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Purpose: Farmer producer organisations (FPOs) are considered as a strategy to improve the livelihoods of small farmers through economies of scale by providing collective strength to farmers for improved access to production technology, value-addition services, high-quality inputs and marketing services for improving their incomes. This study investigates the impact of FPO membership on organic farming household's income in Northeast India. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses field survey data collected from all four districts of Sikkim. Primary data were obtained from a survey of 560 organic farming households, 280 of which are FPO members and the rest 280 are non-members. Propensity score matching (PSM) is used to estimate the impact of FPO membership on net returns, return on investment (ROI) and profit margin. Findings: Results show that the FPO members had, on average, Rs. 7,254–8,133 higher annual net returns, 4.6–4.8% higher ROI and 8–8.4% higher profit margin than the non-members. The findings confirm that FPO membership has a positive and significant impact on net returns, return on investment and profit margin. Also, heterogeneity analysis indicates that FPO membership has larger positive impact on relatively bigger farmers and female-headed households. Research limitations/implications: As the study was based on a cross-sectional survey, the findings may be subjected to some limitations. Originality/value: This study is based on a novel data set, collected specifically to examine the economic impact of FPO membership on organic farming in India. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2023-0451 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the role of corporate governance on the bank profitability of Indian banks vis-à-vis South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations. Design/methodology/approach: For the Corporate Governance Index, the authors examined board accountability, transparency and disclosure and audit committee, while Tobin's Q, return on equity and return on assets are used to measure the bank's profitability. The study used a two-stage analysis based on balanced panel data for robust findings. Sample of this study consists of 60 commercial banks from India and 60 banks from SAARC nations for the period of 2009–2021. This study used panel regression and a generalized method of moment approach using the CAMELS framework on banking industry-specific variables to determine their respective impacts. Findings: The findings of this study suggest that board accountability is positive and significantly affects the profitability of banks as indicated by return on assets, return on equity and Tobin's Q. In contrast, the audit committee has a positive and insignificant impact on return on assets, return on equity and Tobin's Q, while transparency and disclosure have a negative and significant impact on these metrics. Furthermore, the country dummy result shows a significant positive impact on all the bank performance parameters, implying that Indian banks have the highest degree of convergence with corporate governance as compared to other SAARC nations. Research limitations/implications: This study provides insight to the regulators, policymakers and financial institutions to evaluate the role of corporate governance in emerging economies. However, the findings of the study should be interpreted with caution, as the results are sensitive to the disparity between India and other SAARC nations' government policies, climatic circumstances and cultural or religious traditions. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to gauge the performance of Indian banks vis-à-vis SAARC nations using the CAMELS framework approach. Further, findings of this study suggest some novel evidence tying corporate governance quality with the profitability of banks among SAARC nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unsatisfactory performance of public sector made the Government introduce Memorandum of understanding and disinvestment. This study has been undertaken to analyze the performance of memorandum of understanding signed firms over the years. In addition, the performance of MoU-signed disinvested and MoU-signed non-disinvested firms have also been examined. Performance has been analysed using different ratios; return on equity, return on assets, net income productivity per employee and sales productivity per employee. In-line to analyze the effectiveness of data, random effect panel regression has been used to study the performance of sixty MoU signed PSEs for 15 years (2004-2018). The results indicate that the profitability of MoU signed non-disinvested firms is better than MoU signed disinvested firms. This could be possibly due to the more substantial managerial autonomy impact on the performance. Assets turnover ratio, leverage, and age have a significant effect on the performance of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As an emerging technology, Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) and blockchain have the potential to disrupt many areas of business and social structure. However, it is loaded with significant technical, social, legal, financial and ethical complications that bring difficulty in its widespread use within the public distribution system (PDS). This research aims to analyze the barriers to integrated RFID and blockchain adoption in developing countries' PDS. Furthermore, this study also aims to validate the proposed framework against the Indian PDS. Design/methodology/approach: The proposed framework consists of 10 potential barriers to integrated RFID and blockchain adoption. To identify the barriers, this study referred to the extant literature followed by consultations with domain experts. This study prepared the DEMATEL-based questionnaires, collected the data from four domain experts and analyzed them using an integrated Grey-DEMATEL approach. Findings: The obtained results provide a precise list of barriers and the correlations among them. From the results, it is concluded that the unavailability of a skilled workforce at affordable cost, lack of knowledge about privacy level and unclear return on investment and benefits are the most critical blockchain adoption barriers in the context of Indian PDS. Originality/value: This research proposes a framework consisting of 10 integrated RFID and blockchain adoption barriers in relation to Indian PDS. It also proposes a method for analyzing causal interrelationships between the barriers while allowing for data input from domain experts. Consequently, the framework is capable of coping with experts' biases and data scarcity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to provide a holistic view of the emergence of shareholder activism (SA) in India. However, specifically, this study aims at fulfilling the research gap by discussing the policy and legal advancement in the area of SA and investigating the chronological evolution of SA, manifestations of SA, motives of SA, outcome of SAs and impact of SA on the financial performance of the firm. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a mixed methodology (both qualitative and quantitative) to draw inferences, including content analysis, descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test. The data has been collected from the annual reports of the sample companies and the Prowess database. Return on assets and return on equity have been used as measures of financial performance while investigating the difference in financial performance between firms subjected to SA and firms not subjected to SA. Findings: The findings of this study suggest that there has been significant growth in the occurrence of SA incidents in India in the past decade, with shareholders prominently manifesting by opposing the proposals at annual general meetings/extraordinary general meetings, mostly involving governance-related demands. The findings from the independent sample t-tests revealed that there has been a significant difference in the financial performance of the sample subjected to SA and firms not subjected to SA. Furthermore, the results of the paired sample t-test provide strong evidence of significant improvement in the financial performance of firms' post-SA. Practical implications: The findings of this study have implications for various stakeholders. The findings of this study suggest that SA has been relatively more successful in the Indian context and may encourage minority shareholders to follow active participation through shareholder proposals and votes rather than a passive strategy to trade and exit. For firms, it can provide valuable inferences about the emergence of SA and how it has a positive impact on the financial performance of the firm, which can lead to a change in the perception of investors and promoters who perceive SA as a threat (Gillan and Starks 2000; Hartzell and Starks, 2003). For policymakers, it can act as a tool to investigate whether the regulatory changes have been able to bring the intended transparency, accountability and enhanced shareholder participation. This will encourage policymakers to be more agile, as their efforts are bearing fruit. This will also act as a guide to formulating future policies and regulations. Originality/value: This study is an effort to provide a holistic view of SA scenarios in a developing economy setting like India, where SA is a very recent phenomenon. Although there are studies in the area of SA, there is a dearth of studies that have investigated the various dimensions of SA in the Indian context in a very systematic and extensive manner, investigating all the different dimensions of SA. Furthermore, this study also intends to investigate the impact of SA, which is normally perceived as a threat to financial performance and provide valuable contrasting evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several authors have stated that the board of directors serve as the most crucial internal mechanism for improving a company's performance. On the other hand, prior studies argue that the board did not serve its purpose of safeguarding the stakeholders' interests equally and improving the performance of companies. It has piqued the interest of regulatory organisations all around the world, including in India. However, out of the several reforms introduced in India, board size is one of the most significant. As a result, the present study scrutinises the non-linear influence of board size on the performance of 213 Indian companies for 2001–2019. Tobin's Q and Return on Equity (ROE) are the study's performance metrics. The fixed effect panel regression findings depict that board size has an inverted U-shaped non-linear impact, i.e., initially, the performance improves, but after board size reaches a particular point, it diminishes. Thus, this study supports the recent changes made by the regulatory bodies about board size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The present study aims to verify whether there is a positive (negative) role being played by the institutional investors on the loss-making companies' performance. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employ panel data regression and two-step system generalised method of moments (SYS-GMM) to test the above objective. Findings: The empirical results clearly show that no positive relation is found between institutional investors and loss-making companies' performance. Research limitations/implications: The findings of the study might have significant implications for firms to improve the firms' operational performance [return on assets (ROA)]. Also, the firm's financial performance [return on equity (ROE)] could be improved by increasing profitability which will reflect in the share prices of the firms whereby the performance can build the investors' confidence over the firm. Market performance (Tobin's Q) could be increased by providing more attractive offers and discounts to customers to capture the business opportunities available in the market. Practical implications: The overall findings might have for reaching implications in the manufacturing sector with regard to allowing (disallowing) institutional investors. Social implications: The results of the study may help both companies and institutional investors. Originality/value: This is the maiden attempt to study whether loss-making companies could be positively (negatively) impacted by the arrival of sophisticated institutional investors [foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs)]. Further, this study is largely different from previous studies in terms of using new variables which are related to firm characteristics and valuation multiples. Further, seeing if the institutional investors tend to enhance the firm performance is curious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, Goods and Services Tax (GST), introduced on July 1, 2017, has immensely affected the functioning and financial performance of different manufacturing companies. DuPont analysis model is used in this paper for scrutinizing the essential financial performance of such companies. It is an expedient system for decomposing the different drivers of Return on Equity (ROE) that help investors to focus on the key financial aspects, demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of different companies. The study empirically analyzes the impact of GST on the financial performance of selected manufacturing companies in India, using five-step DuPont model, whereby the Net Income Margin has been brokendown to demonstrate how tax and interest affect ROE, considering financial performance before and after implementation of GST. Moreover, statistical tools like mean, standard deviation, paired correlation, matrix paired t-test and ANOVA test have been used to analyze the data and justify the objectives of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The decision to select one amongst many choices of higher education institutions (HEIs) is a complex process. At a theory-building level, this study investigates the determinants of students' decisions as they consider investing in a long-term credence service higher education (HE) contract in pre- and in-pandemic and the implications for education managers. The second aspect is how disruptive global events influence such choice-making. Design/methodology/approach: The study hypothesized that there would be significant differences in the driving factors and their weight in students' decisions seeking admission into B-schools (Business schools). Structural equation modeling (SEM) and t-test validate the determinants and test hypothesized differences. Findings: Results reveal that core faculty quality, industry exposure, institutional brand name, placement offered, return on investment and specializations offered are the preferred choice criteria. The results reveal that choice criteria in the pre-and in-pandemic differ significantly. Originality/value: The application of the SEM approach on a large primary database of students during the pre and in-pandemic periods to understand the changes in the choice of B-school for admission is the original aspect of the paper. Insights from the four hypotheses which got rejected provide value to stakeholders. As the pandemic is rearing its head once again across the globe, this study would be able to inform admissions managers on how to navigate for admissions success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capital Structure (CS) of an organization and its composition has always affected its business performance and value creation. The selection of appropriate CS helps an organization to sustain its growth in the future. It is dependent on the level of financial leverage it is going to consider for optimal combination of CS. The study explores the impact of financial leverage on the business results of manufacturing firms in emerging economies like India for the period 2011 to 2021. The choice of appropriate combination of debt level will affect the profitability of a firm. It was found that there is an inverse association between Short-Term Debt (STD), Long-Term Debt (LTD) and size and business performance of the manufacturing industry in India. An empirical model was developed to analyze the impact on Return On Equity (ROE), Return on total Assets (ROA) and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), which was found to be significant and established a negative association with financial leverage of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the determinants of commercial banks' performance in India over the period from 2000 to 2017 with special reference to the macroeconomic factors. Considering return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and net interest margin (NIM) as the measure of performance, we have chosen a panel of public and private sector commercial banks of our country. Taking some macro variables such as GDP, inflation and lending interest rate as the prime explanatory variables along with some bank-specific and macroeconomic control variables, first difference generalized method of moments (GMM) method has been applied to observe the impact of these macroeconomic factors on the performance of commercial banks. Results indicate that external variables significantly affect commercial banks' performance and these findings remain unaltered with the sequential inclusion of all control variables. This work has immense importance to the bankers, planners and policymakers in shaping appropriate policy decisions for the commercial banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to represent an attempt to empirically capture the impact of disinvestment on the financial and operating performance of Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd. listed central public sector enterprises in India which got divested through stock market mechanism. Design/methodology: The study is the descriptive study and based on the secondary data. Through ratio analysis different ratios such as profitability ratios, efficiency ratios, solvency ratio and liquidity ratios have been computed. Five years pre-and five years postdisinvestment financial performance of the firms during 2013 to 2022 is examined through mean value and paired t-test. Findings: The financial performance of MIDHANI is compared in four terms of ratio, which are, profitability ratio, efficiency ratio, liquidity ratio and solvency ratio. The descriptive statistics mean value, standard deviation and paired T-test shows that there is no significant improvement in the financial ratios postdisinvestment. Only three ratios that is return on equity, earning per share and debt/equity ratio shows positive effect after disinvestment. The decline in the return on capital employed ratio and return on asset ratio indicate the firm is not utilizing its capital efficiently. The results reveal that there is improvement in debt/equity ratio which means the equity of company shareholder is bigger and it does not require any money to finance its business and operation to growth. Originality/Value: This study will be helpful for researcher seeking information on impact of disinvestment on PSU Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to compute various measures to examine the determinants of financial profitability for the listed Indian public sector banks. This paper will also identify the relationship between the return on equity (ROE) and other independent variables of the Indian banking sector, including all public sector banks, over the past 11 years, starting from April 1, 2009, to March 31, 2020. Therefore, a sample of 12 registered public banking companies and a total of 120 balanced observations are selected for the purpose of analysis. The author has used financial profitability as a dependent variable, represented by the return on equity (ROE), and return on assets (ROA), financial leverage (FL), and credit deposit ratio (CDR) as independent variables. In this study, both fixed effects and the random effects model have been used to look at panel data regression. The author also confirmed both panel techniques with Hausman test-correlated random effects, a widely used procedure for selecting a panel effect. For testing series stationarity, the author used the PP-Fisher 2; ADF-Fisher 2; Levin, Lin, and Chu t; Im, Pesaran, and Shin W-stat; and Breitung t-stat. The results show that return on assets (ROA) and financial leverage (FL) increased the effectiveness of banks in India, while the credit deposit ratio (CDR) reduced the profitability of all public sector banks in India. Only two variables, FL and ROA, were found significant under public sector banks, while taking ROE as the dependent variable. On the other hand, the overall PSB data showed that the CDR reduced the profitability of total PSBs in India. The conclusion of this study will help policymakers, financial managers, and investors in making investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual Capital (IC) is a driving force behind the financial performance of non-financial firms. Investing in intellectual and physical capital allows companies to optimize their financial performance by maximizing resource utilization. This study aims to determine whether IC efficiency impacts the financial performance of listed Pakistani and Indian companies between 2010 and 2020. Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) are used to calculate financial performance, and IC is calculated using the modified Value-Added Intellectual Coefficient (MVAIC) model. Regression analysis is performed using the STATA software developed by the South Texas Art Therapy Association. Human Capital (HC), Structural Capital (SC), and Capital Employed (CE) have a significant impact on Pakistani and Indian firms' financial performance. Resource-based theory (RBT) supports these findings. The findings should provide management with a prompt to improve financial performance and emphasize the importance of IC. A rare study has addressed the impact of IC on firm financial performance using the MVAIC model, rather than the VAIC model, in Pakistan and India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human resource analytics (HRA), adopted by firms in India and across the globe, is forecasted to increase at a decent pace, as reported by various market research firms. However, few studies have explained that mixed benefits may be due to differences in company HR practices. This research paper studies HR adoption at the firm level in the Indian context. Data from 116 Indian BSE listed companies for the 2018-2019 period is investigated using propensity score matching (PSM) followed by linear regression analysis. The result reveals that HR analytics firms have a higher return on investment. Our findings will prove helpful to firms who wish to adopt HRA practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary (Urban) Cooperative Banks (UCBs) in India operate under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act of 1949 - As Applicable to Cooperative Societies (AACS). Considering the large heterogeneity in their asset sizes and the absence of any regulatory cap on their leverages, the principal objective of this paper is to understand the interrelationship of their leverage and scale of operations with financial performance. The analysis, based on a three-year pooled data sample of 140 well-distributed UCBs, shows a significant difference across the capital adequacy, leverage and Net Interest Margin (NIM), based on the scale of operations, but due to heterogeneous and skewed distribution of UCBs in terms of asset size, the impact of the scale of operations on the financial performance does not manifest very clearly. It, however, shows that the scale of operations is unrelated to the incidence of non-performing advances. Further, UCBs with higher leverages do not show superior financial performance in terms of key financial variables. However, banks with higher leverage do gain in terms of their Return on Equity (ROE). These findings provide nuanced guidance to the UCBs and are also useful for regulatory policymaking on the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of the present study is to examine the impact of country‐level corporate governance on the profitability of Indian banks using a sample of 61 banks that is, 42 private and 19 public banks. The study employs descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis of two‐way variable intercept random effect model, and robustness checks including robust regression, Generalized Methods of Moments, and Panel Correction Standard Error. The results reveal that country‐level corporate governance has a significant impact on the profitability of Indian banks. Private banks demonstrate better performance over public banks and the effect of country‐level governance on the profitability of private banks is positive and it is better than public banks. Further, the results show that demonetisation has a significant negative impact on the profitability of Indian banks as measured by Return on Assets and Return on Equity, but it also has a significant positive effect in the case of Net Interest Margin. The findings of the current study have considerable implications for regulators, policymakers, bankers, analysts, and academicians. Regulations and several policy measures could be introduced to improve the profitability of Indian banks. To promote greater transparency, better accountability, strong rule of law, and corporate governance, corruption must be eliminated to enhance higher profitability of Indian banks. This paper presents novel evidence linking country‐level corporate governance to the profitability of banks in the context of India, as an emerging economy. Therefore, it bridges an existing gap in the body of literature on the profitability of banks in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of audit committee characteristics and external audit quality on the performance of non-financial public limited companies listed on the National Stock Exchange 100. Design/methodology/approach: One-way random effect panel data regression was applied to 74 non-financial firms in the Nifty 100 from 2014 until 2019. The overall audit committee index and external audit index were built based on the new Indian Companies Act, 2013 and on a review of the literature to capture the impact of the new Act on firm financial performance. Findings: The outcome of the study revealed that there is lack of evidence to show that audit committee characteristics improve the performance of top Indian non-financial listed firms. However, external audit quality was found to have a significant positive impact on the financial performance of firms as measured by Tobin's Q, while firm size and leverage were found to have a significant impact on the financial performance of firms as measured by return on assets and return on equity. Practical implications: This paper will be greatly beneficial for financial practitioners and policymakers because it provides practical suggestions and recommendations about the types of external audit that are indispensable for the overall effectiveness and performance of firms. The study findings may also aid strategic policy formulation and execution for better corporate governance practices for the purpose of profit and wealth maximisation. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, to date, no previous research has evaluated the effects of audit committee features and external audit quality on the financial performance of firms in India after the implementation of the new Companies Act, 2013. Hence, this study fills this void in the present literature by examining the overall features of the audit committee and external audit and their impact on firm performance in the setting of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As per the All India Survey on Higher Education 2019-20 there are 1043 universities 42342 colleges and 11779 standalone institutes in India. In spite of having quite a huge number of higher education institutes in India many of the educational institutes are finding it difficult to fill in their intake capacity. Hence it becomes very essential for the higher education institutes to identify the factors that influences the decision of the students in selection of higher education institutes. If the factors are identified and corrective steps are taken by the higher education institutes the gross enrolment ratio of each institute can be enhanced. This research paper makes an attempt to bridge the gap between the higher educational institutes and the expectations of the students. The study considered the opinions of 25 students studying in the Mumbai and Navi Mumbai region. The study concluded that the most important factors considered by the students while selecting a Higher Education Institution are curriculum, specialisation offered by the institute, and return on investment. Hence it becomes imperative for the educational institutes to concentrate on these factors to enhance their enrolment ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims at finding a relationship between audit committee characteristics and firm performance of companies listed on the Indian Stock Exchange. Fixed Effect Panel Data Regression was employed on the data of 178 companies for a period of eight years. The results found that the audit committee characteristics (size, independence, and number of meetings) are in significant positive relationship with Tobin's Q, a market-based performance measure. However, only the impact of audit committee size is found to have a positive and significant impact on Return on Equity (ROE). The number of board level committee meetings has a positive and significant impact on Tobin's Q and negative and significant impact on ROE. The results of the present study can be used by policymakers and regulators who are involved directly or indirectly in pondering corporate governance reforms. The results are also beneficial for the managers, investors, and minority shareholders as they are concerned with the performance of the firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper seeks to present the concept for the application of the principle of ‘Caveat Venditor’ or ‘Seller Beware’ in Higher Education and Healthcare sectors in India. Simply, this principle imposes a greater responsibility on the sellers themselves for the goods and services that they sell. This note presents the need for implementing the ‘Caveat Venditor’ principle to the two important service sectors in India, i.e., higher education and healthcare. In terms of cost, there has been a steady and steep rise in cost of both higher education and healthcare in India over the last decade. It is important to note that despite the steep rise in the cost of both higher education and healthcare, there has been no corresponding improvement in the quality of these services. While the ROI (Return on Investment) for students in India continues to be extremely low, quality of healthcare in India is still not up to the mark and lack of accountability from these service providers ensures that this trend continues. In view of the importance and spectacular growth potential of these two service sectors in India, coupled with the non-commensurate improvement in quality/outcomes/accountability of these services, the time is right to examine if the application of the principle of ‘Caveat Venditor’ is the only solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articles highlight the return volatility, return on investment of goal, and real estate in India. Returns on investment of gold and real estate are determined through generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity dynamic conditional correlation. The global financial and monetary market has been diverted through economic cruises that have made the monetary market highly volatile. Diversification of investment into various instruments such as gold and real estate leads to the investment opportunity to the financial and monetary market. Significant amounts of investors in India are affected by the volatility in the return of gold and investment. A financial market investment has been shifted away from gold and real estate. By the year 2021, India's real estate will reach US$ 180 billion. The housing sector in India is considered to be 11% of India's GDP. Gold and real estate have a major contribution to the total investment of the Indian market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to investigate the pricing impact of positive and negative accrual-based earnings management on stock returns. The study considers the moderating role of different cross-sectional effects, namely market effect, size effect, value effect, and momentum effect while examining the association between earnings management and stock return. The pricing impact is examined through univariate, bivariate portfolio methodology, and Fama–MacBeth cross-sectional regression. Based on a sample of 3085 Bombay Stock Exchange-listed stocks, results exhibit that investors perceive positive and negative earnings management differently. It has been found that investors demand a higher premium for stocks with negative earnings management, whereas investors hold stocks with positive earnings management at a lower rate of return. These findings are robust after controlling for cross-sectional effects. The study is among the pioneering attempts to examine the pricing impact of accrual earnings management by taking into account the direction (positive and negative earnings management) as well as the endogeneity nature of earnings management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the impact of Domestic Institutional Ownership (DIO) upon firm performance in India using panel data for NSE 500 companies from 2010 to 2016. The study finds DIO to have a positive impact on Tobin's Q in panel regressions-fixed effects after using controls such as firm age, size, leverage, marketing intensity, foreign institutional ownership and promoter ownership. The study also tests the impact of Mutual Fund Ownership (MFO) and the impact of Banks, Development Financial Institutions (DFI), Insurance companies' (BFII) ownership separately and found MF has a positive impact on Tobin's Q. The study observed that all variables DIO, MF and BFII had no impact on Return on Assets (ROA) but BFII is found to have a negative impact on Return on Equity (ROE). The study found a positive impact of Mutual Funds (MFs) and a negative impact of 'Banks, FIs and Insurance companies' on firm performance in India. The paper contributes to the empirical literature on institutional ownership and firm performance in emerging economies. It has important implications for firms, investors, corporate policy makers and researchers particularly, in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper intends to measure the effects of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&As) on the stock prices and Financial Performance (FP) of the acquirer banks in India. A list of 28 M&As concerning acquirer banks registered on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), is used in this study. Event study analysis is used to gauge the outcome of M&As announcement on the market price of the banking company's share, which measures the wealth creation of acquiring firm's shareholders. DuPont (DP) analysis is used for the purpose of analyzing the FP of merged firm, but it failed to show any significant impact post merger in terms of Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), net-profit margin, financial leverage and asset turnover. The fallouts designate that the market reacted negatively towards the M&As in banking sector of India, and also show a corrosion in the performances of the acquirer banks in the post-merger period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The banking sector in India has undergone numerous structural changes, affecting the banking industry in particular and the economy as a whole. In this paper, the internal and external determinants of profitability of commercial banks in India after financial reforms are studied. Panel data techniques with the linear model of Bourke (1989), the methodology employed by Demirgüç-Kunt and Huizinga (1999), and Dietrich and Wanzenried (2011) are used in order to address the issues. Profitability of Indian banks is considered as a dependent variable, which can be measured variedly. However, four important variables, namely, Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), Net Interest Margin (NIM) and Liquidity (LIQ), are examined. A set of independent variables such as bank-specific factors, namely, Bank Size (SIZ), Operating Efficiency (EFF), Concentration (CON), Risk Index (RI), Capital Average Ratio or Average Capitalization Ratio (CAR), Privatization (PVT) and Quote (QUT) on the stock exchanges, and macroeconomic variables, namely, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and inflation rate are taken into account. The selected 14 Indian commercial banks during the study period, have the influence of bank-specific determinants, except EFF, and macroeconomic determinants, except GDP, on banks' profitability. Indian commercial banks' profitability as measured by ROE, ROA and NIM has a negative relationship with regressors like SIZ, CAR, CON, and GDP. Fixed effect model is found to be the best fit under ROE, ROA and NIM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identifies the value influencers that early stage financiers take into consideration in their investment evaluation process based on an analysis of primary data obtained from 96 early stage financers located in India. The study uses exploratory factor analysis to identify the factors. The findings of the study reveal that entrepreneur and finance considerations are the dominating factors that influence angel investors' evaluation of early-stage startups. The former includes track record of the entrepreneur, entrepreneur's network, desire for success, honesty and integrity, while the latter includes monitoring and administrative costs, capital requirements and internal rate of return of the investments. Other influencers include competitive advantage of product/service, barriers to entry and potential for high market growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In fast growing economies such as India, banks are seen as financial wagons that support financial progress and also have the additional responsibility to achieve the socio-economic goals of the government. The issue of the recent corrosion in the asset quality of commercial bank is a major distress for the entire banking industry as there has been significant rise in the level of non-performing assets (NPAs) which are considered as a key parameter for assessing performance of banks. In this paper, the asset quality refers to the NPAs in Indian banking sector. This study seeks to examine the influence of NPAs on the performance of banks in India. The study is based on the secondary data of 48 scheduled commercial banks which includes 27 public sector banks and 21 private sector banks for the period 2007-08 to 2017-18, which was gathered and compiled from the published reports of Reserve Bank of India. In this study, NPAs to Gross Advances, Gross NPAs to total assets, Net NPAs to Net Advances and Net NPAs to Total Assets are used as proxy variables for non-performing assets whereas Return on Asset and Return on Equity are used as proxy variables for the performance of banks. The study found that NPAs adversely impacted the performance of banks irrespective of the category of banks. However, the Public Sector Banks were affected more by the augmented level of deteriorating assets quality than their private counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aim to understand the effect of market and firm-level concentration on return on equity in the Indian life microinsurance industry (LMI). This research is one of the first attempts to empirically test structure–performance issues in India. Using data on 14 companies that remained active in the LMI market during 2009–2019, we demonstrate that firms in the Indian LMI market scored better on profitability measures whenever competitive pressures were lower. We calculate Herfindahl–Hirschman concentration indexes (HHI), market share and entropy measures and use panel data techniques to find a positive effect of concentration and a negative effect of market share. We conclude that LMI-specialised insurers in India perform better than diversified insurers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good corporate governance is fundamental to the success and sustainability of firms. Corporate governance in India is based on a mix of voluntary and mandatory compliance to ensure professionalism. This study assesses the role of corporate governance norms related to Board Structure and Management Practices on the performance of public listed Tourism & Hospitality firms in India. The study uses panel Data Regression analysis for 60 firms over seven financial years from 2009-10 to 2015-16. The results show that the Board Structure and Management Practices during the study period had negative impacts on firm performance indicators of Return on Equity and Return on Assets. This suggests the need for more reforms in corporate governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has used a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework developed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton in 1992 to evaluate the performance of the banking sector in India. Top five public sector banks (PSBs) and private sector banks (PVSBs) based on their asset size were selected for the study. The study has identified 12 critical variables in BSC to compare the performance of PSBs and PVSBs. This comprehensive study also examines the relationship between Return On Assets (ROA) and Return On Equity (ROE) and the 12 variables identified for the four perspectives. The study has observed that there is a significant difference in the performance of PSBs and PVSBs. Interestingly, we have observed that out of 12 variables, only Net Interest Margin and number of branches are correlated to ROA while not a single variable amongst 12 variables is correlated to ROE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the technical efficiency of banking sector and its affecting factors in India using a panel data during 2005-2020. It used log-linear regression model under a stochastic frontier production function approach. It considers 47 scheduled banks (18-public sector, 13-private sector and 16-foreign sector). The technical efficiency is estimated as assuming that return-on-investment and return-on-advances of banks are the important outputs. Fixed assets, total assets, total employees, total deposits, return on equity and capital adequacy rate are vital inputs to increase the performance and efficiency of banks. The empirical results show that return-on-investment of banks increases as increase in fixed assets, total assets, total employees, total deposits, total foreign currency assets, return on equity and cost of funds. Return-on-advances of banks is likely to increase as increase in total employees, total deposits, ratio of non-interest income to total assets, cost of funds and capital adequacy rate. The estimated technical efficiency of selected banks show that there is significant variation in technical efficiency across banks. Indian bank and Indian Overseas Bank have highest technical efficiency among the public sector banks in India. Syndicate bank and UCO banks have a lowest technical efficiency in Indian public sector banks. Nainital bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Banks and HDFC Banks have highest technical efficiency among the private sector banks. The technical efficiency of other banks in private sector is seemed in efficient. Bank of America, Bank of Bahrain & Kuwait, Federal Bank, Mashreq Bank, Mizuho Bank and MUFG Bank have the better technical efficiency among the foreign sector banks. Technical efficiency of banks is positively associated with fixed assets, total foreign currency assets, ratio of demand-saving deposits, ratio of non-interest income to total assets, capital adequacy rate and investment deposit ratio. Thus, Indian banks should focus on abovementioned variables to increase their technical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims at computing the efficiency of the cement companies in Indian scenario during the Pre- and Post period of recession by utilising Data Envelopment analysis. Linear program has been formulated by taking Risk (namely financial risk and business Risk) as inputs and Return (namely return on equity and return on assets) as outputs during the Pre- and Post-period of recession. The cement companies have been ranked according to their efficiency scores computed through the linear program. A further endeavour has been made in this paper to investigate whether the risk (namely financial risk or business risk) is having any impact on the efficiency score of the cement companies during the Pre and Post recession period by utilising multiple regression analysis. The study has also utilised the Spearman rank correlation to investigate if there is a significant difference between the ranks obtained by the cement companies during the pre and post period of recession. It is a very unique work in itself where the relationship between the risk and return has been explored to compute the efficiency score and to investigate whether risk is having any impact on the efficiency scores of the cement companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study attempts to examine the dubious role of majority shareholders in internal governance in the form of moderating agency problems in Indian manufacturing firms. It uses a set of strongly balanced panel data of 91 manufacturing firms of the BSE 200 index of India from 2011–2018 and adopts panel data regression analysis to establish the relationship among the variables. The study measures ownership concentration through the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI), vertical agency crisis through assets utilization efficiency (AUE) and general and administrative expenses (G&AE) and horizontal agency crisis through return on equity (ROE). The majority owners are found neither to enhance the operating efficiency nor to minimize excessive discretionary expenses of the management. Besides, a negative impact of ownership concentration on return on equity is evidenced, which indicates increased horizontal agency crisis as a consequence of increased ownership concentration. Given the dominance of majority shareholders in the Indian manufacturing sector, it would be worthwhile for corporate policymakers to know whether these large owners act as an internal disciplinary mechanism to the management or squeeze the minority shareholders' interest through expropriation. Finally, the study suggests stricter external regulatory and institutional specificities as an alternative mechanism to ensure better corporate governance and protection of minority shareholders' interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The huge disparity in the pay given to higher level executives in Indian companies has stirred a nation-wide debate regarding the viability of the pay-performance concept. On the other hand, the top-notch businesses claim to be good social performers by adhering to the rules, regulations and norms prevailing in the country concerning the welfare of the community encompassing it; broadly referred to as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) companies. The purpose of this paper is to examine and determine the link between firm performance (taken as independent variable) and compensation pay (considered as dependent variable) of such large as well as socially responsible companies. For sample of the firms, data has been collected from NSE Nifty 100 ESG Index and data for all other measures has been extracted from CMIE Prowess database. Panel regression results indicate that Return on Equity (ROE) has a significant negative impact while stock return of investors do have a significant positive impact on the compensation pay. In order to overcome the persistent underlying endogeneity issue, One-step System Generalised methods of moments (GMM) estimator has been employed. The overall findings indicate that accounting measure of firm performance exerts a significant impact on the compensation paid to the executives in ESG firms of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversity in board memberships has gained a lot of attention recently. Generally, diversity is measured by a wide range of aspects such as gender, ethnicity or cultural background. This research mainly focuses on gender diversity in boardrooms and the equivalence between ratio of women on board and men on board. Firm performance in this study is proxied by 3 indicators such as return on assets, return on equity and return on investment. Although there are many empirical studies throughout time in order to investigate impact of gender diversity on firm performance with the evidence from many countries, those studies are still rare in Asian countries. Especially, it is hard to find out a research comparing the effect of board gender diversity on firm performance in India with that in Vietnam. Both of the two nations have recently gained strong economic growth and foreign investment. That's why this study is expected to be significantly contributes to the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the impact of the efficiency of working capital management (WCM) on the performance of a sample of Indian companies and explore how the nature of the firm's business influences the significance and direction of this impact. Design/methodology/approach: The data for this study were collected for the period of 2012–2018 for 414 non-financial firms listed on the Bombay Stock exchange. Fixed-effect regression models were run by taking Tobin's Q and return on equity (ROE) as dependent variables, and net trade cycle (NTC) and its components as explanatory variables in the presence of liquidity, leverage, size, age and growth as control variables. Sample firms were segregated into manufacturing, trading and service groups, and regression models were used for all the groups to understand the effect of the nature of a firm's business. Findings: WCM efficiency has a significant impact on the performance of the sample firms. Non-financial Indian firms deliver better financial performance by maintaining lower NTC. Like NTC, its components also impact firm value and profitability. The results report that the significance of the relationship varies depending upon the nature of the firm's business. Originality/value: The previous research studies had not used a sample of large number of Indian firms. Unlike previous studies, this study reports the influence of the nature of business on the relationship between WCM and firm performance. Further, this paper also examines how the individual components of working capital influence the performance of Indian firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime domain awareness (MDA) is a vital enabler of maritime security operations. For India it is a particularly important, yet challenging task, considering the complexity of the maritime neighbourhood in which it seeks to attain its strategic objectives. India's doctrinal articulations rightly identify MDA as a key operational enabler across the spectrum of maritime operations. Accordingly, the country and its maritime security agencies have invested significant effort in bolstering MDA capabilities, especially in the period after the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008. These efforts have resulted in substantial augmentation of platforms at the front-end of MDA operations, shore-based infrastructure, and in establishing international linkages for information-sharing. However, there are notable gaps in national MDA capabilities that may adversely impact the higher end of maritime operations. Mitigation of these shortcomings will require sustained focus in the immediate future, and a smart approach to capability accretion that ensures maximum returns on investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Built-in jeopardy in the operations of banks due to their fiduciary responsibility, high leverage, and liquidity gaps necessitates that their financial position and performance remain stable and healthy. The regulatory nudge towards capital adequacy for banks has been intended to make them financially sound. While academic research on the relationship between capital adequacy and financial performance of banks remains inconclusive, this paper reexamines the subject from the angle of intra-group differences in the financial performance of banks in relation to their level of capital adequacy. The study finds that the scheduled Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) in India with poor capital adequacy, or with capital ratios slightly above the regulatory minimum, do not exhibit better performance in any of the select financial parameters than their other counterparts, and show inferior performance against certain parameters. However, banks with very high capital ratios operate with higher margins but fail to efficiently leverage their capital funds. This study indicates that an optimum level of capital adequacy of around 15% is best suited, along with an equity multiplier of 15. This may help the scheduled UCBs to improve their return on equity, and strengthen their financial soundness and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuromarketing is a multidisciplinary area encompassing seemingly disparate fields of studies like neuroscience, consumer psychology, consumer economics and marketing. Its application sits on the foundation of consumer neuroscience concepts and it relies upon neuroimaging tools and techniques for its application. Neuromarketing goes beyond the research ability to help marketers put into action the insights generated through neuroimaging tools and techniques. This paper explains the foundation of neuromarketing and its areas of application with a focus on new-age on-demand app-based consumer services. The authors point out that existing research under neuromarketing needs a specific case-in-point approach for app-based services due to their inherent difference from traditional products and services. The authors conclude the paper listing the challenges associated with the application of neuromarketing. The authors have relied on an extensive literature study that spans across the fields of neuroscience, neuromarketing, consumer psychology and buying behavior, and on-demand app-based services. This paper would help marketers fathom the applications of neuromarketing in their respective businesses, leading to efficient consumer profiling, which in turn may lead to better returns on their marketing investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aviation industry in India is one of the fastest growing industries in our economy. In the present paper, the performance of two domestic airlines, viz. IndiGo and SpiceJet, have been analysed with the help of DuPont analysis. Four ratios related to DuPont analysis have been used for the performance evaluation--profit margin, asset turnover ratio, equity multiplier, and return on equity (ROE will show the overall impact). The study is based on secondary data drawn from the annual reports of respective companies. Data of five years, i.e. 2012-13 to 2016-17, is analysed by calculating four ratios related to DuPont analysis. The statistical tool 'two-tailed t-test' has been used for evaluating the financial performance of these two companies. Data is analysed manually without using any software. The results show that the financial performance of IndiGo is better than SpiceJet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines the long memory in stock liquidity and returns in Indian equity market by using data for broad indices from January, 1997 to December, 2019 by applying the hurst exponent (1951) rescaled range analysis. It is observed that time varying degree of persistence nature in individual and full series analysis of returns. Moreover, liquidity series exhibit long memory process in Nifty-100, Nifty-200 and Nifty MidCap-50. Findings are consistent with Sadique and Silvapulle (2001), Henry (2002), Cavalcante (2002) and Baum, Barkoulas ans Caglayan (1999). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the performance of Isobutane/Isopentane (zeotropic mixture) is studied in the new proposed Organic Rankine Cycle (NORC). Operating parameters included temperatures of two series evaporators and regenerative, degree of superheating, and pinch point temperature difference in the first evaporator are optimized with multi-objective functions i.e., exergy as thermodynamic, Specific Investment Cost (SIC) as economic and exergoeconomic as the third objective function that considered exergy and SIC simultaneously. Optimization results for Isobutane/Isopentane indicate that the value of exergy has a sharp decrease when the mole fraction of Isobutane increases to 0.5, and after that, the exergy amount rises significantly and reaches a peak at 54.584% for pure Isobutane. Also, return on investment (ROI) is employed as an economic indicator to get the center of attention in economic proficiency by utilizing Isobutane/Isopentane in NORC configuration according to the exergoeconomic results for fifteen countries as two groups of developed and developing in order to compare profitability all around the world. The results represent that, by the growing of Isobutane mole fraction in Isobutane- Isopentane mixture, ROI indicator is reduced. The maximum and the minimum value of ROI are related to Germany (57.64%) and India (4.09%), respectively. • A new cycle was designed to improve basic organic Rankine cycle performance. • Peng Robinson equation of state was used to obtain properties of organic fluids. • Operating parameters were optimized with two objective functions simultaneously. • The new cycle performance was investigated using zeotropic mixture. • Return on investment of 15 countries was estimated as economic viewpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study has examined the extent of voluntary disclosure of financial ratios in India and its association with performance of the company, size and industry classification. The companies selected for the study are CNX 500 companies. 25% of the sample companies (423) did not disclose any financial ratios voluntarily. Multiple correlation and regression were used to explore the relationship between disclosure index and the selected explanatory variables. The results indicate that the extent of voluntary disclosure of ratios is significantly influenced by size, RoI of the companies and industry classification thereby indicating that companies with larger market capitalization and better return on investments relatively disclose more ratios voluntarily. The infrastructure sector disclosed more ratios than companies from other sectors. The disclosure index was very low indicating that the companies were lacking in efforts to disclose more ratios voluntarily to various stakeholders for a better understanding and interpretation of financial statements. The sample companies disclosed 19% of the selected financial ratios in their annual reports. The paper also calls for mandatory reporting of select ratios and standardization of the methods used in calculation of financial ratios. Improved levels of voluntary disclosures will reduce information asymmetry among investors and enhance clarity about long-term business sustenance and strengthens governance norms. The paper also provides directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify the trend in the financial performance of renewable energy companies and to outline the renewable energy policies impacting their performance. The study is conducted on major renewable energy companies of India and US for the study period of 2015-2019. The financial performance of these companies is analyzed by using return on equity (ROE) decomposition and the trend in their performance is identified by utilizing k-means cluster of machine learning algorithm. Based on their ROE performance, five clusters are formed for Indian companies and four for US companies. It is observed that the performance of the companies in the renewable sector is heavily influenced by the government policies and for these companies to succeed, it is important that the government sets out policies which motivate these companies to invest more for clean energy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We ask how social similarity between start-up founders and venture capitalists (VCs) influences VCs' pricing decisions and returns on investments. We conceptualize how regional and caste similarity, two salient aspects of social similarity in India, affect two distinct aspects of deal pricing: premoney valuation and investors' downside risk protection in the Indian venture capital market. We theorize that VCs reflect the benefits and costs of social similarity by setting higher premoney valuation when investing in companies led by socially similar founders while also minimizing their downside risks in these investments. We expect that social similarity's impact on pricing is amplified when VCs face greater subjective uncertainty, such as for early-stage deals or if the VCs lack expertise in the start-up company's product market. Finally, we claim that VCs achieve superior returns on investments when their deal pricing accurately reflects the impact of social similarity. We tested our conceptual model using both parametric and nonparametric methods on a hand-collected data set of all deals that occurred during 2005–2012, and we supplemented our analyses with in-depth, qualitative interviews that contextualize our findings. The pattern of findings on regional similarity are consistent with our model, but the effects of caste in our data are theoretically anomalous. Post hoc analyses to resolve the anomaly suggest an "intrinsic quality" mechanism, whereby higher-caste VCs set higher valuations when matching with lower-caste founders that signal high quality. Overall, our findings offer evidence that VCs incorporate social attributes into deal pricing in nuanced yet boundedly rational ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the connectedness among the series of four exchange rates with respect to the Indian Rupee. The results of Diebold and Yilmaz method which measures time-domain connectedness, show that the overall connectedness of the system is 30.15%. The results of Baruník and Křehlík approach which measures frequency-domain connectedness, exhibit that in the total connectedness the maximum contribution is from highest frequency (14.27%) and the lowest contribution is made by the second-lowest frequency (2.03%). Finally, the dynamic connectedness is also examined with rolling window methods. These results are very critical in understanding the connectedness among various exchange rate markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the wage function for daily labor market participants in Semi-Arid Tropics of rural India within a traditional agrarian framework. Village level data on 18 villages for 2009–2010 and 2012–2013 have been used for this study. Three-years balanced panel estimation has also been conducted to test the time invariance of the findings from the cross-sectional study. A modified Mincerian earning equation is estimated for different types of workers—regressing upon a set of human capital measures, socioeconomic factors and, demand influences after correcting for potential sample selection bias. The study finds differential impacts of education and physical ability to determine wages for male and female workers. It reveals the greater importance of education in explaining wages of male laborers while for females, nutritional status playing a significant role than education in wage determination process. Among the other factors, drought works as a major exogenous shock and hence impacts wages badly. Working in the non-farm sector has a significant impact on wages. Also, the wage–participation relationship has found more operative in the lower section of the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) of a novel process to produce ethanol from rice straw in India. The process has been successfully demonstrated and proposed to be scaled-up, and detailed LCA of that process is the key novel contribution of this work. Cradle-to-gate system boundary is considered, which includes rice farming, transportation, and processing at the biorefinery. 1 l of ethanol is used as the functional unit. The process data are based on the demonstration-scale plant as well as the scale-up plant of 100 kilo litres per day being designed based on the same process. The life cycle inventory data are taken from the Ecoinvent® database. OpenLCA 1.6 is used to develop the LCA model, and impact assessment is performed using ILCD 2011 midpoint indicators. The GWP was 2.82 kg of CO2 eq. per liter of ethanol using economic impact allocation. Electricity contributed 86% of the total impact, and use of hydroelectricity reduced the impact to 0.07 kg of CO2 eq. per liter of ethanol. If additional benefits due to this process are considered, the impact reduced to − 0.392 kg of CO2 eq. per liter of ethanol indicating considerable relative reduction in the GWP. Without allocation and implementing system expansion, the impact was 3.35 kg of CO2 eq. per liter of ethanol. The energy return on investment was 1.59, indicating that the process was net energy positive. The lower bound on the life cycle water use was 507.4 l per liter of ethanol. The integrated nature of the process producing various value-added chemicals provided significant benefits from the perspective of environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many recent studies have focused on the influencing factors of the ecological footprint, but less attention has been given to human capital. Human capital, which is based on education and rate of return on education, may reduce the ecological footprint since environmental issues are human-induced. The current study investigates the impact of human capital on the ecological footprint in India for the period 1971 to 2014. The outcomes of the newly developed combined cointegration test of Bayer and Hanck disclose the long-run equilibrium relationship between variables. The findings reveal a significant negative contribution of human capital to the ecological footprint. The results of the causality test show that human capital Granger causes the ecological footprint without any feedback. In addition, energy consumption adds to the ecological footprint, while the relationship between economic growth and ecological footprint follows an inverted U-shaped pattern. The findings unveil the potential to reduce the ecological footprint by developing human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]