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The two relevant criteria for evaluating the performance of the Indian economy in regional terms, in respect of FDI flows, according to our understanding are efficiency and equity. Since FDI is primarily a relocation of international production it is based on the principle of optimal resource allocation. The notion of efficiency, in this context, refers to the tendency of FDI to flow to those regions or States which have efficient production. The other side of the coin is that an efficient State deserves to get a greater share of FDI. This spells out the notion of equity. The paper uses set of new indices, including index of rank dominance, which shows that the most dominant centre is Mumbai. The paper also uses a 2-Stage Least Square (2SLS) estimation procedure, with two panel regression fixed effects models. There is a very high elasticity of FDI flows w.r.t. SDP growth. Also the results show that there is an extremely high negative correlation (-0.996) between equity and efficiency. The states that are more efficient receive less of FDI flows. This points towards non-economic forces in operation that influence FDI flows and regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of Small and Medium Entrepreneurs and their valuable involvement towards economy is now noticeable and observed in India and its advantage can also be visible. The living standard of the families gets improved in terms of their health, better fed, their income and savings and so on (Deikun, 2006). Extensively, it is assumed that entrepreneurship benefits and boosts growth and expansion of economy for in turn develop the nation as a whole. The concept of entrepreneurship has been astonishingly revival from the very earlier period in many countries that significantly achieved decrement in a dearth (Naude, 2013). The economics' perception recognized that an entrepreneurship-focused the growth plus development of economic profits for the individual and/or the society. These economic profits are referred as essential development goals. The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between economic goals and sustainable entrepreneurship and also to analyze its impact. The paper determined the attributes of 'economic goals' that has an impact on the development of sustainable entrepreneurship. The sum of 500 SMEs from the selected districts of Uttarakhand (one of the states in India) was inspected. It was found that the attributes extracted from 'economic goals' (Employee welfare, Economic growth, Performance and business stability) were positively correlated with sustainable entrepreneurship. It also concluded that three attributes have a favorable impact on sustainable entrepreneurship except 'employee welfare' has an unfavorable impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to find out the impact of corruption on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows and economic growth of India. Economic growth and FDI are two of the important factors showing the development scenario in developing economies like India. At the same time, corruption continues to be one of the greatest impediments to economic and social development in these economies. The present paper examines the effects of corruption on FDI inflows and economic growth by using secondary data over the period of 1995 to 2017. Ordinary Least Squares regression has been applied as the main technique for the study. The present study contributes to the existing literature by defining the relationship between corruption, FDI inflows and economic growth in Indian aspect. Further, an endeavor has been made to comprehend that how corruption influences FDI decision and economic growth of Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals who create business and employment are entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is actually the ability to develop and sustain a business associated with risk, and ultimately make profit. Every entrepreneur aims to make profit for his own concern. Entrepreneurship is also associated with conversion of new innovation and technology into business, which ultimately generates employment and profit in the economy and thus the entrepreneurs contribute towards the growth of an economy. According to Schumpeter, innovation in business is the primary reason for increased investment and business ups-and-downs in an economy. Recently, women entrepreneurship in India is also making a mark in the society. Indian women have started taking initiative to make a startup and start their career as entrepreneurs with small businesses and they are having success in their field as well. This means women in our society are progressive and capable of sustaining a business, which in turn helps in economic growth. Hence, the study also focuses on the women entrepreneur's contribution to the society. Along with this, the paper has also tried to focus on the growth aspects of entrepreneurship and its impact on the society and economy. Innovation in business improvises it as well as the role of the entrepreneur. It helps entrepreneurs to take decision to implement these new innovations in the business by taking risk and uncertainty. The paper will also highlight on this aspect of use of innovation by entrepreneurs in business expansion and analyse its impact on the sustainable growth of Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is an engine for economic growth in the modern technological age and knowledge-centric economy. However, protecting the rights of innovators and rewarding them legally is a major constraint due to a lot of procedural hurdles and time consuming processes. IPR boosts the economic growth and development of the nation, which in turn may propel the AATMANIRBHAR movement of India. In this background, it was deemed necessary to present the status and trends of Indian patents and patentees in recent times. The present research work would provide a road map for future self-reliant Indian economic development. Secondary data for the last decade relating to IPR was collected from websites, research papers, journals, books, newsletters, and the WIPO website. It is recommended that the legal hassles involved in obtaining IPR and other paperwork may be excluded with a view to making patenting much easier for the beneficiaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Trade has the benefits which no country can deny. It is the lifeline of the people living across different boundaries. In the absence of trade, the happiness of the world would be at least reduced to half if not vanish". The role played by foreign trade in the development of the economies of different nations can never be overstated. Foreign trade has been rightly called upon as the engine of economic growth by many prominent economists of international repute. In the absence of international trade, nations would find it not only difficult to utilise their economic resources to the optimum level, but also will not be able to fulfil all the demands of consumption of the people in their economies. Present paper endeavours to present the utility of international trade in the development of any economy and volume of foreign trade in pre-reforms and post-reforms periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the crisis in 1991, the Indian government introduced some changes in its Policy on trade, foreign investment, tariffs, and taxes under the name of 'New Economic Reforms'. The main focus of these reforms has been on liberalisation, openness, and export promotion activity. The paper focuses on the impact of development variables on export from India. Developmental variables include infrastructure, human resource, openness, production & market, research & development, resources, and taxation. Each development variable consists of a set of related variables. The paper has used principal component analysis (PCA), composite index and panel regression model. These help to know impact of individual developmental variable on India's export. The period of study is 1990 - 2013. The value of KMO is over 0.6 indicating the samples are adequate and the value of Bartlett's test is less than 0.05 ensure suitability of PCA. The overall growth rate Indian foreign trade is 3 percent during last more than two decades. Main macro-economic variables are infrastructure, resources, and taxation. The government should strengthen and incorporate these macro-economic variables while making foreign trade policy (i.e. EXIM policy) policy under the umbrella of WTO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National Textile Policy 2000 and interventions in the Indian textile sector around the turn of this century were designed to introduce efficiency-enhancing policy reforms through gradual withdrawal of restrictions on the organized and of protection for the unorganized segments of the industry. Such changes are expected to have affected the relative performance of the organized and unorganized segments of the Indian garment industry by influencing their conducts differentially. Removal of capacity restrictions was expected to initiate optimal restructuring of production. Unorganized firms generally enjoying scope economies and advantage of small batches production are supposed to deal with its problem of market access through complementary linkage with larger units. In this context, the present paper seeks to compare the change in efficiency profile of the concerned segments of selected Indian states between 2001 and 2011. Output-oriented data envelopment analysis indicated that majority of both organized and unorganized firms in most of the states were technically inefficient even at the end of the study period. Use of sub-optimal inputmix turned out to be the important cause of inefficiency in the organized segment while operating on a less than optimal scalepossibly due to typically limited access to market - contributed to the inefficiency for greater part of unorganized garment units. A meta-frontier analysis indicated that the scale-enhancing policy measures possibly favoured the organized sector more than its unorganized counterpart in all the states under consideration. This draws our attention to the need for recognizing the different requirements of these two segments of firms and for adopting a segment-specific support strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines the structure and diversification of informal manufacturing sector across Indian states. Using the National Sample Survey "quinquennial" rounds on unorganised manufacturing enterprises in India for the years 1994-95, 2005-06, and 2010-11, we have analysed the industrial structure of the states at two-digit industry level by employing location quotient and examined the degree of diversification of informal manufacturing sector in different states by employing diversification coefficient. We have also examined the co-location of informal manufacturing enterprises across states. The results show that most of the states have a narrow industrial base and diversification does not appear to be very wide across states. The findings provide strong evidences for significant positive correlation between the diversification of informal manufacturing sector and level of industrial development, and the presence of co-location of informal manufacturing enterprises across states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has a rich handicrafts culture where each state is known for its variety of craft traditions. Irrespective of its folkloric uniqueness, different languages, various cultures, and natural resources, India has a diverse tradition of handicrafts and art works. There is a diversity of ethnic handicrafts ranging from north to south and east to west. There are varieties of handicrafts made of wood, marble, textile, and other things representing relevance to each state. Some of the artistries were born out of necessity, while others happened solely out of man's innate fascination towards crafts. Indian handicraft industry has a huge untapped potential for marketing in both domestic & international market. There is a need to increase the popularity of handicrafts both in domestic & international markets. Artisans do not get enough opportunities to access the domestic/international high-end markets, as they are generally poor, illiterate and mainly come from remote or rural areas. It is necessary to facilitate their access to various markets and marketing channels, through marketing support and services schemes. This research paper attempts to highlight marketing support and services schemes for Indian handicrafts and the challenges towards the implementation of these schemes. This paper would be of great importance to the marketers of Indian handicrafts and also to the artisans who would be benefited through it. The data are collected from the secondary sources. Before concluding the paper, the role of the government will also be discussed in the promotion of handicraft and protection of interest of artisans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common man has achieved tremendous transformation from the stage of isolation to the stage of decision maker in the era of globalisation. Increasing political concerns and neglecting attitude on common man have resulted in huge loss to the dictators and political parties. In view of the importance of common man, a great change has occurred in terms of concern for common man in the present era. Increasing initiations of social schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is one of the best examples which shows that the government is highly concerned for the development and as well as for empowerment. The main objective of the Act is to provide a safety net for vulnerable groups in rural areas, promote sustainable development of the agricultural economy, empower the rural poor through rights-based law, and advance new ways of doing business through the principles of transparency at grassroots of democracy. The scheme is one of the most popular schemes and world's biggest, social employment and empowerment initiated by the government. The Act permits to bring out the potential of work force and helps to create infrastructure for the development of the economy. The present paper critically examines the need for social scheme for common man. Further, the paper also contributes the benefits of the scheme. The paper provides the valuable observations on examining the impact of social schemes for the upliftment of common man. It brings out the effectiveness of the scheme on common man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiential Marketing is the art and science of engaging customers with in depth experiences of the product. It can also be termed as live marketing engagement where there is a face to face interaction between the consumer and a product or a brand. It is a concept applied so as to appeal to the emotional senses of the customers and to influence their purchase decision. This paper aims at investigating consumer's response to retail experiential marketing. It would involve analytical study of the connection between consumer lifestyle and behaviour in modern retailing. The paper would also suggest various characteristics and specifications that a retail format should have in order to appear most appealing to the consumer in a shopping experience. The data will be collected through primary study which would be qualitative in nature and a structured guideline will be followed while interviewing consumers to examine individual responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the result of an exhaustive review of some basic sectors to identify the trends in the journey of nations to economic development. A knowledge and understanding of the past trends in the evolution of developed countries would help us to craft the strategy for betterment in terms of social and economic growth. We have attempted to answer in this paper two questions, viz.: What the developed countries did and what the developing countries must do in order to become competitive. The paper has been largely India-centric in respect of developing countries, even though reference to China has been made frequently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian economy is one of the fastest-growing economies of the whole world. To further boost the tempo of its growth, it is leaving no stone unturned to increase the productivity of its resources and their proper utilisation. Establishment of special economic zones (SEZs) is one such endeavour of Indian government which promises to contribute towards its economic development through export promotion and manufacture of products for exports. SEZs have contributed to great measures towards the development of Indian economy. They have created employment for the increasing labour force of India and, at the same time, led to fast-track increase in the export earnings of India. SEZs hold the promise of development of the Indian economy both in the long and the short run. Present paper deals with the introduction of SEZs and their present status and future scope in the development of Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper utilization of workforce ensures the development of all the nations of the world. It is the resource which guarantees the utilization of different factors of production and gives a boost to growth and development of nations. It is important for all the nations of the world to take care of its workforce and its employability, if they wish to develop their economy in long as well as short run. India has become the youngest nation of the world and possesses the demographic dividend. But, the demographic dividend of India is not being utilized properly. India does not possess the required amount of capital formation to engage the increase in the workforce of the Indian economy. The workforce participation rate in India is lower than in most countries in the world. If taken in absolute terms also, it is lowest in the present decade as well. Almost 50 percent of the population of India does not contribute anything to the economic development and is dependent on the rest of the population which is employed. If this trend of decline in workforce, participation rate continues for some more years than the Indian economy may have to face serious consequences. It is with this imperative that the present paper highlights the present and past trends of workforce participation rate of India and presents the true picture of the situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the trend pattern of India's Foreign Trade during the pre- and post-liberalization periods. Further, the study is mainly based on the secondary data collected from published sources. To study the impact of the foreign trade, data relating to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), one of the most important economic indicators, has been collected for the period of 54 years that include pre- and post-liberalization periods. For analysis, statistical tools like multiple regression method, ANOVA, and Durbin Waston autocorrelation tests are applied. The results revealed that country's foreign trade increased consistently during pre- and post-liberalization periods, but it increased more during the post-liberalization period compared to pre-liberalization period. During the study period, the growth rate of imports was more than the growth rate of exports. This led to deficit in the balance of payment of the country. The volume of trade and GDP has been increasing year by year. A positive and increasing trend during the period of study has also been observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine the causal relationship between industrial growth and financial development during the post economic reforms in India (1991-2014). The long run relationship between financial development and industrial growth is tested by using ARDL (Auto Regressive Distributed Lag) model while causal relationship has been investigated with the help of Granger Causality Test. The empirical results of ARDL model found strong evidence in the long run between financial development and industrial growth and Granger Causality test indicate the bi-directional causality exists between industrial growth and financial development in India. The results of the present study support the significant role of financial development in the industrial growth. Easy licensing policy, credit availability, tax structure, skill centres and digitalization of market structure can enhanced the industrial growth in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the causal relations between foreign direct investment and economic growth in a developing country like India. The analysis has been made under Johansen's Cointegration framework based on 21 years of data covering the post reform era of the country. The Cointegration analysis finds strong positive relation between FDI and economic growth in India. The study concludes with a suggestion that the policy makers in India should develop investor friendly environment conducive for attracting more amount of capital from the developed world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Banking sector is accepted as the main motivator in socio-economic upgradation of any country especially developing one like India. Commercial banks, specially their public domain, introduce the assistance programme to society under the portfolio of commercialisation and socialisation. Public sector banks play a pivotal role in framing the socio-economic development of our country by including all financially excluded poor populace at soft terms and conditions under their purview. But in this very effort, the said banks have to face extreme pressure due to lesser amount of deposit than advance, wilful default etc. which may have high impact on their liquidity position and thus would force them to face sustainability crisis in its professional field of activity. Therefore, to carry on a smooth operation in competitive environment, public sector banks would have to maintain a steady flow of liquidity which can be judged through some basic financial ratios. The present paper aims at (i) assessing the consistent position of the public sector banks (listed in BSE 23.06.2016) in liquidity aspects during the period 1999-2000 to 2015-2016, (ii) making a bank-bank, bank-group (size of bank), and bank-sector comparative analysis on the liquidity position throughout the specific period, and (iii) examining any difference between and within at least two selected banks on liquidity aspects by applying some relevant statistical tools and techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the hedge effectiveness of futures contracts of tourism and hospitality sector in India using four sample stocks namely, ADANIPORTS, APOLLOHOSP, CONCOR and JETAIRWAYS, traded at NSE, for which data has been collected from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2017 for near month futures contracts. The optimal hedge ratio is estimated using five specifications: naive, ordinary least square, autoregressive moving average ordinary least squares, vector autoregression and vector error correction. The study finds that one-to-one naive model provides superior hedging effectiveness over all the other models, implying equal investment in both spot and futures market to achieve highest effectiveness. Overall, the study finds that tourism and hospitality sector provides an effective platform for hedging with futures contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is a developing country and considered to be world's fastest-growing economy. Though India has witnessed tremendous progress since Independence, the country is still working on providing the basic infrastructure in the rural areas. Geographically, it is the seventh largest country in the world. Based on the gross domestic product, it is also 7th largest. The country is poised to become the third largest by 2030. Concurrently, 70% of the population living in rural areas is below the poverty line of which tribals living in the villages form the greatest pie. This paper is an attempt to study the living and working conditions of tribal labour with a focus on Koraput district, Odisha. A research study is undertaken to study the working and living conditions of tribal labour like drinking water and shelter. Further, an attempt is made to capture their source of income and expenditure pattern. Based on the first-hand information, the study provides findings and suggestions for the better improvement of lives of tribal labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowering people to become the master of their own destiny is one of the most powerful tools of economic growth and development. Thus, entrepreneurs are said to be the key drivers of the economic engine. Entrepreneurs innovate and create opportunity, jobs, wealth, and prosperity for many. According to an estimate, new age entrepreneurs account for 20% of gross job creation in the United States (Kauffman Foundation, 2015). In addition to job creation, new businesses bring economic dynamism by spurring innovation and injecting competition.The conducive environment that facilitates people to start their own business provides a big spark to the economic development. The factors that contribute to the success of entrepreneurs around the world include access to the human, financial, and professional resources along with host of encouraging government policies (Babson College Website, 2016). An efficient economy should ideally provide transparent and favourable regulatory environment for the creation and growth of business enterprises. The present paper reviews important measures and policies undertaken by the Government of India under the realm of 'Ease of Doing Business'. These policies are reviewed in the backdrop of India's performance in the Doing Business Index, 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The banking industry is a vital part of the economy and is continually facing intense competition with changing bank reforms. An efficient and stable banking industry is today’s demand and essential for productivity of the economy. This paper examines the efficiency of 46 Indian private and public sector banks from 2010 to 2014 using non-parametric DEA methodology. The study reveals that private banks are relatively more efficient than public banks and form a major part of the efficient frontier. The study also reveals that managerial inefficiency is the main cause for overall technical inefficiency of private banks than scale inefficiency. On the other hand, public banks have suffered more from scale inefficiency for some years than managerial inefficiency. Moreover, on an average, the difference between efficiency scores of private and public banks is found to be statistically insignificant except scale efficiency, significant for three years continuously i.e. 2010, 2011 and 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life amidst conflict is convoluted. In the riot hit area of Muzaffarnagar (in 2013) a huge population from a religious community had to live in camps. For more than 8 months, people lived in camps in the search of peace and justice, far from education for children, possible livelihood opportunity and a healthy environment. Similarly, in the forests of Dandakaranya is a village which is primarily inhabited by surrendered left wing extremists, life there is harsh. The SDG 16 is dedicated to the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels. The HDR 1996 says - "human development is the end--economic growth a means". We need to understand the concept of development diligently adding sustainability as an essential. This paper attempts to understand the current state of peace and inclusion in conflict areas of Left Wing Extremism in MP and CH, riot affected areas of Muzaffarnagar in UP and areas of forced displacement and rehabilitation in MP and UK. It looks to explore the possibilities of - provision for justice for all and building effective and accountable institutions at all levels of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health tourism Industry is witnessing a sudden paradigm shift in last five years. India has become a home of traditional medicine that has been practiced for several thousand years as a part of "manav dharma" to give relief to the needy and mostly free of cost. With modern diagnostic and treatment facilities, experienced surgeons, one of the largest pharmaceutical industries in world, and a tradition of caring, India provides world class surgical and healthcare facilities, with comparable success rates and prompt service levels. The potential of medical tourism is such that it can even surpass the revenue earned from IT sector. Recognising the pivotal contribution of medical tourism to the economic development, the Indian Government has initiated numerous measures to promote this vary young industry to attract international tourism. This has motivated to identify recent trends and opportunities in India for the medical and healthcare tourism, and to explore the critical factors which can lead to success of initiatives taken by ministry of tourism for the development of medical tourism in India. Finally paper suggests measures to enhance medical tourism in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The factors that cause Economic growth are varied and diverse. Theory has however managed to identify certain key factors, of which finance is one. In recent years, there have been studies using econometric time-series analysis to study the short-run and long-run relationships between finance and growth, for various countries. This paper is a study of the Indian economy, where we try to determine the causal relationship between bank credit and economic growth. Data from 1972 to 2012 for the Indian economy has been used for this study. The results suggest that provision of bank credit leads to economic growth. However, an increase in economic growth may not lead to further provision of bank credit in the economy. In other words, there is unidirectional causality from bank credit to growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper empirically investigates the co-integrating relationship between India's financial development and its economic growth. Whereas economic growth has been taken to be natural log of India's GDP; natural log of domestic credit to private sector has been considered as the proxy for financial development variable. The methodology employed has been autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing c-integration approach, and we have analysed log transformed yearly data for the 58-year period, i.e., 1960-2017. First the two time series were checked for unit root both at level and 1st difference and the test employed was Perron (1997) Unit root test with a single break. Then, the ARDL test was carried out with the two variables; Log GDP and Log Domestic Credit to Private Sector. Further model optimality model was tested using both AIC and SC criteria and model stability using CUSUM Plots. Also, ACF and PACF Plots along with 'Q' statistics results were used in the study for detection of serial correlation. The results of the study revealed positive co-integrating relation between India's economic growth and financial development when GDP was taken as dependent variable under ARDL Breakpoint Model. The 'F' statistics of this model was 39.02885 which was significantly higher than the upper bound limit as given in both Pesaran, M. H., Shin, Y., and Smith, R. J. (2001) and also Narayan (2004) tables. The ECM term was negative and statistically significant and time to achieve long-run equilibrium was approximately 17 ½ years. On the other hand, when dependent variable was domestic credit to private sector, no co-integration was detected in the results as the computed 'F' value of 2.917512 was less than the lower bound. Further, no serial correlation was noticed even at lag 10, when the same was checked by ACF and PACF Plots supported by 'Q' statistics. The model was found to be stable using CUSUM Stability plot and the long-term results of the ARDL model for both the variables were found to be quite robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Banking institutions have always played a significant role in the economic development of nations. The case of India is not an exception to this. In fact, the banking sector in India has been in the lime light since 1991 because of its reform measures. A number of measures have been taken since then and the question comes to mind whether India has gained from these measures. The present paper is an attempt in this respect and examines the performance of Indian banks in the post-reform period in terms of profit performance. The study finds that profit performance of Indian banks have improved significantly in the post-reform period and thus the reform measures are justified and should continue in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper is an endeavor to analyze the significance of the growth of Indian sugar industry in overall economic growth of the nation. For analysis purpose, panel data cointegration analysis has been applied on the dataset of 12 major sugar producing states over the period 1974/75 to 2004/05. The empirical analysis reveals that growth of the sugar industry significantly contributes to overall economic growth of states under evaluation. Further, the analysis of the drivers of output growth in Indian sugar industry reveals that given the highest inputs elasticity of sugar output, LNIGIN (i.e., index of growth of inputs) is the most significant variable to accelerate growth of Indian sugar industry. Further, except LNPEIN (managerial efficiency change index), all other variables namely, LNSEIN (scale efficiency change index), LNPTIN and LNIBIN (Indices of Hicks neutral and non-neutral types of technical progress, respectively) contribute positively and significantly to the growth of Indian sugar industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India remained an important economic power in the world for centuries due to the entrepreneurial capabilities of its skilled artisans & craftsmen till the end of the Mughal period and accounted for one fourth of the world trade. Worldwide Small and Medium Enterprises have been recognized as engines of economic growth. In India, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSEs), which form 95 % of the industrial units, account for almost 40 % of the total industrial production and 34 % of the exports, providing employment to about 312.5 Lakh persons in 128.5 Lakh units in 2006-07.The "swadeshi" movement started in 1905, gave a further push to the promotion of Indian industries, providing employment to artisans and craftsmen. The movement, gave a new life to manufacturing entrepreneurship, particularly cottage industries sector. The enormous demand for factory goods created by the First World War (1914-18), resulted in the resurgence of entrepreneurship in India. By the end of Second World War, Indian entrepreneurs, had attained the capabilities and capacities to take over the businesses of the departing Britishers. After achievement of independence in 1947, the political leadership as well as the eminent industrialists in the corporate sector, were well aware of the contribution of entrepreneurship in industrial and economic development of the country. The leadership was also well aware of the role of small scale sector in the creation of employment for masses at low capital costs. The Industrial Policy Resolutions / Statements and other initiatives like provision of infrastructure, finance at concessional rates of interest and setting up of special organizations/ institutions especially for the promotion and development of small sector, presently called Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector, have put the economy on a fast growth track. Indian economy has become the second fastest growing economy in the world, even during the present worst economic meltdown period. With this backdrop, paper attempts to highlight the role of entrepreneurship in growth of Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small industry is regarded as one of the major planks of India's economic development strategy since independence. Today, small industry occupies a position of strategic importance in the Indian economic structure due to its significant contribution in terms of output, exports and employment. But the strategic importance of small business loses its relevance when paucity of fund obstructs implementation of the appropriate strategy. Many studies have reveals that small entrepreneurs are deprived of adequate finance, hence makes them vulnerable to not only set-up their ventures but also to undertake various diversification and modernization activities. In addition, small entrepreneurs are reluctance to approach financial assistance due to the perceived cost of finance. Apart from interest cost involved in using debt finance, the entrepreneurs had to bear lots of non-financial cost due to delay/harassment/business interference involved in the process of availing finance from formal financial institutions. The present study on industrial finance for small industries in Meghalaya, is not only essential for solving the problems of deprived finance but also to tackle the problems confronting the borrowers to avail easy and speedy finance. In this backdrop, the present study attempt to analyse the problem due to non-financial cost like, delay/harassment/business interference involved in the process of availing finance from formal financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) [formerly Tiny and Small Scale Industries (SSIs)] are recognised as the main contributors in socio-economic advancement of any country especially the developing one like India. But due to some controllable and/or uncontrollable factors, MSEs cannot get themselves free from sickness. Sickness in MSEs expands its steps in all states in India amongst which West Bengal (WB) is specially notable mainly due to the continuous degradation of Micro and Small Engineering Enterprises of the then Birmingham/Sheffield of the East, Howrah. In WB, Howrah is considered to be the most incipient sickness-prone district for MSEs. Government effort to locate the probable causes of sickness of MSEs has exposed that in India, lack of demand of the product of MSEs in market is the most sever one, while in WB, marketing problem holds the maximum severity, followed by lack of demand which is also partially due to the marketing problem. The present paper aims at identifying how far the major responsible causes in marketing related area are liable in bringing about sickness in Micro and Small Engineering Enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is one of the fastest growing economies across the globe. The thrust of the New Economic Policy has been towards creating a more competitive environment in order to expand the economic wings of the country. Since 1991, the Indian economy has been progressively enjoying the path of stable economic growth, still, social and financial inequalities have increased alongside. The Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India have been making strategic efforts to promote financial inclusion as one of the important national objectives to attain inclusive growth for the economic development of the country. The present study is conceptual in nature and based on secondary data to analyse the factors that stimulate financial inclusion in the Indian economy. The present study also examines if financial inclusion is a strategic weapon to achieve economic growth and development and recommends strategies to encourage market penetration by financially excluded sections of the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, a large number of mutual fund schemes are available. Indian and foreign mutual fund institutions provide the schemes jointly. Generally, they provide different types of schemes like income, growth, balanced, gilt etc. These schemes are made in such a way that they fulfill certain objectives. Here, openended balanced mutual fund schemes are considered to examine the performance in the context of Indian capital market. The study uses popular measures of Treynor & Mazuy and Fama to achieve the major objectives, namely stock-selection, market timing and diversification performances of the open-ended balanced mutual fund schemes. The basic finding of the study is that the schemes have provided satisfactory returns to the investors. But, the managers have failed to reduce the magnitude of diversifiable risk. Therefore, the schemes have excessive unsystematic risk. Moreover, the managers cannot predict the market movement at right time; as a result, the managers are unsuccessful to generate extra returns due to poor market timing performance. Similarly, the managers cannot predict the security prices correctly due to poor stock selection performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has certainly been a drastic evolution in the meadow of economy in the contemporaneous globalized era of today. In developing countries as the escalating stars of the economies have decided to essentially bring fortune and safety of women entrepreneurs which have been considered and nominated as innovative devices for overall development. For overall optimization significant economic and social living index has manifold women entrepreneurial activity thus enhances a progress for the overall rights of women. As such women entrepreneurship is also synonymous along with women empowerment. Parallel to male counterpart's female entrepreneurs are quite catalytic with respect to innovation, creation of jobs and also provide more than tangible contribution to gross national product of the nation. For entrepreneurship to flourish and excel innovation works as a catalyst. Women entrepreneurs have just recently emerged, giving them an endangered viewpoint in the world of business, but their involvement in entrepreneurial activity is still severely limited. Leaders especially women are always assertive, readily apt to take uneven risks and persuasive in nature and have managed themselves to survive and succeed in this cut throat competition with hard work, diligence and perseverance. Indian women entrepreneurs are known for their ability to learn rapidly, be persuasive, have an open problem-solving attitude, be ready to take risks and chances, be able to encourage others, and know how to win and lose graciously. Due to Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization, the world is changing at a breakneck speed, presenting new opportunities and major difficulties for women. For tracing the rise of women entrepreneurs in India, sex disaggregated databases on women entrepreneurship produced by the Government of India and other such worldwide publications are primarily analysed. The rising continuous presence of women in the business field has significantly altered the demographic features of business and economic growth in the country. As a result of the synthesis of a thorough examination of literature, a diverse profile of women entrepreneurs in India has emerged. Women entrepreneurs are a diverse collection of people that come from various age groups and demographic origins. Throughout the process of establishing and operating their businesses, people face a variety of gender-specific and gender-neutral obstacles. Women's entrepreneurial activity is centred in Kerala, Tamilnadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra, according to the research. As a result, there is an immediate need to understand policy imperatives and substantial initiatives that might help India's women entrepreneurs thrive in a perilous climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'Financial Inclusion' has been a very popular since the Prime Minister of India, Dr Narendra Modi, addressed the topic. He initiated a drive to enhance the savings of people living in rural areas and to increase economic growth. He made it mandatory for each and every resident to enroll themselves in this scheme As the banking services and facilities are meant for the general public, it is essential that everyone avails them, without any discrimination based on creed, caste, and income Financial inclusion is globally considered an indicator of the development and well-being of a country. Financial inclusion broadens the aid base of the monetary device by developing a way of life of financial savings among a huge segment of rural populace. It also plays a role in economic development. Further, by bringing low-income groups within the perimeter of the formal banking sector, financial inclusion protects their monetary wealth and other assets in exigent circumstances. Financial inclusion, additionally mitigates the exploitation of the vulnerable sections of society with the aid of the usurious money creditors via facilitating easy get entry to formal credit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The government of Goa has been promoting casino tourism in Goa arguing that promoting casinos is necessary to bolster the economic growth of Goa especially in the aftermath of the mining ban that deprived Goa and its government of the substantial revenue generated through mining. The casino promotion, however, has met with strong protests in Goa from the time the government decided to encourage casinos to expand the growth of tourism in Goa. Casinos have taken strong roots in Goa and clearing the ever-growing forest of casinos is becoming more and more difficult as years roll by. The offshore casinos have almost fused with the landscape of Panjim making it almost next to impossible to visualize Panjim and the river Mandovi sans the casinos. At this juncture, accepting, despite all opposition, that the reality of Panjim 'casinoscape' will linger on into the future, the challenges ahead lie in implementing sustainable strategies to maximize the gains from casinos and counteract the prospective ill-effects from casino type tourism instead of imagining a return back to the Panjim of the 1990s and earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural markets have played a significant role in growth of the emerging economies. In India, the economic growth in the last two decades and governments' focus on rural economy boosted consumption and production levels in the rural India. Rural markets and consumers are a lot more heterogeneous than their urban counterparts are. Keeping the facts that the rural market is not so rural and evolving significantly as well as demographic variables are significantly affecting their buying behavior in the mind, the present study had five objectives to fulfill. With the help of four hypotheses, the study has fulfilled the objectives. The primary data were collected with the help of structured questionnaires and SPSS 20 software was used to analyze the data. The outcome proves that there exists a significant association and correlation between demographic variables and buying of consumer goods in rural market. Various demographic variables have their own role to play, and ignorance of anyone could lead to the debacle in rural market; hence, to win the lion heart of rural consumers, marketers must consider the demographic variable and its association, segment the market based on it and then try to position the products accordingly; tin this way, possibly, they may succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is to examine the impact of cashless monetary policy on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India. The government's initiative towards cashless economy triggers with demonetisation of high denomination currencies. Cashless economy is a financial environment that minimises the use of physical cash by providing alternative channels for making payments, and fosters a clean and digital economic culture. Demonetisation, for a while, slows down all economic activities and imputes to use digital mode for transactions. The MSMEs prefer to do all its transactions with conventional mode; sudden move by the demonetisation severely affected the MSME sector. Stringent reactive policies are required to this segment for surviving in a cashless economy. Economic reform without considering MSMEs will result negative impacts, it acts as a mediating role in economic growth. Currently the dealers and customers are adopting digital infrastructure and slowly it will create a digital economic culture. The objective of the study is to determine possible implications of a cashless economy on micro small medium enterprises in India. It also discusses challenges that MSMEs would face in a cashless society and points out some possible solutions. The study is based on secondary data and simple statistical tools are used for analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial inclusion has become one of the most critical aspects in the context of inclusive growth and sustainable development in developing countries like India. Financial inclusion is a process of ensuring access to suitable financial products and services needed by susceptible groups such as weaker sections and low-income groups at an affordable cost in a fair and transparent manner by mainstream financial institutional players. Despite impressive economic growth over the last two decades, many countries in the world are experiencing inequalities leading to adverse consequences for social cohesion which in turn, could dampen growth prospects. Therefore, financial inclusion has emerged as an important topic on the global agenda for sustainable long-term economic growth. The present study is an attempt to assess the role of post offices in financial inclusion and economic development in the Jammu division of Jammu & Kashmir State. Both primary and secondary data were used for conducting the study. For primary data, 1050 questionnaire were distributed among customers of post offices of Jammu division and secondary data were collected using Internet, journals, and post offices. The most important aspect of financial inclusion is financial literacy but it was found that there is lack of awareness among rural masses about various schemes of financial inclusion. The study is limited to the perception of post office customers only and could be carried further on the perception of other stakeholders such as post office officials and business correspondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has recently been witnessing a growing incidence of urban poverty. The forces of liberalization and globalization have accelerated the pace of economic growth coupled with exclusionary process of urbanisation and resultant increase in the absolute number of urban poor. The urban poverty is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon. It is not just lack of income to buy minimum amount of food calories, it rather reflects inadequate provision of education, sanitation, housing, water supply and health care facilities to be delivered by the urban management system. The purpose of the study is to discuss the latest trends, nature and constitution of urban poverty. The study also highlights the severity and magnitude of the urban poverty and analyses the causes of its rise at alarming proportions. Conclusions drawn underscore important policy implications to tackle the challenges of urban poverty in the midst of rapid urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), 2005, later renamed as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), was enacted in the parliament to provide employment opportunities to the rural people of India. The State Government shall, in rural areas in the state, provide to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work not less than one hundred days of such work in every financial year. The West Bengal Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (WBREGS) came into force from February, 2006. In the present study, an attempt has been taken to review the performance of the scheme implemented in different districts of West Bengal and also to measure the inequality among the districts in implementing the scheme. Five parameters have been used to measure the performance of the districts, namely, percentage of households provided employment to the households demanded employment, percentage of households completed 100 days of employment, average person days of employment provided per household, percentage of women person days to total person days and average wage disbursed per person day. To calculate the inequality among the districts in performing the same, coefficient of variation and Ginni's coefficient have been used. Kendall's coefficient of concordance has also been used to test the propriety of the ranks obtained by different districts on the basis of different parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]