness and Foreign Direct investment increase access to electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: India accounts for 4.5% of industrial energy use worldwide. This share is projected to increase as the economy expands rapidly. The level of industrial energy efficiency in India varies widely. Certain sectors, such as cement, are relatively efficient, while others, such as pulp and paper, are relatively inefficient. Future energy efficiency efforts should focus on direct reduced iron, pulp and paper and small-scale cement kilns because the potentials for improvement are important in both percentage and absolute terms. Under business as usual, industrial energy use is projected to rise faster than total final energy use. A strong focus on energy efficiency can reduce this growth, but CO2 emissions will still rise substantially. If more substantial CO2 emissions reductions are to be achieved then energy efficiency will need to be combined with measures that reduce the carbon intensity of the industrial fuel mix. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

One of the strategies for achieving sustainable development goals is to close the gap between environmental vulnerability and economic progress (SDGs). The significance of renewable energy in harmonizing environmental and economic conditions is becoming a touchy subject in current debates. Against this backdrop, the major objective of this paper is to assess whether economic growth and environmental sustainability can promote renewable energy consumption in the Indian economy by using ARDL and Novel Dynamic ARDL estimation techniques. The results obtained from both the methodology shows that rising efficiency in the economic growth coupled with environmental sustainability leads to an increase in renewable energy consumption. We also find, from the frequency domain causality test, that there is a unidirectional causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth & renewable energy consumption and environmental sustainability in both the short- and long run. The former causation validating the conservation hypothesis for the Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Decoupling of GDP from all energy sources under multiple principles are examined. • World economy achieved weak energy decoupling in most years during 2000–2011. • World economy coupled with coal use and tended to couple with cleaner energy use. • None of studied economies achieved long-term GDP-embodied energy decoupling. • Decoupling delusions occurred when only considering direct and total energy use. Decoupling indicators are widely used to understand links between economic growth and energy use. However, traditional decoupling analyses mostly focus on domestic energy consumption (i.e., the production-based principle) and neglect off-site energy use across global supply chains to satisfy an economy's final consumption (i.e., the consumption-based principle). Moreover, analyses for total primary energy conceal an economy's preference for different energy sources. Therefore, this paper evaluates decoupling states of GDP from all types of primary energy use under consumption-based principle, for world economy and eight typical economies during 2000–2011. Regarding total primary energy, world economy witnessed weak decoupling in most years, and most economies studied (e.g., USA, Japan and China) achieved decoupling initially but performed negative decoupling finally. For EU, USA, Japan, Russia and India, production-based decoupling performances were generally better than consumption-based ones. Decoupling phenomena detected under production-based principle even became coupling or negative decoupling under consumption-based principle in some cases. As for each energy source, world economy decoupled from oil use, but still coupled with coal use, and gradually showed a trend to couple with natural gas and renewables use. Different energy sources showed distinct decoupling degrees from GDP, affected by individual embodied energy requirement structure. This paper uncovers potential energy decoupling delusions to deepen the understanding of relationships between energy use and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Addressing environmental concerns alongside economic development and energy transitions is a challenge for all countries and effective policy making requires approaches that can balance all these concerns. In this paper, combining a range of modeling methodologies is proposed as a way of addressing these questions in an integrated manner. The choice of models to be used would depend on the specific characteristics of the system and region being studied. One possible combination of models is discusses in this paper for the specific case of India. The Integrated Modeling Framework (IMF) proposed combines three modeling approaches – i) index decomposition to estimate impacts of structural changes in the economy, ii) constrained optimization to estimate least cost fuel options for the power sector, iii) input-output analysis to estimate economic impacts. The model results indicate that the mode of investment for climate change mitigation is a significant determinant of the impact on economic growth, incomes, and income distribution in India. In some scenarios, higher investments in green energy negatively affects low income households significantly more as compared to other households. The paper also demonstrates how the IMF can be used to determine the reasons for and therefore alleviate the negative impacts. Highlights • An Integrated Modeling Framework (IMF) combining three modeling methods is presented. • IMF built for India, but applicable for other developing countries also. • IMF useful to study balance between energy, environment, economy, and equity. • Negative trade-off between equity and renewable energy transition in some scenarios. • IMF useful for identifying ways to alleviate the negative trade-off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has embarked on an ambitious highway development program to significantly improve interstate road transport connectivity. Between 2000 and 2015, total length of India's national highway network has nearly doubled and 4 + lane share of the national highways has increased from 2 to 20%, along with associated improvements in safety and surface quality. National highway development is considered as a tool to promote employment growth by stimulating economic activities and attracting foreign investments. As India's central government continues to increase budget allocations for national highway projects in anticipation of generating more jobs, this study empirically investigates whether past investments can be linked to employment growth. I analyze changes in non-agricultural private sector employment over a 10-year period (2003–2012) across 25 states in response to changes in the density (lane-km per unit area) of national highways, controlling for other factors affecting employment. Using a series of static (pooled ordinary least squares, random-effects and fixed-effects) and dynamic (random- and fixed-effects with first-order autoregressive or AR(1) disturbances, and system GMM or generalized method of moments) panel regressions, I find that 10% increase in national highway density in India is associated with 1–6% (depending on model specification and estimation approach) increase in private sector employment, all else equal. This paper provides first empirical evidence suggesting that India's national highway development efforts have produced positive employment benefits in the past. In addition to contributing to transportation planning scholarship, the findings are expected to inform policy-makers in India as they develop future highway investment plans aimed, in part, at economic development. This paper will also be useful to decision-makers in other developing countries with comparable policy environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green logistics is an important aspect of production system in today’s world. It combines various efforts to quantify and control the environmental effect of production activities in an enterprise. This research is intended to emphasize upon the ways by which organizations can accomplish positive ecological effects simply by modifying their logistics practices. This paper presents a case study of an Indian automobile company by analyzing alternatives for green practices along with organizational objectives. It is imperative to focus on the green practices in context of Indian automobile sector as the volume of vehicles in India has increased considerably during last few decades. Accordingly, this paper attempts to improve the performance for sustainable adaptation of green practices of an Indian company by selecting the best alternative obtained from the use of Analytical Hierarchy Process to analyze alternatives for green practices in the assembly and packaging processes. Alternatives have been evaluated on the basis of three criteria i.e. green efficiency, factor of safety and ease of operation. The study revealed that clinch joint is the most appropriate alternative for assembly operation while carbon positive packaging material is the best alternative for packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the recent rise in economic development the family sizes in developing countries have become small. This phenomenon demands several policy considerations. Is India ready for it? In this perspective, the paper investigates the impact of a higher level of economic development on average household size in India from 1991 to 2011. Variables such as a higher level of education, health outcomes, the extent of inequality, and urbanization have a negative effect on the average household size. The lower level of poverty is associated with lower level family size in the long run, whereas, infrastructure has a mixed effect. Results show that different religious and social groups have an effect on the family size in India. The results are consistent in state and household level analysis and conclude that a higher level of economic development reduces the family size. Smaller family size faces several problems such as child-rearing, higher divorce rates due to marital conflicts, degradation of children's mental health, land and property disputes, and a low transfer of financial support from children to elderly parents. Therefore, not only the government needs to take cognizance and solve these problems, but also needs to find an appropriate balance between work and family, which is missing currently. This lesson can be useful for many other developing countries to cope up with the reduction in family sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, we investigate the relationship between energy poverty and economic development in India and its trend over a decade. For this purpose, we estimate a Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI) and an index of development at the district level using household level data. Empirical results show that energy poverty is quite extensive in India with substantial variations across the states and districts. Over the years, energy poverty shows a declining trend at all-India level, but with the exception of few bigger and less developed states. Further, the study records a negative relationship between economic development and energy poverty, the strength of relationship has increased during the study period. Among the components of economic development, education has a greater impact on reducing energy poverty compared with income. The study observes that energy poverty and socio-economic backwardness in India are highly correlated; Dalits and Adivasis have higher energy poverty and a lower rate in the reduction of energy poverty in comparison with the national average. Energy poverty is lower in urban India in comparison with rural India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • India's emissions and intensity are driven by private consumption, followed by investment and exports. • India's emission increase comes from final demand and production structure changes. • India's increase of household indirect emissions mainly comes from per capita income increase. • India's aggregate embodied intensity by final demand category all increased. • India's aggregate embodied intensity changes mainly determine by production structure changes. Abstract India is the second largest developing country and fourth largest carbon emitter in the world. It has registered the rapid economic growth (7–9%) in the last decade. However, both its total carbon emissions and emission intensity (CO 2 emissions per GDP) kept increasing during period 2007–2013. There are few studies using input-output (I-O) analysis for India's energy/emissions in the literature. This paper tries to fill in the gap by using I-O framework to study India's total emissions and intensity changes and its driving forces with the latest data available and newly proposed techniques. The results show that India's carbon emission were mainly driven by private consumption (50–55%), followed by investment (25–26%) and exports (14–19%). During period 2007/08–2013/14, India's total emissions increased by 56.6%, where total final demand change resulted in emissions increasing and the shift of demand from raw material industry to high-value added manufacturing industry helped to reduce the emissions. When measuring India's relative emission efficiency, its aggregate embodied intensity (AEI) indicator in aggregate was mainly determined by private consumption (47–49%), followed by investment (23–24%) and exports (15–18%). From 2007/08 to 2013/14, the AEI values in aggregate and by final demand category all increased except the AEI of inventory change, mainly caused by production structure change. The emission efficiency improvements helped to reduce India's total emissions and carbon intensity, but the contributions were small. The policy implications of our findings are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the debate on the relationship between public and private investment in India along the following dimensions. First, acknowledging major structural changes that the Indian economy has undergone in the past three decades, we study whether public investment in recent years has become more or less complementary to private investment in comparison to the period before 1980. Second, we construct a novel data-set of quarterly aggregate public and private investment in India over the period 1996–2015 using investment-project data from the CapEx-CMIE database. Third, embedding a theory-driven long-run relationship on the model, we estimate a range of Structural Vector Error Correction Models (SVECMs) to re-examine the public and private investment relationship in India. Identification is achieved by decomposing shocks into those with transitory and permanent effects. Our results suggest that while public investment crowds out private investment in India over the period 1950–2012, the opposite is true when we restrict the sample to post 1980 or conduct a quarterly analysis since 1996. This change can likely be attributed to the policy reforms which started during the early 1980s and gained momentum after the 1991 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the sources of economic growth in Indian economy since the 1980s, with particular focus on the role of information and communication technology (ICT). The impact of ICT on economic growth is analyzed via two main channels. The direct contribution of ICT investment to aggregate economy and manufacturing growth, and the indirect impact of ICT on Total Factor Productivity Growth (TFPG) in ICT using and ICT producing sectors. The results suggest an increasing role of ICT investment in driving aggregate economic growth in India, though largely limited to the service sector. Moreover, the economy has not been successful in spreading the ICT spillover effect across the board, thus limiting the productivity gain from ICT use. Whereas we see an improving productivity growth in ICT using market services and their contribution to aggregate productivity growth, the manufacturing sectors lags quite behind. Indeed, India׳s export oriented ICT sector has helped gain efficiency improvement in its fast growing service economy, while there is still large potential for ICT use in the manufacturing sector. The paper opens further avenues for improving the data on ICT investment, and also stresses the need for more detailed sectoral analysis of the impact of ICT on economic growth, treating computer related and software services separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insatiable appetite for non-renewable fossil fuels in the past has resulted in a plethora of anthropogenic climate changes and pollution across the globe, causing serious threats to human beings and the environment. To avoid this contention, greater use of wind energy could be the solution for economic growth and sustainable environment, in the long run. This paper discusses the ways in which India has started the growth of wind energy and the country’s potential to expand its contribution to meet ever-increasing energy needs. The paper lucidly presents India’s progress to become the top five wind energy producers in the world. This paper also discusses the major achievements, programs, policy, and incentives for the installation of wind power in India. Opportunities and challenges have been discussed along with the ways to remove barriers to achieve higher growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of undernourishment in India – the percent of people consuming insufficient calories to meet their energy requirements – has been rising steadily since the mid 1980s. Paradoxically, this period has been one of robust poverty reduction and rapid economic growth. The reasons for the apparent reductions in calorie consumption underlying increased undernourishment have been the subject of intense debate both within India and internationally. This paper critically reviews this debate, finding that is has taken place outside of the context of India’s recent nutrition and epidemiological transitions, which appear to have brought with them increased, not decreased, food consumption. The debate has also taken place under the unchallenged assumption that the data on which the conflicting trends are based, collected as part of the country’s Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (HCESs), are reliable. The paper provides supporting literature and empirical evidence that a probable key source of the calorie decline is incomplete collection of data on food consumed away from peoples’ homes, which is widespread and rapidly increasing. Complete measurement of this food source in the HCESs of all developing countries is vital for accurate measurement of both undernourishment and poverty – and for resolving the Indian calorie debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapidly increasing energy demand and growing concern about economic and environmental consequences call for renewable/sustainable energy technologies׳ adoption in India. Renewable/sustainable energy technologies have faced a number of constraints that have affected their rate of adoption. In this paper an attempt has been made to identify and rank the major barriers in the adoption of ‘renewable and green’ energy technologies in the Indian context. Twenty-eight barriers have been identified from an extensive literature review. These identified barriers have been categorized into seven dimensions of barriers, i.e. Economical & Financial; Market; Awareness & Information; Technical; Ecological and Geographical; Cultural & Behavioral; and Political & Government Issues. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique has been utilized for ranking of barriers to adopt renewable/sustainable technologies in the Indian context. All pair comparisons in AHP have been made based on experts’ opinions (selected from academia and industry). Sensitivity analysis has also been made to investigate the priority ranking stability of barriers to adopt renewable/sustainable technologies in the Indian context. This paper may help practitioners, regulators and academician focus their future efforts in adoption of ‘renewable/sustainable energy technologies’ in India. Further, this understanding may be helpful in framing the policies and strategies towards adoption of renewable/sustainable energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy planning in many developing Asian countries has neglected the structure of energy demand and how it is likely to evolve as development takes its path. The limited availability of energy consumption data makes it very difficult to assess the energy savings potential at end-use level. Energy planning requires the formulation of a proper modelling framework that supports the definition of energy policies. From the different approaches available, Input - Output (I-O) models are particularly useful, since they allow considering different impacts that can be consistent with different energy policy options. This paper proposes a novel I-O modelling framework by introducing a bottom-up approach into an I-O model which is combined with technical data for the holistic assessment of energy efficient technologies in the residential sector, which can assist energy decision-makers of India on the appraisal of the future impacts of the current national energy saving targets. A large size platform of real data has also been gathered considering different data sources, namely the household building stock characterization, the number of operating days according to the climatic regions of India, the lifetime and the investment cost of equipment. Finally, the main results are discussed and future research opportunities are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Son preference is widespread in a number of developing countries despite substantial improvements in education levels and economic development. One potential explanation for the persistence of this phenomenon is that individual household members like the mother derive large non-monetary benefits from giving birth to a son and therefore prefer boys to girls. Qualitative evidence suggests that such benefits exist and may depend on the child’s age. This paper uses large nationally representative datasets from India and tests whether having a son leads to higher decision-making powers for mothers than having a daughter. Since the number and gender composition of children is likely to be non-random for families that want a son, I focus on first-born children for whom the sex ratio of girls relative to boys is normal. The main analysis also focuses on young children of up to six months, which gives parents little time to adjust desired birth-spacing intervals that could be systematically correlated with decision-making powers and child gender. The results show little evidence of consistently large female benefits shortly after birth, and any positive impacts of having a son disappear after the first six months. There are also no large benefits for adult sons. These empirical patterns do not support qualitative evidence suggesting that women benefit from the birth of a son through larger decision-making powers in the household because of increased respect by other household members. The benefits also do not heavily depend on the child’s age, which is not consistent with a channel predicting a better bargaining position for women with adult sons who start taking over the running of the household. Overall, these results extend our understanding of individual-specific incentives for son preference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Risks due to the occurrence of climatic aberrations pose an impediment to the economic growth of the households in vulnerable regions. The frequency of these events is projected to increase in the foreseeable future, with developing countries being the worst sufferers. Dealing with this appears to be an additional burden on the resources of such countries, a large part of which is already devoted to providing better living standards for its inhabitants. Does this imply that developmental interventions should be discontinued? Is there a link between these programs and adaptation to environmental shocks? In an effort to answer such questions, the paper examines the impact of the developmental schemes on the livelihood of the households in Western Odisha, India and investigates whether they augment post disaster coping and adaptation as well. The results indicate that overall the programs have made an impact concerning their intended goals but the diffusion of benefits across beneficiary groups is heterogeneous. Additionally, the programs have contributed in post disaster coping, but only in the regions where either they performed well or their penetration was extensive. Activities promoting livelihood diversification, food security, and poverty reduction also tacitly facilitate improvements in the resilience of the individuals and communities thereby enhancing their capacity to deal with climatic risks. Policy implication advocates the continuation of developmental interventions. However, realigning their framework to incorporate actions intended toward disaster risk reduction and management would result in more inclusive impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The remarkable growth of mobile communication has reinforced the significance of the radio spectrum for mobile network operators. The availability of spectrum varies considerably between different countries due to national regulatory decisions. The focus in this paper is on India where operators have access to a limited amount of spectrum. This paper analyses the value of spectrum by estimating the opportunity cost, which is calculated by the savings that can be achieved by acquiring appropriate amount of spectrum rather than investing in additional base stations. The applied approach combines network deployment, user demand levels, cost, and capacity issues, which are integrated in the application in the opportunity cost approach for spectrum. The opportunity cost of spectrum is compared with prices paid at spectrum auctions. The analysis includes a discussion of drivers that determine the willingness to pay for spectrum. The results show that the opportunity cost of spectrum in relation to auction prices is lower than prices operators paid for 3G spectrum in the metro circles (service areas) while the value derived from the opportunity cost is higher than auction prices in the remaining circles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Given the benefits of ubiquitous broadband deployment and availability that include economic growth, participation in the Internet economy and increased competitiveness, several countries have launched major national initiatives to accelerate broadband deployment including supporting such initiatives often as a part of their fiscal stimulus plans. These include Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, UK and USA and the European Union as a whole. Despite the initiatives of developing countries, the broadband gap in terms of deployment and adoption between them and developed countries is increasing. There is recognition that there are significant challenges in designing the institutional infrastructure required for broadband deployment, which are accentuated in a developing country context due to the weak existing institutional environment. But since the impact of telecom and, broadband in particular, is more significant in developing countries than in developed ones, policy makers in developing countries are increasingly focusing on National Broadband Plans (NBPs). For example, policy makers in India realize that broadband can accelerate the increasing contribution of the service and knowledge sectors to India's economy and also help to alleviate its poor physical service delivery in areas such as health, education, banking, etc. and have adopted a broadband plan. This paper documents the development of the Indian NBP. Based on prior studies, we identify key factors that contribute to success of broadband deployment and adoption and based on these, we assess the Indian NBP. Further, it uses the framework of multiple streams (Kingdon, 1995) to critique the policy formulation and agenda setting aspects of NBP in an emerging economy. We also highlight the key differences in the policy making processes in developed and developing economies. Given the inter-linkages and complexities of implementing a broadband strategy, we identify the role and attributes of a policy entrepreneur that are critical to evolving the policy, in a developing country context and how these differences lead to the primacy of the role of policy entrepreneur. Thus, the contribution of this paper is in assessing the Indian NBP and providing insights in theoretical aspects of policy making in the realm of broadband in emerging economies, an area that has received little attention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to study the relationship between the demand for human rights and the demand for economic prosperity from the “exit” perspective, looking at migration patterns. We investigate intra-national migration in India, which is a federation of various states that feature significant economic and political differences. The paper finds that the quality of human rights protection and the economic well-being in the target state are substitutes with respect to determining patterns of migration. These results depend on framing effects; human rights complaints appear to be interpreted differently by migrants, depending on the trust in the government in the target state. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: India needs inclusive growth to pull millions out of poverty. Despite the best efforts of mainstream financial institutions, financial exclusion is depriving millions of poor any chance to attain adequate standard of living. Telecommunication infrastructure growth especially mobile phone penetration has created an opportunity for providing financial inclusion. The current state of mobile banking is characterized by a top-down approach. This paper presents a bottom-up approach of designing mobile banking service which would be acceptable and accessible to the poor customers. The results point to clear preference of the urban poor for a joint bank–telecom led mobile banking model. Conjoint analysis of the data points to preference for attributes related to security/safety of a bank along with the coverage, accessibility and nimbleness of a telecom service provider with minimal documentation. The paper in its conclusion exhorts the regulators, telecom service providers and financial institutions to involve end-users in order to create a sustainable mobile banking service for financial inclusion. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: India is facing acute energy shortage that is likely to affect its economic development. There are severe supply side constraints in term of coal and gas shortages that are likely to continue in the near future. Hence, in its current focus to solving the energy shortage problem and sustaining the development trajectory, the country should aim at a balance between supply side and demand side measures. Energy Efficiency in end use is increasingly gaining importance as one of the most cost effective options for achieving short to medium term energy savings. India has initiated the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency under National Action Plan for Climate Change which addresses various aspects of energy efficiency such as technology, financing, fiscal incentive and also creation of energy efficiency as a market instrument. However, even though energy efficiency has substantial scope in the Indian subcontinent, the market for energy efficiency has been limited. This paper discusses the concept of mega Demand Side Management projects as a DSM Power Plant. A DSM Power Plant acts as an umbrella with multiple energy efficiency schemes under its ambit aimed at transforming energy efficiency into a business by providing a push to the scale of operation as well as financial sustenance to energy efficiency projects. This paper expounds on the various aspects of DSM Power Plant in terms of its policy and institutional mechanism for the large scale implementation of energy efficiency in India. This paper provides an illustration of the concept of DSM Power Plant model through a case study in one of the states (Rajasthan) of India. Further, a comparative analysis of the cost of generation from DSM Power Plant and a representative conventional power plant (CPP) in Rajasthan has been undertaken and the DSM Power Plant comes out to be a more cost effective option. The concept of DSM Power Plant will not only address the issue of energy shortages but will also help the financially thwarted utilities to reduce their revenue deficit in the near future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the age of globalization, urban centers, including those in India, are competing with each other to attract business. Arguably, some cities are endowed with a high quality of infrastructure compared to others. In this context, the paper explores the role played by infrastructural development in ensuring attractiveness of cities in India from the standpoint of conducting business. It examines the various aspects of development of infrastructure within a city, including the importance of socioeconomic and environmental issues. The paper presents a strategic model to tackle the problems associated with urban development in India, concluding with a few policy implications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Performance of cities is fundamental in growing the local economy by exploiting the opportunities for development and enhancing competitiveness. Cities engage in regeneration and business strategies linked to the property sector to advance their competitiveness. In this paper, a hierarchical model for city competitiveness linked to regeneration and business strategies is applied to five cities with different economic profile in India. The capacity of the model to evaluate the competitive performance of cities in emerging economies is assessed across three levels – cities, six operational components and 32 identified factors. The paper draws inferences concerning the linkages across regeneration strategies and property-led business strategies to advance the competitiveness of cities in India. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

As the world's fastest growing major economy and home to nearly one-fifth of the worlds population, India a vibrant democracy is in the midst of a profound transformation and rapid urbanization. Urbanization improves the quality of life of people while promoting economic growth; however it also increases energy consumption and is capable of generating an energy crisis. Urbanization has a significant impact on Carbon Dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions as well. This paper empirically investigates the temporal, dynamic and causal relationships between urbanization, energy consumption and emissions. The study also aims to understand the urbanization process in India, in terms of the level and tempo of urbanization and the urban growth morphology, by utilizing the census data of 1901–2011. The rise in energy consumption and resulting emissions in the context of rapid urbanization is also reviewed. To address these problems the study recommends a series of measures and a set of strategies that include energy intensity and emission intensity reduction measures through continuous monitoring, information feedback systems, introduction of industrial energy quota management, incentives for energy efficient facilities, shutting down of inefficient facilities, and setting up of smart residential buildings. Reduction of distribution and transmission losses by investing in smart grids is also highly recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With almost three quarters of the labor force depending on agriculture in India, kick-starting agricultural growth is considered crucial for pro-poor development. More specifically, dairy production – which is labor-intensive but does not heavily rely on access to land – is generally expected to offer better prospects for income growth to the poorest among rural households. However, most policies aimed at increasing dairy production are based on ad hoc observations, with hardly any micro-level evidence. Using a unique primary dataset on 1000 rural households in Andhra Pradesh, this paper investigates the dairy production system, addressing three main research questions: First, we look at the typical profile of a dairy farmer and we find that both family traditions in dairy and owning (even a small piece of) land play a role in determining participation in dairy – while land size does not matter. Second, we show that dairy production is strongly and positively associated with improvement in rural livelihoods, in terms of income per capita, but that this positive relation only holds for larger dairy farms. In a third step, we look at the determinants of farm growth and we find that households having higher shares of graded dairy animals have grown more after 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper attempts to quantify the impact of fiscal decentralization in India on its social infrastructure and on rural development. Overall, the results in this paper indicate that Government of India within a federal framework has been fostering development equitably across its states, particularly through health and education expenditures aimed at improving human capital development. In this context, the importance of the two tier centre-states decentralization should be noted. However, the third tier of local governance, particularly the state-rural local bodies decentralization has been dismal and has not achieved significant results across states, which warrant the attention of the central and state governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper investigates the causality relationships among energy consumption, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and income in India using a dynamic modeling approach. The paper also utilises an innovation accounting method to investigate profiles of the macroeconomic variables persisting from an unanticipated shock in innovation. Our results provide evidence of the existence of bi-directional Granger causality between energy consumption and CO2 emissions in the long-run but neither CO2 emissions nor energy consumption causes movements in real income. There is no causality relationship between energy consumption and income in any direction in the long-run implying that India could follow energy conservation and efficiency improvement policies without impeding economic growth. This will allow India to reduce CO2 emissions without affecting its economic growth and contribute significantly towards combating global warming as well. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: India’s aspiration for economic growth has consequences for energy growth and CO2 emissions. This paper examines India’s need for energy with 20 year perspectives. From an earlier paper by K. Parikh et al. (2009), demand scenario are examined from the supply perspectives ranging from coal, hydrocarbon, nuclear, hydrogen, hydro and other renewable etc. None of these are substantial and India will have to rely on imports. The need for energy has to be reduced by a drive for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Government programmes for the above are also commented upon. Though India’s CO2 emissions are unlikely to grow very much due to energy scarcity and energy mix the article examines the potential to reduce CO2 emissions and the associated costs involved in various options. It finds that 30% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 is feasible but would involve additional costs. The most promising option is to reduce energy demand by various measures to increase energy use efficiency in production and consumption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper in an attempt to examine if the manufacturing sector is still the engine of growth delineates the inter-connections among several activities based on time series data on employment in different components of the organized sector in India. The analysis is pursued in the vector auto-regression (VAR) framework taking into account the results of variance decomposition analysis and the impulse response function. The findings suggest that some of the activities are growing independent of the manufacturing sector. Nevertheless manufacturing, construction and community, social and personal services are the most important drivers. Finally, the paper predicts the informal sector employment based on the magnitude of employment in different components of the organized or formal sector. Given the narrow margin of error of forecast the paper argues that in the absence of time series information on total employment, the time series on organized sector employment can be used for necessary predictions and planning required for employment and poverty. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Public participation is generally assumed to be a necessary if not fundamental condition for development. Most studies do not, however, question the kind and level of collective action that would be desirable. This paper provides a novel empirical analysis of the impact of collective action on economic development using data for South India. The paper models collective action as endogenous to economic development and distinguishes between its static and dynamic properties. The results show that while excessive activism may harm state income, collective action in the context of responsible bargaining systems may contribute toward increased economic development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although small-scale mining provides a wealth of socioeconomic benefits to the rural inhabitants of developing countries, there is often total disregard for the environment industry-wide. This paper focuses upon some of the key environmental issues in the Indian small-scale mining industry. The geo-environmental factors constraining the mining of the Himalayan limestone, magnetite, phosphate, and polymetallic sulphur ore deposits are discussed, and the environmental impacts of small-scale operations working prospective deposits are detailed. The paper further examines the schematics of the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) adopted for small-scale mines in India. It is concluded, however, that widespread environmental improvement can only be achieved industry-wide if additional mining cooperatives are formed, and the Indian Government, through their Department of Environment, oversees the implementation of effective mitigation practices for small scale-mines, particularly at the university level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In India, power shortage is a major issue for economical growth. According to the data provided by National Load Despatch Centre, peak power shortage in Tamilnadu during the year 2014 varies between 3000 MW and 4000 MW. This power shortage can be reduced by increasing installed capacity of conventional and non-conventional energy sources. But the construction of new generation plants is cost-effective and also power generation is not assured throughout the year. This power shortage can also be minimized by implementing load management in the consumer side. This paper focuses on the reduction of peak demand by the proper operating schedule of major equipments. For this analysis, three rice industries have been considered. The major operating sections in the rice industries are pre-cleaning, soaking, pre-milling and milling. In this proposed work, to reduce the peak demand, the operating time of pre-milling section is rescheduled using the optimization techniques, DE (Differential Evolution), PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) and ABC (Artificial Bee Colony). The rescheduled results given by DE, PSO and ABC algorithms reduce the peak demand cost of the energy consumed in three rice industries. However, the optimum scheduling obtained by ABC reduces the feeder power flow than the DE and PSO scheduling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary The last two decades of high economic growth in India has been accompanied by increasing economic inequality. The rise in inequality raises concerns about fall in opportunities for social mobility. This paper examines changes in intergenerational occupational mobility for males in India over three decades (1983–2012). Once we control for changes in occupational structure across the years, we find a decline in intergenerational occupational mobility during 1983–2012 in India. However, the decline in intergenerational occupational mobility was sharper for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, historically deprived sections of the Indian population, than for non-Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conversion of land to urban uses is one of the most visible changes accompanying economic development. Debate about urban expansion and its impact on food security in countries such as India often relies on dated and incomplete evidence. This paper uses satellite-detected luminosity from 1992 to 2012 to examine urban expansion in India, for 47 agglomerations that each had at least one million people at the time of the 2011 census. The trend annual expansion rate is 2.4% and was significantly faster in the decade to 2001 than in the most recent decade. Most of the land converted to urban use had been woodland, shrub, or grassland and just one-quarter was formerly cropland. Expansion rates vary across agglomerations and are fastest in the south of India and for areas with shorter growing periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has witnessed high economic growth since the 1980s, and a confirmed reduction in monetary poverty, particularly in poorer states. Poverty, however, has multiple dimensions. This paper thoroughly analyzes the change in multidimensional poverty in India between 1999 and 2006. We find a strong reduction in national poverty and each of its dimensions, but this has not been uniform across regions, castes, or religions. Probing further, we analyze changes in the distribution among the poor people nationally as well as within population subgroups. We find strong reductions among the poorer population nationally, but slower progress for most of the poorest groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Unlike migration, scant attention has been paid to the phenomenon of commuting by workers in developing countries. This paper fills this gap by using a nationally representative data set from India to analyze factors that affect the decision of workers to commute across rural and urban areas daily. Our results suggest that regions with large peripheral urban areas or concentration of secondary sector jobs are more likely to have commuting workers. Regional rural and urban unemployment rates and rural–urban wage differentials are important push and pull factors in the decision to commute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and India, with their huge populations (37% of the world total), have been experiencing high economic growth rates of 7 to 12% in the last two decades. This has led to major changes in the levels and patterns of their food consumption and food buying behavior. This paper examines the rise and transformation of food demand in these two large emerging economies and the possible implications for the food security challenge. Data from the latest consumer surveys of the Government of India covering about 100,000 households and similar data from China are used. Tabulation and econometric analysis indicate that food demand is undergoing a huge transformation and will undergo further change. Consumers are rapidly increasing their consumption of animal products, vegetables and fruits, and reducing their consumption of cereals. Results show high income elasticities of demand for many food products such as animal products, processed foods, and also eating-out-of-home in both rural and urban areas. In India, given the vegetarian diets, the biggest component emerges to be dairy products, but the consumption of vegetables, meat and eggs is also growing rapidly. Supply is frequently unable to keep pace with the demand, resulting in high food price inflation. In China, the demand for foods of higher value, such as meats, dairy products and aquatic products is growing strongly. Urbanization is also having a significant impact. The numerous challenges include not only managing the supply but also the food supply chain, marketing, food safety and food processing. The changes pose an opportunity as well as a new food security challenge for these countries and the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates whether the religious identity of state legislators in India influences development outcomes, both for citizens of their religious group and for the population as a whole. Using an instrumental variables approach derived from a regression discontinuity, we find that increasing the political representation of Muslims improves health and education outcomes in the district from which the legislator is elected. We find no evidence of religious favoritism: Muslim children do not benefit more from Muslim political representation than children from other religious groups. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper analyzes the macroeconomic determinants of portfolio flows to India and finds that lower exchange rate volatility and greater risk diversification opportunities are conducive to portfolio flows. However, higher equity returns of other emerging markets discourage these flows. Other conventional determinants of portfolio flows are domestic equity performance, exchange rate, interest rate differential and domestic output growth. An analysis of disaggregated portfolio flows shows that determinants of FIIs are similar to aggregate portfolio flows, while ADR/GDRs are significantly influenced only by domestic equity returns, exchange rate, domestic output growth, and foreign output growth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the past two decades, ground source heat pump (GSHP) system has made good impact on energy saving in the Western and European countries in heating/cooling and industrial applications. Their potential for reduction in CO2 emission has been very well utilized by these countries to contribute to a green environment. In this paper an attempt is made to give an overview about how India can benefit from this technology. The economic growth of India has huge impact on energy and environment of the country. Though Indian building sector is growing in multifold, still there is a demand for electricity to meet the needs of people. Any technology to reduce energy consumption will have great impact on people's life and economy. In this way a study has been carried out to estimate, to what extend the ground source heat pump technology can help India to reduce its energy demand and also save the environment. This study covers 10 provinces of northern part of India which require both heating and cooling. Based on the topography of the states, they are classified into severe winter states and moderate winter states for heating requirement. During winter period the conventional electric heaters consume electricity between 1416 and 7085GW annually and for the same heating load GSHP consumes only 471–1416GW. In summer months the electricity consumed by conventional air conditioner ranges between 5506 and 27,532GW and by GSHP it varies from 4811 to 14,440GW. The annual CO2 emission by the conventional systems used for heating and cooling vary between 5270 and 26,352millionkg of CO2. In the case of GSHP CO2 emission lies between 4022 and 12,071millionkg. It is estimated that by employing GSHP technology India can save annually a minimum electricity of 1639–18,700GW and CO2 emission of 1.3–14.2 million tons. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper employs (1) a three-sector structuralist model of development with informal and formal activities and (2) a global one-sector model with demand determined outputs and bargained distribution to investigate whether India's growth performance can be sustained, where the country might face constraints to growth, and how India's growth matters in the global economy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: India’s aviation industry promises huge growth potential due to a large and growing middle class population, favourable demographics, rapid economic growth, higher disposable incomes, and overall low air transport penetration levels of less than 3%. However, the Indian Aviation Industry has been going through a turbulent phase over the past several years, facing multiple and prolonged difficulties through which carriers are continuously underperforming financially. After conducting a set of expert interviews backed by a statistical analysis of secondary data, this paper concludes that restrictions on foreign ownership, outdated regulatory policies and overtaxed fuel, overlain by industry wide overcapacity issues are the major contributing factors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Because of globalization and liberalization of the world-economy policy reforms, emerging economies have been gained popularity in academic research, especially the economics and finance areas. Indeed, India is next to China in Asian emerging markets. As of economic-policy reforms implemented in 1991, a number of sectors are being developed and restructured via mergers and acquisitions (M&As) particularly the banking sector. In this paper, we discuss India's economic-policy and financial reforms, M&As market during 2006–2010, and other policy-related aspects. In this setting, we investigate the Axis Bank–Enam Securities investment banking merger occurred in 2010. To do so, we perform ex-ante analysis by using the event study method, and offer lawful proposals to the ex-post for financial development, economic growth, and banking sector as well. We then draw fruitful conclusions through triangular linkage between the select case, post-deregulation guidelines and the current investment banking trends. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper empirically examined the causality between electricity consumption and economic growth in two densely populated countries in South Asia, India and Pakistan. The causality analysis was estimated at aggregated and disaggregated level where the focus of the analysis was on the agricultural sector. The disaggregated causality analysis indicated a bi-directional causality between the agricultural electricity consumption and the agricultural GDP in India, while in Pakistan the causality was found to run from agricultural GDP to agricultural electricity consumption. At the aggregated level, India confirmed conservation hypothesis while Pakistan confirmed feedback hypothesis. From the public policy point of view, it can be inferred that, at the macro level, any electricity conservation measures in India will not have an affect on India's increasing economic growth prospects and hence a policy-favourite supply-enhancement strategy in the form of increasing electricity generation needs to be balanced with a demand-management strategy. In case of Pakistan any such policy recommendation is difficult given the bidirectional nature of causality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The growing economy with corresponding increase in power demand causes more challenges in power sector of developing countries. In India, the increase in peak power demand necessitates energy storage schemes over and above the storage—hydro-, oil- and gas-based peak power plants to ensure power system stability. In utility energy storage schemes, the Pumped storage schemes attract more attention even in the developed countries due to its unique operational flexibility over other energy storage systems. In India, the availability of suitable topographies, hydro-thermal ratio imbalance in various regions, and optimal storage capacity for flexible power system operation gives a thought for the planers and executors to implement these schemes to meet peak demands. This paper presents a critical review of the necessity of pumped storage schemes in India. This review reveals that the major constraint for pumped storage operation in India is the deficit of off-peak power available in all the regional grids except north-east region for pumping at present. But the current adversity is likely to be gradually solved by the commissioning of newly proposed power projects. Fixing of a separate operational tariff for pumped storage schemes throughout the country is another requirement for which the government has set up a one man committee to analyze the feasibility for this peak tariff. Non-availability of lower tail pools and irrigation needs also causes poor pumping operations in some cases. However, most of the states in India are evincing interest in pumped storage schemes and proposals are being submitted to central government for securing stations clearance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The future economic growth for India is likely to result in rapid and accelerated surge in energy demand, with expected shortages in terms of supply. Many of its current policies and strategies are aimed at the improvement and possible maximization of energy production from the renewable sector. It is also clear that while energy conservation and energy efficiency can make an important contribution, renewable energies will be essential to the solution and are likely to play an increasingly important role for providing enhanced energy access, reducing consumption of fossil fuels, and helping India pursue its low-carbon progressive pathway. However, most of the states in India, like the northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir, have experienced an energy crisis over a sustained period of time and the government both at center and state level has to embark upon with these pressing issues in a more sustainable manner and accordingly initiate various renewable energy projects within these states. This paper will provide a broad-spectrum view about the energy situation within Jammu and Kashmir and will highlight the current policies along with future strategies for the optimal utilization of renewable energy resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper explores macroeconomic policies that can sustain structural change in China and India. A two-sector open-economy model with endogenous productivity growth, demand driven output and income distribution as an important determinant of economic activity is calibrated to a 2000 SAM for China and a 1999/2000 SAM for India. Short-run analysis concerns temporary equilibria for output, productivity and employment growth rates in the formal sector. In the long-run, the model allows for multiple equilibria which can describe cases of (a) underdevelopment and structural heterogeneity or (b) sustained growth and development. Several simulation exercises are conducted. Specifically, we consider how changes in investment, wages, labor productivity trend and a depreciation of currency affect the macroeconomy and job creation in the formal sector. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]