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Economic activity as a measure of development is generally estimated in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But the propriety of GDP as a measure of development has been subject to debate. Different theoretical as well as empirical evidences have hinted towards a relationship between geography and economic growth. This paper attempts to test the geographical proximity hypothesis (i.e., economic growth of a region is determined by its geography in general, and its proximity to other developing or under developed regions in particular) in context of India. This paper argues that the growth rate of a region is determined by the proximity to developed or under-developed states and such clusters of proximate states grow together as a whole. This inference has huge policy implications and makes a favourable case for inclusion of geography as a significant determinant of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this introductory paper of the Special Issue, we explore how India's political economy is moving in a new direction by focusing on three key political economy issues: development, welfare, and governance. India has undergone a substantial political transformation in recent years, especially since Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi formed the first majoritarian government in three decades in 2014. In this paper, we first demonstrate that this political transformation has a significant impact on the Indian political economy, given that the country is witnessing the rise of a new developmentalism, a new welfarism, and the new modes of governance. After that, we summarize the collections of articles of the Special Issue and situate them in relation to our central theme, new directions in the Indian political economy. This paper, and this Special Issue more broadly, seeks to contribute to the existing literature by introducing new analytical frameworks to understand recent changes in the Indian political economy and providing new empirical evidence on this topic drawing on content analysis and field research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 10 aims at reducing inequalities in different aspects. The Niti Aayog of India has been monitoring progress achieved by different states and sets out a collaborative agenda. This paper specifically looks at the trends in Gini coefficient in different states, impact of high-income inequality on index of health in developed economies and how political ideology and progressive taxation policy can play a decisive role in thwarting the present disturbing trends. The paper brings out how income share of the 40% middle class in national GDP has come down after economic liberalization, while the share of top 10% has gone up significantly. In developed countries, acute income inequality seems to dampen the index of health and general well-being. The paper looks at Kuznet's inverted U curve hypothesis, which contends that after achievement of a high level of per capita income, inequality will come down, was proved to be un-true by Thomas Piketty. The paper brings out, how the Laffer Curve (1986) mooted by Arthur Laffer provided the economic justification for bringing down tax rate on top rich from 71% to 35% in the USA. The paper rebuts the general assumption that high tax rates would disincentive investment. The author recognizes that substantial increase in tax rates and high wealth tax in a market oriented political economy may not be a feasible proposition. In order to achieve distributive justice, greater attention to tools like progressive taxation, increasing investment in merit goods and ensuring shared prosperity must be seriously addressed. Also, a more proactive approach towards tax collection, rather than increasing borrowing would help to reduce income inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Manufacturing share in India's GDP has increased by about 16 percentage points between 2003 and 2018. • Dominant contribution to increased manufacturing GDP share is made by petroleum refining. • There has been a tremendous increase in the real value-added share of ICT equipment industry. • For assessing properly the performance of manufacturing, double-deflation of GDP is essential. Contrary to a widely held impression that the share of manufacturing in India's GDP has long stagnated, the paper claims that it has increased significantly. Measured at the prices of different goods and services prevailing in 2004-05, and deflation applied separately with input prices as well as output prices to account for differential input price trends, the GDP share of manufacturing has increased during the post-reform period from about 17 per cent in 1993-94 to about 32 per cent in 2018-19. The paper notes that the concept of real share in GDP relates to the volume effect and represents the change in the share of the volume of manufacturing activity out of the volume of all economic activities in the Indian economy. Some explanation is provided for the apparent stagnancy of the share of manufacturing in India's GDP at current prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to expand the theoretical understanding of social inclusion of vulnerable populations. Employing cross disciplinary literature from marketing and social policy, this paper examines the factors shaping internal migrant workers experience of inclusion and vulnerability in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a review of social inclusion and consumer vulnerability literature to develop a new and innovative conceptual framework which operationalises social inclusion. This framework was then examined using an illustrative case study of internal migrant worker crisis in India. Data for the case were collected from various national and international media, government and non-government reports published in English on the pandemic related migrant crisis in India. Findings: Access and control over food was fraught with barriers for migrant workers. As the lockdown progressed, access to and control over work opportunities was precarious. Furthermore, the resource-control constraints faced by migrant workers in terms of food, work and transport had a direct impact on their experience of social inclusion. Lastly, the stranded migrant workers found themselves unable to fully participate in economic activities. Originality/value: To the authors' knowledge this is the first paper that integrates consumer vulnerability concept, originating in marketing scholarship into the social inclusion framework. This allowed for anchoring the "aspirational goals" of social inclusion into the concrete context of consumers and marketplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains the potential implications of digital interventions for social accountability through the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in India. The SCM represents India's transition to a new political economy based on rapid urbanization and wide-scale application of digital technology to reform public service delivery while simultaneously creating new markets for urban transformation. Within this wider context, the paper considers the future of democratic practices in urban governance. We argue that while citizen-led accountability practices were trialed by civil society organizations since 1990s, the SCM presented unique opportunity and challenge to institutionalize these tools within the framework of multi-scalar governance — between central-, state- and local-level institutions and between communities, private vendors and public bodies. Zooming into the four smart city projects — Indore, Kakinada, Panaji and Ranchi — we explain how each city engaged with citizen groups, communities and civil society and what their experiences tell us about the prospects and challenges of democratizing digital urban futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under what conditions do policy paradigms succeed in historically weak states? To answer these questions, this paper examines the subnational case of Bihar in India. The existing literature portrays Bihar as lacking capacity. Yet, between 2005 and 2010, astounding improvements have taken place in sectors of transparency and accountability and law & order. How do we explain this? This paper shows that ideas are consequential in initiating changes in policy paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper is a qualitative-based work on the ethnographic study of Ema keithel of Manipur. The study put forth the after-effect of the economic lockdown of Ema keithel due to COVID-19 and the present condition of women traders after the upliftment of the lockdown. The economic data was comparatively based on the pre-COVID-19 situation and the post-lockdown period. The women in Ema keithel are predominantly the sole bread earners and providers in their families; through their income, financial expenses are sustained. However, with the sudden lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many thousands of women and their families had lost their only hope and financial support system. This study brings out the present situation of the women in the economic activities in the Ema keithel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to examine the influence of microfinance interventions on the poor living in India and Bangladesh. Both the countries have attracted the attention of the world towards the latest and effective means of combating destitution. The paper commences with a historical overview, evolution and a quick snapshot of the current status. In the second half of this paper, an impact analysis is undertaken to perceive the impact of microfinance interventions on poverty alleviation, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, and social upliftment. An intensive discussion of a number of programs initiated by the microfinance institutions directed towards the social upliftment of the poor and their impact on the poor communities are presented in the paper. Finally, the study also presents suggestions and recommendations for maintaining sustainability of the sector to deal with dynamic and challenging environment. The relevance of innovative techniques like sand-boxing, credit plus products and capacity building are emphasised to assist the long-lasting economic growth and social well-being of poor in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For much of the twentieth century the predominant belief was that informal entrepreneurship would disappear with higher rates of economic growth. However, the informal sector has persisted in most countries and has grown in some, which calls for a re-evaluation of the existing notions of informal entrepreneurship. An important strand of literature in the form of structuralist and neo-liberal theory provides an alternative explanation. We use the coagglomeration framework to understand the relevance of these theories in the case of India. Using firm-level data, we use the Coagglomeration index to calculate the tendency of formal and informal firms to locate in the same region. We also calculate three types of linkages between formal and informal sectors: buyer-supplier, labor and technology. Further, we use panel data to estimate the relative importance of these linkages in explaining coagglomeration between formal and informal manufacturing firms. We find that coagglomeration in India is driven by buyer-supplier linkage. We then use count data models to determine the effect of coagglomeration and agglomeration measures on new firm birth in the formal and informal sector. We find that coagglomeration positively affects new firm birth in the formal sector but not in the informal sector. The evidence provided in the paper supports the structuralist theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service sector is emerged as burgeoning sector of any growing economy, for any growing economy there are three main pillars, industrial, service and agriculture sector. Novel corona virus affected the respiratory system and created many complications in human beings. For controlling this many countries like UK USA Italy Spain China and India announced partial or complete lockdown which lead standby of entire business operations. This situation effected service sector hardly which resulted in the loss of jobs and profitability in industries. The efforts are being made in this research paper to understand the impact of Pandemic lockdown on the service sector of the country. Questionnaire, published statistics and interviews were used in collection of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian economy is the agricultural economy and real India is in the villages. Without rural economic development, the objectives of economic planning cannot be reached. So, banks and other financial institutions are considered a vital role in rural economic development in India. NABARD is playing a vital role in the economic development of rural India. A developing country, like India, ought to be an ideal environment for micro-finance programmes seeking to reach the poor and attain financial sustainability. Microfinance is regarded as a central poverty alleviation strategy and a means of deriving economic growth and employment of small, micro & medium enterprises (SMME). A complex set of best practice models and a network of active members and support of rural people in an organized form and the active support of banks and NABARD in India have emerged to support a thriving industry. Bank credit is available to farmers under the short-term credit for the shape of agricultural products and financial programs such as the medium-term/long-term debt financing for capital investments in agriculture and related activities such as land, including land purchases, minor irrigation, farm mechanization, program development, the domestic poultry animals, fishing, plantation, and horticulture. The loans are available for storing, processing and marketing agricultural products needed now days the long-term and short-term credit of these institutions are also achieved by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). It is the evolution of agricultural finance. In this paper, an attempt has been made to understand the concept of rural finance in India and the role of NABARD in the priorities of the credit sector and also various programs initiated by the NABARD for the sustainable development of rural India. The study could also lead to the strengths and weaknesses of Rural Finance in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to understand the issue of job losses associated with NATs in the Indian context. The current employment structure in India along with the sectoral pattern of availability of automation services seems to shield majority of workers in India from the potential job losses due to automation. Even though these findings are a source of relief, the author wishes to mention that the relief is only temporary. Future technological changes and innovations may reduce the barriers to automation and may make NATs ubiquitous in all spheres of economic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are essential tools to further policy objectives across the world. However, in the past few decades, heated debates on the performance of SOEs vis-à-vis private sector enterprises have surfaced. In India, SOEs have long played an important role in the economy and only recently have undergone the trend of privatization. The purpose of this paper is to analyze existing research and to conclude whether private enterprises perform better than SOEs. Design/methodology/approach: A review of available literature on performance comparisons of public and private sector enterprises is carried out, and differences between public and private enterprises are studied. Finally, theoretical propositions on the differences in objectives of public and private enterprises in the Indian context are enumerated. Three propositions are tested using data on Indian SOEs available in the public domain. Findings: Performance comparisons of public and private enterprises have focused merely on technical productivity or financial aspects and have thus left out the wide scope of social, economic and political objectives of SOEs. Literature on the nature of SOEs indicates that there are certain fundamental differences in the objectives of public and private sector enterprises. Further, the basic theoretical assumptions tested have been found to be, prima facie, valid in the Indian context. The paper thus establishes a case for further research to develop a comprehensive technique for the comparison of public and private sector enterprises in the Indian context. Originality/value: Extant research on the subject of comparing public and private entries has limited itself to technoeconomic considerations and has not taken into account the different objectives/nature of these enterprises. The study established a case for diverging from the present discourse privatization and private sector supremacy. The same could have far-reaching consequences for policymakers, especially in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phrase "coronavirus" was, without a question, the most googled and uttered phrase in the past three years. As the spread of the coronavirus (COVID 19) has increased, various countries had imposed a lockdown that restricted human mobility, and a ban on all types of social activities. This also influences various economic activities. With all the financial and health concerns, the influence of the pandemic lockout on the natural environment was something that the scientific community should be concerned about. The influence of many significant good and evil effects on the environment in several areas of India is reviewed and discussed in this paper. Different regions in India showed an improvement in air quality, a decrease in noise pollution, and wildlife more pleasant and relax than before. Aquatic ecosystems revealed indications of restoration. On the other hand, the rise in plastic waste like personal protective kits (gloves and masks), biomedical waste, disinfectants, and their mismanagement have long-term terrible impacts on the environment. However, as India gradually returned to pre-pandemic conditions, the positive environmental effects will fade as festivals, public transport, growing production, and agricultural activities may raise pollution to critical levels. Hence, Pollution Control Boards and National Health Programmes should integrate the approaches acquired during the pandemic to help foster social cognitive lifestyles, policy interventions, and the development of advanced smart cities that will safeguard individuals from pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose ? The world is seeing a large deficit in employable workforce. An employable workforce is developed with appropriate combination of academic and practical skills. Practical skills are better developed with industry intervention rather than in classrooms. Changing trends of economic activity have steadily changed the business thought. The purpose of this paper is to assess the role of industry in developing employability by studying employability from the value chain and ?Demand-Supply? of workforce models. The scope is limited to Indian context. This paper is a part of the research on factors influencing employability in India. Design/methodology/approach ? Literature review, expert interviews and authors? own experiences and understanding. Findings ? It has been found that most of the countries in the world are facing a shortage of skilled and employable workforce. We examined various literature content and studied specific instances in the Industry. The study has shown that in the cases where industry has been actively involved in identifying training needs, the supply of manpower has been adequate. So, it is found that industry?s role in employability is crucial and impacts on other macro policies for human development. Social implications ? As this paper is a part of a larger study on ?Factors impacting employability in India,? it is of paramount importance to Indian researchers, students and policy makers. The paper and the research are oriented to identifying causes to the problem of employability, so that systemic changes can be identified. Originality/value ? This paper is based on large amount of literature that is existing in various sources. All the literature has been thoroughly read and assimilated. Suitable references have cited and others have been acknowledged. Most importantly this is an original work of the authors and their views. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of society operating with less or, indeed, no cash. While the paper has a particular focus on Sweden and India, it also draws on examples from other markets with differing views and approaches regarding the importance of cash in general and payment choice in particular. The key issues in this debate typically focus on cost, convenience/speed of transactions, crime, economic activity, employment and payment choice. After considering each of these in turn, the paper concludes that while a cash-free world might suit certain commercial interests, it would not be in the public interest. It then briefly turns its attention to steps that might be taken at governmental level to ensure that cash remains on the payment choice menu for the public everywhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the exchange-rate paper by Kim and Roubini (J Monet Econ 45(3):561-586, 2000), we revisit the questions on monetary policy, exchange rate delayed overshooting, the inflationary puzzle, and the weak monetary transmission mechanism; but we do so for the open Indian economy. We further incorporate a superior monetary measure, the aggregation-theoretic Divisia monetary aggregate. Our paper confirms the efficacy of the Kim and Roubini (J Monet Econ 45(3):561-586, 2000) contemporaneous restriction, customized for the Indian economy, especially when compared with recursive structure, which is damaged by the price puzzle and the exchange rate puzzle. The importance of incorporating correctly measured money into the exchange rate model is illustrated, when we compare models with no-money, simple-sum monetary measures, and Divisia monetary measures. Our results are confirmed in terms of impulse response, variance decomposition analysis, and out-of-sample forecasting. In addition, we do a flip-flop variance decomposition analysis, finding two important phenomena in the Indian economy: (i) the existence of a weak link between the nominal-policy variable and real-economic activity, and (ii) the use of inflation-targeting as a primary goal of the Indian monetary authority. These two main results are robust, holding across different time period, dissimilar monetary aggregates, and diverse exogenous model designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the year 2019, Government of India proposed to bring India to a $5 trillion economy by the year 2024-2025, following its growth trajectory in the past 20 years. Then it was followed by the global pandemic which slowed down all economic activities and the GDP growth suffered a hard blown setback. Many people had lost jobs as factories got closed, specially the MSMEs. On the one hand there were challenges of providing health facilities to the 1.25 billion population and at the same time to feed those laborers who lost jobs and moved back to their villages. 2020 and 2021 saw three waves of corona out of which the second was very severe. Then government arranged the largest vaccination program for the people which ran very successfully. In February 2022, the Russia-Ukraine war caused the inflation to sour in most of the countries including India, value of rupee fell, prices of crude oil in international market soured and therefore, the question became more relevant whether India will breach the mark of $5 Trillion of GDP by 2024-25, initially planned. This paper concludes that if the inflation which has been majorly reined in, and if rupee is stable and the world economies recover, India may achieve the target by 2026-2027. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1993, India adopted the neoliberal World Bank model for the electricity sector, which endeavoured to privatise the state owned sector. The move to privatise was prompted by sectoral losses owing to politicisation of provision and inefficient management of the state owned utility. This transition from a 'welfare state' to a 'regulatory state' was sought to be achieved through legislative enactment. By tracing the province of Andhra Pradesh's implementation of the reform legislation, the paper evolves an alternate narrative of the reform process, as opposed the World Bank's narrative of legislative enactment signalling the reception of its regulatory model. It argues that focussing on resistance to reform and actual 'reception' as opposed to formal enactment will counter the assumption of triumph of the neo-liberal worldview of the role of the state in economic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest rate transmission mechanism of monetary policy to real economic activity has been the center of interest of many researchers globally. The aim of this paper is to study the impact of the policy interest rate (both nominal and real interest rates) on the output gap in India for the period from May 2001 to March 2015 using monthly data, and explore whether the Reserve Bank's switching to inflation targeting has hampered the growth objective. The paper uses Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration approach to study the long-run and shortrun dynamics of the objective variables. It takes sufficient number of lags to handle the problem of endogeneity mostly present amongst macroeconomic variables. The study finds presence of interest rate puzzle, where the conventional negative relationship between output and interest rate is broken. It suggests the presence of some other factors such as business mood, investment uncertainty, presence of parallel economy or the time period which was dominated by global financial crisis and its aftermath as the possible reasons for the decline in growth rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth in manufacturing activities for economic development is putting a lot of pressure on the environment. One such impact is due to generation of waste from hazardous material. The best way for hazardous waste management is either elimination or substitution with non-hazardous material. The case study in the present paper is focused on the problem of hazardous waste reduction in absence of non-hazardous substitution. In absence of any non-hazardous substitute of hazardous material, waste generation can be reduced using improvement techniques such as Kaizen to improve the manufacturing process. An Indian company improved the manufacturing procedure with very low cost to reduce waste generation of hazardous material. The outcome of this Kaizen project is the reduction of waste by 13.8% at very low cost. Along with waste reduction, cost saving, and other resource savings are another benefits. This case study provides insight about the use of Kaizen for environmentally sustainable manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Entrepreneurs are innovators, job providers and people who perform economic activities while fulfilling responsibility towards the society (Ahmad N & Seymour R, 2006). According to the 6th Economic Census released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, there are 58.5 million entrepreneurs in India, of which 14 % are women entrepreneurs. The aim of the research paper is to outline empirical research on the competencies required by women entrepreneurs to start a business and to sustain the same successfully. This paper also aims to discuss the problems and challenges encountered by women entrepreneurs in running their business. A survey of women entrepreneurs was conducted in Gujarat using a structured questionnaire and personal interview. The questionnaire was designed with a list of competencies, problems and challenges faced by the women entrepreneurs that were compiled from previous theoretical and empirical research. The entrepreneurs were asked to give their ratings based on their perception and experience on five-point Likert scales. A factor analysis was conducted in order to identify clusters of competencies that loaded onto each group. The most common problems and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs were identified statistically. The factor analysis identified 9 clusters of competencies from the list of 36 competencies, which are necessary for entrepreneurs to start the business and sustain with it. The results show that the major problems faced by the women are lack of finance, difficulty in work-life balance and high socio-cultural barriers over the life of the business. The outcome of this paper can be used by researchers, government agencies, nongovernment organisations and incubation centres to understand and develop policies that help more and more women to become entrepreneurs and run their business successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of oil prices on the trade balance by incorporating wholesale prices and an industrial production proxy for economic activity as supporting variables for the BRICS countries. Quarter frequency data from 1992 to 2015 is used. Keeping in view the structural breaks and resulting asymmetries, long‐run and short‐run dynamic estimations are conducted using the nonlinear ARDL approach proposed by Shin, Yu, and Greenwood‐Nimmo. We find a positive and significant asymmetric relationship between oil prices and the trade balance in Brazil, India, China and South Africa. The asymmetries of wholesale prices also have a positive and significant effect on the trade balance in the cases of Russia, India and South Africa. The asymmetries of industrial production have a significant but negative impact on the trade balance for India and South Africa. These nonlinear and diverse relationships of oil prices, wholesale prices and economic activity with the trade balance are also confirmed by long‐run parameters for BRICS countries. This study opens some new insights for policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-waste coming out from the electronic sector of the entire world is harming the world's environment. There has been a pattern of a substantial increase in the production of E-waste worldwide. This is as a consequence of population increase, industrialization, urbanization and economic activity. Since the last decade, the rate of consumerism has been found to be very high due to higher economic growth, which has resulted in increased E-waste production. Almost all countries are recycling more and more E-waste, but a million tonnes of E-waste still coming out. Experts believe that the rise of E-waste is due to our rapidly changing lifestyles. We have started adopting new electronic devices coming into the market, trying to make life more convenient. In India, electronic waste is growing at 10% per annum. The trend of urbanization has played a significant role in the enhancement of E-waste generation. The population living in urban areas was 27.67% in 2000, 38.03% in 2018, and is expected to reach approximately 42% in 2025. As the population increases, the amount of E-waste will also rise to an alarming situation. This review paper provides the present scenario of E-waste and its management practices and legislation in the present Indian context. This would help all the stakeholders involved in the production of electrical equipment to gain better understanding of E-waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 50 years, there has been a colossal climb in the world's population and economic growth which is an indication of persistent demand for natural resources to uplift the standard of living of millions of people. The ongoing linear economic model driven by "take, make, use and dispose" of resources is increasing gap in demand and supply curve of natural resources and waste assimilation posing serious challenges leading to loss of biodiversity. The current scenario requires a closed economy, which is a restorative and zero-waste economic model in which resources are used to the highest utility. The paper attempts to understand the need, origin, concept and the business models of circular economy. The study analyses the relevance of circular economy initiatives to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Finally, it explores the circularity initiatives taken by different countries with special reference to India to achieve resource efficiency and waste minimisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we compare Indian states in terms of infrastructure development and economic development and identify states that lag behind both in terms of infrastructure and economic development. The study also investigates the role of infrastructure in determining the level of economic development across Indian states. Considering the multidimensional nature of infrastructure and economic development, we have estimated two composite indices: a composite index of infrastructure development and a composite index of economic development. We have applied principal components analysis techniques to generate weights for the selected indicators. Our finding shows vast differences among the states in the level of infrastructure development and economic development. Further, we find that variations in the availability of basic infrastructure facilities across states largely explain the persisting inter-state differences in the level of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE THIS paper aims at examining short run and long run relationship among GDP, export and import in India for the study period 1991-2018 using annual data, various econometric tools are employed to analyse whether there is association among the variables in the time series data or not. Design/Methodology/Approach: Unit root test has been applied to test the stationary of the data in the time series which find variables stationary at first level. Johansen's Co-integration test has been used to determine the long run common path among the variables which infers one Co-integration equation. AIC and SC are used for the selection of lag length criteria, while VECM test infers long run association among the variables but statistically insignificant. Findings: It is suggested to the policy makers and government of India to promote economic activities and pursue diversification in commodities and market along with trade integration for the expansion of export and continue importing necessary raw material for value addition and needed technology to expand the capacity to improve productivity. Granger causality exhibits short-run unidirectional causality from GDP to export while bidirectional causality exists between import and GDP and there exists no directional causality between export and import in India. Research Limitations: The data have limitations as it is only for the period 1991-2018. Data is restricted only to secondary sources. Managerial Implications: This research would provide an impetus to the the policy makers and government of India to promote economic activities in the country. Originality/Value: There has not much studies in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An augmented P-Star model is estimated and tested to identify the drivers of inflation in India. The model includes monetary and non-monetary factors, demand-pull and cost-push factors, and domestic as well as foreign factors. The results show that inflation in India is driven by a combination of monetary factors and non-monetary factors, some of which affect inflation on the supply side while others operate on the demand side. It turns out, however, that inflation in India is determined more by domestic rather than foreign factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging or ageing is a natural process of becoming older and older. In India, as well as in countries, the population of older people is increasing rapidly. In developing countries, as more and more homemakers are now getting into economic activities, it has become stressful for this traditional elderly caregiver to devote adequate time and effort. This changing demography is now reflected in the national policy for elderly, which suggested the provisions for the institutionalized elderly-care, apart from the voluntary and community sector. Against this background, the present paper makes an attempt to have a qualitative survey on socio-economic and psychological issues of elderly people of Bhubaneswar, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we aim to empirically identify the determinants of tourist destination by domestic tourists that leads to growth of tourism in Indiagers in India. Our sample, broadly. from the south revealed that climate and destination management inclusive of destination marketing and image had influenced the choice of consumers. The findings are significant in policy implications, particularly for the tour managers as well as advertising agennts and to a certain extent in government policies. In particular, we urge the Ministry of tourism to price tourism pacakges based on affordability of the consumers through discounts and promotional offers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The Inflation Expectations Survey of Households, conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), indicates that there is considerable disparity in inflation expectations across cities in India. The purpose of this paper is to investigate why different cities exhibit heterogeneous inflation expectations despite coming under a central monetary policy umbrella. Design/methodology/approach: First, the correspondence between city-level inflation expectations and city-specific economic characteristics is mapped. Second, how the disagreement in inflation expectations across cities, measured by dispersion, behaves over the business cycle is investigated. Finally, using seemingly unrelated regression technique, the economic factors that play a role in explaining inflation expectations heterogeneity across cities are estimated. Findings: Cities with higher economic activity and cost of living have higher inflation expectations. Disagreement across cities regarding inflation expectations rise with an increase in output gap and inflation. Information friction plays an important role in explaining the disparity in inflation expectations across cities, and the effects of macro-level factors vary across cities, thereby accentuating expectations dispersion. Research limitations/implications: Monetary policy-related communication by the RBI (toward the general public) should increase in order to address information friction, which, in turn, would temper down the extent of inflation expectations heterogeneity across cities in India. Originality/value: This is a novel application of the data from the monetary policy perspective. Heterogeneity in inflation expectations across cities or regions is an unexplored area. The use of nightlights as a proxy for city-level economic activity in India (in absence of data on city-level income) is another original contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of volatility in the world energy price on aggregate economic activity in an unbalanced panel data framework for 10 developing Asian countries: Bangladesh, PR China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam. We use both the realized volatility and the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity models to measure the volatility in the world energy price. Empirical findings from dynamic panel data estimations show that the volatility in world energy price is negatively associated with the aggregate economic activity. Using the common correlated effects panel estimation techniques, we also systematically examine uncertain transmission channel of the world energy price volatility on the aggregate economic activity in each economy and obtain the most impressive negative effects in Turkey, PR China and India, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present the theoretical aspects related to international trade and its role in the development of the two economic giants: China and India, as well as the contribution of the above-mentioned countries to the world economy. This issue is considered as topical as international trade has become a primary component of economic activity in most countries. Over time, developing economies such as China and India have made their presence felt in the global economy and have become the factors of its growth. Among other developing countries, China and India are distinguished by a faster growth of the economy. India, due to its distinct development strategy, has the potential to economically influence the activities of the global economy in the years to come even more than China. Respectively, another point that draws attention to this topic is the emergence of China and India as new poles of trade, innovation and growth alongside the USA, Japan and the EU. To analyze the commercial performance in the two countries over the last 20 years, it is necessary to examine their commercial patterns. Although both countries have high openness ratios, they have different trade balances. In the case study, the indicators and external economic activity of these countries will be compared. For this, it is necessary to analyze, assess and compare the magnitude of the international activities of these superpowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose -- Religion and culture can influence ethical behavior in business. It is suggested that there has been and continues to be, a deep interrelationship between religion, business ethics, and economic activity in India. As India is becoming a major global economic business partner, understanding its unique ethical business infrastructure is gaining in importance. The purpose of this paper is to intend to further the understanding of Indian ("Vendantic") business ethics, as opposed to Greco -- Roman business ethics, as the foundation of business culture in India. This paper further elaborates on the evolution of business ethics and its implications on doing business in and with Indian companies. Design/methodology/approach -- The authors undertook a conceptual approach in order to understand the evolutionary process of Indian business ethics in a holistic view in order to understand better its workings and effect on business interaction. Findings -- The paper explains the constructs of business ethics in India and shows its evolution over time. Originality/value -- This original theoretical paper examines the evolution of Indian business ethics over time in line with environmental changes in the Indian business landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical experience suggests that a sustained rise in per capita incomes and improvement in employment conditions is not attainable without a structural transformation that moves surplus labour from agriculture and other informal economic activities to higher productivity activities in the non-farm economy. In this paper, I analyse India's performance from a cross-country comparative perspective, estimating the growth semi-elasticity of structural change. Using a cross-country panel regression, I estimate the effectiveness of growth in moving workers away from agricultural and informal activities as compared to other developing countries at similar levels of per capita income. I show that the performance in pulling workers out of agriculture is as expected given its level and growth of GDP per capita, but the same is not true for pulling workers out of the informal sector. I also propose the following five indicators that need to be kept track of when evaluating the growth process: the growth elasticity of employment, the growth semi-elasticity of structural change, the growth of labour productivity in the subsistence sector, the share of the organised sector in total employment and the workforce participation rate. Comparing these indicators across periods, states, regions or countries, allows us to understand which sets of policies have worked better than others to effective improvements in employment conditions. And taken together the indicators allow us to set structural change targets as well as to say whether the current pattern of growth is going to be sufficient to meet those targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural-urban migration is rarely been studied at macro level despite its high prevalence in India. Drawing from the recently available Indian National Sample Survey (2007-08, 64th Round), this paper aims to study the factors influencing rural-urban migration, types, challenges and consequences of migration in India. Hence, rural-urban migration plays a very significant role in the present context. This study attempts to examine the transition of migrants from rural to urban segments and also factors influencing the same in India. The study finds that migration is largely a rural phenomenon dominated by rural to urban migration. However, lack of basic amenities and low status induce the rural poor to migrate to the urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the prevailing severe situation in India, we extend the SIR(S) model of infectious diseases to incorporate demand dynamics and its interaction with COVID‐19 spread. We argue that, on one hand, the spread of COVID‐19 creates panic among consumers and firms and negatively affects economic activity. On the other hand, economic activity intensifies the spread of the infection. Initially assuming that recovered individuals do not develop antibodies and become susceptible again, we capture the interaction between economic activity and the spread of the disease in a two‐dimensional dynamical system. We show that a large fiscal expansion combined with measures to boost community health and improve the health sector's capacity to provide critical care can simultaneously improve the economy and control the spread of the disease. Finally, assuming that only a fraction of recovered individuals become susceptible to contracting the diseases again, we obtain richer dynamics in a three‐dimensional dynamical system. This paper also highlights the important role of infection rates and the recovery rate in determining the uniqueness and the stability properties of steady state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land access is crucial to the well-being of the poorest. The land is a precious asset for the rural and urban poor; it is required for economic activity, poverty reduction, sustainable development, and household well-being. It is also associated with identity, particularly for tribal communities. Land access refers to the ability to utilise, administer, transfer, benefit from resources, and with people's ability to obtain a living in consideration. However, inaccessibility is an inequality limiting people's and households' capacity to connect a livelihood. It is uncertain if the land issue is still relevant and active today and whether it is a legitimate grievance in the Assam of India. Thus, the land is at the heart of many concerns in the Bodoland Territorial Region of Assam and an efficient means of communication among its residents, particularly tribal peoples. On the other hand, equal land access will help the least fortunate and is expected to relieve pressure from land area induced dearth. The research focused on the opportunities for tribal people to access and utilise land, discriminating persons who are completely landless or have limited, insufficient, and insecure access to land and for who land access is important for life or livelihood. It aims to identify land issues and linkages that cause tribes in the region to be concerned, as well as to discuss and offer recommendations on actions and land complexity. The study depicted the majority of the important processes that culminated in tribals' uneasiness and discontent over land. In contrast, it examines the impacts of policy and programmatic activities on the processes and incentives for tribal groups in the region to access land and land concerns that are inextricably linked to the contentious definition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess alternative financial stress indicators for India in terms of tracing crisis events, mapping with the business cycle and the macroeconomic effect of stress indices. Design/methodology/approach: The study constructs the composite indicator of systemic stress of Hollo, Kremer and Lo Duca (2012) for India using two different methods for computing time-varying cross-correlation matrix, namely, exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) and dynamic conditional correlation-generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (DCC-GARCH). The derived indices are evaluated with widely used, equal variance and principal component weighting indices in terms of tracing stress events, mapping with the business cycles and the macroeconomic effect. For this purpose, the study identifies various episodes of financial stress and uses the business cycle dates in the sample covering from January 2001 to October 2018. Findings: The results suggest that stress indices based on EWMA and DCC-GARCH accurately identify the well-known stress periods and capture the recession dates and show an adverse effect on economic activity. Primarily, the DCC-GARCH-based stress index emerges as a better indicator of stress because it efficiently locates all the major-minor events, traces the build-up of stress and reverts to the normal level during stable times. Practical implications: The DCC-GARCH-based stress index is a very useful indicator for policymakers in regularly monitoring India's financial conditions and providing timely identification of systemic stress to avoid adverse repercussion effects of the financial crisis. Originality/value: The 2007–2008 financial crisis and subsequent recurrent instability in the financial markets highlighted the requirement for an appropriate financial stress indicator for a timely assessment of the system-wide financial stress. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that incorporates the systemic nature of financial stress in the construction of stress indices for India and provides a holistic evaluation of the financial stress from an emerging country's perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the macroeconomic transmission of Eurozone shocks to an emerging economy — India using the mean-adjusted Bayesian Vector Autoregressive (BVAR) model. In its quantitative exploration, the study answers two key issues: (i) is there any evidence of decoupling from advanced economy business cycles? And (ii) what was the impact of the Eurozone recession on the growth performance of India? The findings suggest that Eurozone idiosyncratic shocks, on average, had large effects on economic activity in India. The variation explained by the innovations generated by the BVAR model range from 1.8 percent to 3.6 percent in the 1–12 quarter horizon. The main results are supported by the empirical estimations of the Wavelet analysis. The estimated output elasticities suggest that the Eurozone recession had a significant negative impact on India. The implication is that well-balanced diversity in the productive structure of emerging economies, particularly India, can diffuse the transmission of macroeconomic shocks from the advanced economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: India demonetized the currency in November 2016, scrapping 86.9 percent of the currency in circulation. This policy disrupted most economic activities because India was predominantly a cash economy. Purpose: The study aims to analyze the impact of demonetization on the informal-formal sector and the Indian stock markets, where investment reflects investors' confidence. Another purpose is to know the usefulness of demonetization in the proliferation of digitalization. Study design/methodology/approach: The study incorporates primary data to determine the impact on informal and formal workers' income and the acceptance of digitalization in rural-urban areas in Faridabad, Haryana. A survey was conducted, and samples for informal-formal workers and rural-urban households were collected and analyzed using the F test and the ANOVA model using an independent dummy or qualitative variables. The secondary data of the Indian stock market were empirically tested and forecasted using the Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) model. Finding/Conclusions: The empirical analysis reveals that after demonetization, informal workers' earnings dropped significantly, and there is a substantial income disparity between informal-formal workers. A wide gap persists in adopting digital transactions due to low awareness of digital instruments in rural areas compared to urban areas. On the contrary, no significant impact is noticed in the Indian stock market as the forecasted value of shares trading depicts positive growth. The study identifies the gaps in policy implementation. It exposes the implementation of macroeconomic policies ensuring the protection of the interest and livelihood of economically vulnerable populations. The spread of awareness towards electronic transactions may help to promote digitalization Limitations/future research: The study is limited to a few areas. Hence, the scope of future research rests on macro-level data where comparison could be conducted between rural and urban areas across various states in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the globe, seawater intrusion in the coastal aquifer is a significant problem. Excessive groundwater extraction because of population growth, industrialization, tourism, and other anthropogenic activities and geogenic processes initiates and accelerates this problem. The contaminated groundwater impacts the health, economic activities, and social and cultural development of coastal regions. This work aims to explore the current status and a holistic comprehending review of geophysical studies applied to delineate the seawater intrusion in the high-quality coastal aquifers in India, as well as its origin and causes, mitigation strategies, and recent advancements in geophysical techniques to access the qualitative and quantitative properties of the complex aquifer system. In the future, it is recommended to do a detailed subsurface imaging of the entire coastal belt of India to decipher the lateral and vertical variation of the lithological conditions and seawater intrusion in space and time with improved/advanced geophysical techniques, which can lead toward sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, sports was merely seen as a recreational or leisure activity (Mandell, 1984). However, in recent centuries sports became a global, social and an economic activity (Mylik, 2014). Since the beginning of the twentieth century, sports industry has been growing at a fast pace (Forster & Pope, 2004). Today, sports is recognised as a soft power as it's a global medium to improve diplomatic relations and to promote peace and prosperity (Beutler, 2008). Many indigenous and traditional sports are mentioned in several historic scriptures of India. Several local games have been practiced over centuries in India (Haque & Ghosh, 2014). Traditional and indigenous sports have served the purpose of channelizing youth's energy into constructive areas. Indigenous sports create a strong sense of belonging among the youth that can improve the well-being of tribal and backward communities (Rossi, 2015). It's in this context that this study examines the scope of indigenous sports industry in India. It's a remarkable achievement that many of India's indigenous sports have stood the test of time and continue to attract the youth even today. The development of such sports not only benefits the youth who participate in them, but also the Indian economy. Creation and utilization of sports infrastructure, employment generation and hosting sports events have positive economic impact on the long-term development of India. Hence, this study analysis in-depth about the various indigenous sports and their spread in India. It bridges the gap of lack of literature on indigenous sports in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial inclusion is increasingly being recognized as one of the decisive factors towards economic growth and an important tool to address the issue of equitable growth and helpful in minimizing the problem of poverty. This study is an attempt to examine financial inclusion dimensions of the Indian banking sector in terms of penetration, accessibility and usage, and their impact on economic growth. VAR model is applied to measure the linkage of various financial inclusion dimensions with GDP per capita. The study also conducts causality analysis to examine the finance growth linkage in association with financial accessibility and economic growth. The time taken for the study is 2006 to 2019. Granger causality test found that all the explanatory carried unidirectional relation with GDP and none of the parameter demonstrated bidirectional relation with GDP. The existence of unidirectional relation between numbers of deposits accounts for GDP is found at a 10% significance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women are overrepresented in informal employment in the Indian labour market. They also devote more time to unpaid care work than men do. The poor working conditions of women are attributable to this double burden of work. Due to the lack of regulatory measures to protect the interest of informal women workers along with rigid gender norms, women's participation in paid work is drastically reduced. As far as unpaid care work is concerned, feminist economists have been striving to make such work visible for a long time now. There have been some developments in labour statistics, with time use surveys quantifying women's paid and unpaid contributions to the economy. This article delves into the examination of unpaid care work in India with the help of the Indian government's recent Time Use Survey. It attempts to study the connection between paid work and unpaid care work and its implications for the working conditions of women in India. Finally, it evaluates the 'right to work' as a possible solution by using the example of employment guarantee schemes in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]