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This paper investigates the hypothesis that there is an association between increased levels of trade liberalisation and economic growth through a comparative analysis of two giant emerging economies of the world - India and China. For this purpose the paper examines trends in GDP growth and various trade openness measures via empirical analysis of time-series data of the last 43 years, based on eight key indicators to compare the experiences of the two countries. These indicate that rapid and gradual trade liberalisation of both the countries, coupled with supporting economic, institutional, and infrastructural reforms, and advancement in technology led to the linking of these giants with the global markets, which has significantly contributed towards their economic growth, thereby supporting the phenomena that there is a significant positive relationship between liberalisation and economic growth. While China was seen to be experiencing growth, India was also on the right track. Indicators of both liberalisation and growth reveal that both the countries enhanced their economy significantly as they embraced international trade through trade reforms and economic liberalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the implications of son preference on birth spacing intervals in India. Sibling sex composition provides a credible source of exogenous variation in the Indian context for births on or before 1990, as sex screening became widespread only after the 1990 economic reforms. I use the sibling sex composition of the first two children to capture its impact on the third birth interval. My analysis shows that, on average, families with two sons face an 8% lower hazard of a third birth relative to families with two daughters. Moreover, I find three channels of heterogeneity: religion, mother's age, and state of residence. Respondents from diverse religious groups respond differently to the sibling composition of the first two births regarding their likelihood of riskier births for the third interval. Moreover, older mothers with at least one son are less likely to have a shorter third birth interval than younger cohorts of mothers. Finally, the respondent's state of residence also drives some heterogeneity, with mothers from non-southern states less likely to have a riskier third birth interval once they have had at least one son among the first two births. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has failed to develop merchandise exports as China has. The Indian government is aware of this challenge and hence has created a specific plan for the industry called Plan 2025 to benchmark Chinese reforms. However, Plan 2025 fails to enhance the industry at this stage. This paper examines how some successful economic reforms in China did not have the desired impact in India. This paper shows that some key success factors of the Chinese experience have deliberately not been included in India (absence of agglomeration effect with emerging neighbours, rent capture behaviour at a political level, same focus on IT & service instead of manufacturing from the SEZs, absence of upgrade to the current Chinese reforms). Still more significantly, there were policy mistakes. The Indian willingness to focus on knowledge generation for the manufacturing sector (as it has always done for IT & services) instead of on knowledge exploitation as China did, prevented India from using the backwardness advantage to obtain technology transfer and spillover to the rest of the economy. Therefore, this paper makes some recommendations for Indian policy-makers on how to improve the current flaws detected in the application of some Chinese economic reforms. As there is a need for state level analysis, the methodology consisted in comparing the past economic history and trajectories of two Indian States (Gujarat & Karnataka) with two Chinese Deltas (Yangtze River and Pearl River) using the approaches of the regional innovation systems (RIS) and the regional entrepreneurial ecosystems (REE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial development and income inequality in India using annual data from 1982-2012. Design/methodology/approach -- Stationarity properties of the series are checked by using ADF, DF-GLS, KPSS and Ng-Perron unit root tests. The paper applied the auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to co-integration to examine the existence of long run relationship; and error correction mechanism for the short run dynamics. Findings -- The co-integration test confirms a long run relationship between financial development and income inequality for India. The ARDL test results suggest that financial development, economic growth, inflation aggravates the income inequality in both long run and short run. However, trade openness reduces the gap between rich and poor in India. Research limitations/implications -- The present recommend for appropriate economic and financial reforms focussing on financial inclusion to reduce income inequality in India. Originality/value -- Till date, there is hardly any study that makes a clear comparison between market-based indicator and bank based indicator of financial development in India and those examining the relationship between finance and income inequality nexus. Further there is hardly any study to include gini coefficient as a proxy for inequality for India and apply ARDL techniques of co-integration, using the basic principles of GJ hypothesis and provide short run and long run dynamics for India. So the contribution of the paper is to fill these research gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the recent trends and patterns of urbanization before and after the economic reforms in India. In addition, the paper explores the emerging patterns of urban growth and captures the changes through development indicators based on the available data from the Census of India and National Accounts Statistics. The study employs an exponential growth rate and a linear model for determining the pace of urbanization, which is then plotted on a scatter diagram. It is surprising to note that wherever urbanization was expected to accelerate, it has instead slowed down. Economic reforms have been not uniformly implemented because of the faulty national economic policy which has discouraged the growth of urban employment and is a cause for concern that requires political attention. The study concludes that economic reforms are necessary for accelerating urbanization, promoting small and medium-sized urban areas, human capital, socio-cultural mobility, and plans for eco-friendly green cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1991 India embarked on far-reaching economic, financial and regulatory reforms, which led to not only a surge in economic growth, but also spurred scholarly interest in Indian firms, their strategies, and their business environment. As it has been almost three decades since the reforms were initiated, we believe that it is an appropriate time to take stock of the research on strategic management in the Indian setting. Our scoping review finds three dominant themes in extant research: impact of environment (specifically liberalization) on firms, strategies of firms, and the different ownership structures of firms. We discuss the key findings within these domains and identify the theories and methods that scholars have used to address their research questions. We assert that the unique Indian context — a mix of public and private economy operating within a democratic system — provides a rich environment for not only testing existing theories in strategic management but also generating new theories. We conclude by identifying several important areas of research and urging strategy scholars to engage with the opportunities offered by the evolving Indian business environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Indian government introduced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India (IBC) in 2016 as reforms in insolvency and bankruptcy laws are crucial for improving the business environment and credit markets in India. The banking sector of India has been marred for long by the problem of Non-performing-Assets (NPAs), and many of its largest companies are struggling under massive debts. The main objective of the new law was to facilitate insolvency resolution and liquidation in a timely manner and to improve India's ranking in the 'ease of doing business' index. This paper highlights the importance of insolvency reform in the economic policy of any country, while it examines the insolvency regime in India under the IBC with respect to its prospects and challenges and implications of the Code for the Indian corporate sector. Thus, the paper contributes to the policy debate relating to this subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by surveying recent economic studies of the relationships between technology transfer, intellectual property, innovation and diffusion in emerging countries. It applies this literature to the Indian case. India has been experiencing rapid growth and has several high technology sectors staffed by an absolutely large and highly educated middle class. At the same time an even larger share of its very big population is still working in low productivity agriculture and many of these people are living in extreme poverty. Thus it needs to innovate and grow to employ its vast army of unskilled workers. The second part of the paper outlines how industry structure and innovative performance were progressing in India following the economic reforms of the early 1990s and the changes to intellectual property law occasioned by the TRIPS agreement. In the third section the focus turns to recent science, technology and innovation policy in India. A study of the country's potential for innovation by the World Bank in 2007 argued that India must proceed on two fronts. In addition to considering how India's growth prospects can be enhanced by world leading innovations, this volume placed great emphasis on inclusive innovation. This involves mainly the diffusion and absorption of existing knowledge, but is designed to improve the lot of the poor. The World Bank report proposed a number of new policy directions aimed at speeding up innovation and technology diffusion in India. We record what changes have been made to innovation policy, foreign direct investment policy and diffusion policy in India in recent years and assess whether these are likely to be effective in enhancing India's ability to innovate and achieve rapid growth. [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]

This paper develops a theoretical framework to evaluate directed credit reforms in India. It formulates a post-Keynesian/structuralist macro model that incorporates key features of the Indian banking system. The model divides the economy into a demand constrained industrial sector and a credit constrained agricultural sector. The model shows that directed credit reforms tighten agricultural credit and output, erode real wages by increasing the agricultural price and reduce industrial demand. Inflation also picks up on account of real wage resistance. This paper, therefore, has a close affinity with existing accounts that warn against the stagflationary consequences of financial liberalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the structure of employment in the most urbanized state in India during the period 1983-2010. The paper also analyses the determinants of growth of farm employment in urban areas in the state of Tamil Nadu.Design/methodology/approach The paper compares trends in employment in Tamil Nadu with that of the country as a whole. In order to see whether there is evidence of Lewisian labor transfer, the study examines labor transfer between sectors and percentage distribution of workers in the rural and urban areas.Findings The paper finds that employment in the entire non-agricultural sector slowed down in 2009-2010 compared to 2004-05 in Tamil Nadu. The share of employment in primary sector in urban areas increased more sharply, experiencing slow economic transformation in the post-reform years. The analysis reveals that rapid rural-urban transformation could be one reason for more people in the primary sector in urban areas.Research limitations/implications Studying the employment structure at the district level, for which analyzing the district-level data collected and published by state’s Bureau of Economics and Statistics is required, would be helpful to discern a deeper influence of urbanization on structure of employment.Practical implications The results suggest that the issue needs further examination with analysis of the district-level data. Policy reforms should, therefore, be suitably oriented toward tapping the employment potential of both unorganized and organized segments in manufacturing, trade and services sectors. It is also necessary to ensure robust economic growth that creates decent jobs for all young educated people in the state.Originality/value The study explains the domination of farm employment in urban Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu is considered to be the most urbanized state in India. The reason for an increase in the share of primary sector employment in urban areas of Tamil Nadu is due to high urbanization in the post-reform periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethiopia is witnessing new twists and turns both in its domestic and foreign policy domain of late with the incumbent government in power adopting political and economic reforms aimed at fostering changes to bring about development. This has invariably provided an opportunity for India to consolidate its relationship with Ethiopia further. The new domestic political and economic reforms and the friendly gestures that the present government under Abiy Ahmed has made with its neighbors has drawn the attention of the international community to the extent of awarding him with Nobel Peace Prize. Such reform measures of Ethiopia have given India with wide scope to engage itself constructively and extend political and economic support in areas where both countries stand to gain. India's active engagement with Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular is all the more important given the China factor that has been competing with other countries of the region. This paper describes the domestic political developments in Ethiopia during the post Cold War era and its struggle to maintain the intricate ethnic balance that has characterized its nation-building process by tracing it from the days of King Haile Selassie I. It further analyzes the steps taken by the government to remove obstacles to peace and development through adopting economic liberalization measures and foreign policy changes. These are discussed in a chronological manner starting with a conceptual framework and using predominantly secondary sources and relying on personal observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sketches the contours of progress in India across a broad range of human development indicators, especially those related to the Millennium Development Goals. This paper also considers the slackening of the drop in poverty reduction since the 1990s (as compared to the 1980s) and the theme of increasing personal and regional inequality in India in the post-reforms period. It also considers the even more persistent incidence of hunger in India and concludes by assessing the potential role of public policy in addressing the twin problems of slowdown in poverty alleviation and reduction of hunger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Andhra Pradesh is a relatively underdeveloped state in south India that has become one of the leaders of the Indian reform process. How was this possible? With the help of 12 hypotheses, the paper discusses the politics of the reforms in Andhra Pradesh. The focus is particularly on the period between 1995 and 2004, during which an explicitly reform-oriented government ruled the state. The paper suggests that an important factor behind the reforms seems to lie in the changing economic needs and aspirations of the initially rural-based classes/groups on which the reforming regime was based. Moreover, in contrast to some other Indian states, reforms in Andhra Pradesh were not introduced by stealth, but by hype, by a skilful and cleverly managing leadership that succeeded in suggesting a break with the past while it continued with pro-poor spending and continued to allow policy implementation to be (mis)used for local-level party building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant boom occurred in the Indian financial market and growth in the post-liberalization era. This motivates us to analyze the impact of stock market and credit market (two components of financial market) for the growth of financial market. This paper attempts to show the linkage between stock and credit markets and their impact on the Indian economy taking the period after post-liberalization. The period of analysis is from 1994 to 2010; we identify the three variables as stationary and find a relationship between the financial market and gross domestic product (GDP) and a long-run effect of lagged differences in credit market on GDP. It has been inferred that stock market development has larger and more significant long-run mutual effects on economic growth than credit market development in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the global financial crisis of 2008, the world has been riveted by China's rapid growth and its contribution to the global recovery. But less attention has been paid to India and Indonesia – Asia's two other giants – which also displayed resilience during the crisis and show promise of sustaining this performance. Also remarkable are their geographical, historical and cultural proximity; notwithstanding their differences, these two countries are alike in many respects and face similar challenges, as reflected in their emerging policy priorities. China's large size and rapid growth may have absorbed the attention of Indian and Indonesian policy makers, but this paper argues that a comparative approach to the issues that both countries face can yield interesting insights and provide potential solutions to their development challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Economic policy reforms, characterised by a market-driven, privatised policy regime, are being adopted as a strategy by India to promote economic development. As markets become liberalised, public sector organisations face extreme vulnerability unless they can identify and develop the competencies necessary to thrive in these competitive markets. This paper, drawing on the resource-based view, aims to identify the pre-reform capabilities of public sector organisations in India and similar developing country contexts that would be relevant even in the post-reform context. Design/methodology/approach - An interpretative and theoretical approach is used to put forth the arguments and a framework is proposed to explain the possibility of deriving competitive advantages from pre-reform capabilities in the post-reform context. Findings - Several unique capabilities of Indian public sector organisations can be identified using the resource based perspective which can be leveraged in the post-reform context. They have superior resource-picking capacity compared to private firms, especially for government-regulated resources, international financial assets and modern technologies. Their internal integrative managerial systems and structures offer them an advantage in meeting the competitive demands of speed and promptness. Under effective leadership, the loyalty of a large workforce and their number of years of experience gives them an advantage of effective coordination and knowledge sharing and flow. Also, their capability in delivering economies of scale and scope due to their size and supply chain integration gives them a cost advantage over others. Practical implications - This paper takes a practical approach. It accepts the existing organisational culture, processes and systems of public sector organisations as given and matters of long-term change, and identifies existing capabilities in the current organisational context that could help them survive better. Originality/value - Unlike most papers that focus on how policy changes affect public sector organisations or those that conduct a comparative analysis with the private sector on various parameters, the main focus of this paper is to identify existing capabilities that can be leveraged by public sector organisations for effective adaptation in the new scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to specify some historical and current issue regarding this subject. Like, what has been the relative importance attached to the different aspects of policy; what has been the pace and progress of reform process. Design/methodology/approach - The paper begins with a short discussion of the background of the study and overview of post-independence economic policy. Hence it is a descriptive study that it finds some data from government site. This paper is thought to provide more reliable information about above impacts for policy makers and State and Central Government. Findings - The paper specifically focuses upon economic reforms and social justice in India, issues relating to the progress of economic reforms, need of reforms for human face. More generally, the paper suggests that government should make relatively limited use of key performance Indicators for economic reforms and have high-level participation rates benchmarking for social justice exercises. Research limitations/implications - Some implications are the timing of the various policies and, more importantly, their sequencing and the relative importance attached to the different aspects of policy, in as much as domestic priorities relating to the provision of education, health and employment, globalization of the economy. Practical implications - The paper can help to promote administrative, managerial, and financial support for economic reforms and social justice in India and emphasis the responsibility to the state and central to enlarge reforms opportunities and encourage economic development. Originality/value - Indian Government decides to accelerate the rate of economic growth and to speed up industrialization, to develop heavy industries, to reduce disparities in income and wealth through economic reforms and social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last quarter of the twentieth century was characterized by economic reforms in many formerly state-dominated economies. Among them, the reform attempts by China and India have attracted increasing attention in the popular media and academic research. This paper contribute to this research by using institutional theory to analyse the reforms in China and India and develop a framework to explain how reforms evolve. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the dynamics of reform, helps policy-makers to formulate reform strategy, and international business executives to project the developmental trends in two of the world's largest emerging markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conducts nonparametric tests to examine whether data on financial savings in India can be rationalized in terms of a utility function of a representative economic agent. The nonparametric test has an advantage over its parametric counterpart in that it does not assume the existence of a utility function per se and checks whether the representative consumer's demand structure can at all be rationalized by a utility function. Our test results of the necessary and sufficient conditions of the weak separability hypothesis suggest that data on financial savings in India are consistent with the existence of a utility function for a representative individual with a sub-preference where contractual savings (insurance and provident funds) can be separated out. This result could facilitate the construction of a suitable financial aggregate using these assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of India's policy reforms on exchange rate pass-through into import and export prices, using panel data (at one-digit SITC level) for pre- (1980–90) and post-reform (1991–2001) periods. While the pass-through into import prices has declined, the pass-through into export prices (in USD terms) has increased during the 1990s. The results suggest that, relative to rupee depreciation, Indian exporters increased their USD prices around 20% in the 1980s, but decreased them by around 70% in the 1990s. Moreover, the number of sectors exhibiting some degree of pass-through increased in the 1990s (six), relative to the 1980s (three). These changes may be attributable to the elimination of currency and trade controls, which increased competition among firms and fostered a concern with market share gains in the 1990s over an attempt to use depreciations to increase profits in the 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Compared to the extensive literature on measurement of poverty, the question of how the poor are distributed regionally has received less attention. This paper fills the gap in the literature by providing a conceptual framework to measure inequality in the distribution of the poor. A poverty segregation curve is used to compare a region’s share of the poor population with its share in the overall population. A unique contribution of the paper is formulating a generalized version of the poverty segregation curve. Unlike the segregation curve, the generalized segregation curve also takes average poverty rates into account while ranking distributions. Thus the generalized segregation curve may rank a distribution with substantially lower poverty rates above a distribution with higher poverty rates, when differences between their segregation curves are relatively small. The segregation curves are used to analyze changes in the distribution of the poor in India since the economic reforms in the early 1990s. Poverty rates and shares among all states, territories, and districts in India are estimated using data from the National Sample Survey Organization in 1994, 2004, and 2010. In the decades following the reforms India witnessed high growth rates and declining poverty rates. Despite the reduction in poverty, our analysis is the first to reveal that there was a significant rise in segregation of the poor over time. Some states had disproportionately high share of the poor compared to their share in the total population. Within states, the extent of segregation was lower among some of the poorest states and higher in less poor states. The generalized segregation curves show that the substantial decline in poverty rates since the reforms was not adequate to compensate the rise in segregation of the poor. Increase in segregation was also evident when the poor are identified as those who lacked education, health, and access to basic services. Reducing the segregation of the poor is important if India is to attain regionally balanced economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on an emergent brand of feminist activism in India that responds to everyday sexual violence against women in public. I focus specifically on the efforts of middle class women who organize through online media to conduct interventions in urban Indian public spaces. I review these recent feminist interventions and locate them within a historical review of the women's movement in India to suggest that contemporary feminist organizing embodies and reflects India's turn to neoliberalism in the 1990s. While neoliberal reforms have been analyzed within the terms of political economy, this paper extends existing research to consider how neoliberal subjectivities shape a new feminism. The contemporary feminist interventions under review draw from individual testimonials to form the basis for activism, affirm the agency of participants to transform their urban environments, and foreground desire and consumption as central gendered rights. In sum, this feminism shifts its attention from legal redress and state intervention to cultivate entrepreneurial activists who adopt responsibility for their experiences of urban space as agentive actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper describes the role of ideological change in India''s economic liberalization and provides evidence for it. Since the 1980s the most prevalent ideology has changed from condemning commerce and profit as anti-social, to tolerating—even applauding—commercial success. The paper reports on a content analysis of the most popular Hindi film each year since 1955, and finds that characters of rich merchants have changed from being portrayed as villains to being portrayed as heroes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

India has experienced unprecedented growth in the last two decades-a development largely attributed to economic reforms initiated in the early 1990s. India's approach to liberalisation has been commended for its gradual implementation and its sympathy for poor rural workers. Studies examining the relevance of this claim generally use national survey data, which are seriously limited. So far little effort has been focussed on understanding what reforms actually mean for the rural poor using primary data. In this paper, we use data from a household survey carried out in the villages of Andhra Pradesh. We ask what impact India's reforms have had on its female agricultural labour-who are arguably among its poorest. Specifically, we investigate the impact of three developments considered fundamental to India's economic transformation: a sectoral shift in favour of industry, credit market reforms and poverty alleviation strategies. We argue that despite having a beneficial impact overall, economic reforms have resulted in further marginalising rural women into badly paid and socially debasing waged work. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the nature of the influence that business groups exert in shaping performance outcomes in emerging economies. Set in India, this study used a longitudinal research design to assess the independent and collective performance impact of group affiliation and diversification both before and after economic reforms were introduced in the country. Consistent with the institutional theory perspective, results show that in the pre-reform period the group structure exerted an important positive moderating effect on the diversification-performance relationship. However, these group benefits appear to persist even after many of the sources of market failure had started to decline rapidly. This persistence of group effect may be indicative of the continued relevance of non-diversification benefits of the group structure in emerging economies. It may also be indicative of the fairly slow process of building institutional infrastructure in emerging economies where reforms are seldom introduced en masse but more a series of continuing measures as was the case in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the sign and size of the differential output elasticity of employment for different industries in the private and public organized sectors of the Indian economy during post-economic reform period. A logarithmic form of demand function for employment, derived from the constant elasticity of substitution production function is estimated. An interaction variable is introduced after having ensured that the employment function has a structural shift by Chow break test. The results based on the time series data from the period 1969-1970 to 2004-2005, show that the positive magnitude of elasticity of employment with respect to output in transport, storage and communications industry is relatively very high, as the differential output elasticity of employment is not only positive but also more than unity followed by wholesale and retail trade and financing, insurance and real estate industries in the private organized sector during the post-economic reform period. This reflects the fact that the labor absorption capacity in the industries of transport, storage and communications, wholesale and retail, financing, insurance and real estate is relatively high. The magnitude of output elasticity of employment in financing, insurance and real estate is relatively high during the post-economic reform period as the differential output elasticity of employment is relatively small as compared to output elasticity of employment during the pre-economic reform period. The labor absorption capacity in private sector during the post-reform period is found to be relatively high as compared to public sector as the differential employment elasticity during the post-reform period in private sector is low. Further the results for the organized sector as a whole illustrate that the output elasticity of employment during the post-reform period is negative on account of negative differential output elasticity of employment showing that the economic growth during the post-reform period is not labor intensive in the Indian economy. Therefore, there is a need to review the sectoral policies to generate additional employment opportunities in the organised sector of the Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the elections over and a reforms-friendly Congress government with majority being voted back to power in India in April/May 2009, the issue of disinvestment/privatization of public sector enterprises is expected to become a focal one soon. This research note purposes to provide a critical understanding of the various policy issues and implementation methods that have arisen from and out of the disinvestment/privatization process in India since the economic reforms began in 1991. In doing so, it also aims to bridge a critical gap in the reforms policy literature in this area. The key issues that are raised in this paper are as follows: (a) the policy basis for the disinvestment/privatization of state-owned enterprises in the reforms period in India; (b) the methods chosen for such; and (c) the limitations and constraints of the implementation of such policy. The approach in this research note is that of a critical discussion of the broader disinvestment/privatization policy process as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of the Indian economy in recent years has attracted increasing international interest. This paper focuses on the role of fiscal and monetary policies in the evolution of the Indian economy over the years, with particular attention being given to the reforms undertaken in these policies since the early 1990s. The coordination of fiscal and monetary policies has been crucial in the sequencing of the economic reform process carried out since the early 1990s. Monetary policy aims to maintain a judicious balance between price stability and economic growth. With the opening up of the Indian economy and the spread of financial sector reforms aimed at functional autonomy, prudential strengthening, operational efficiency, and competitiveness of banks, considerations of financial stability have assumed greater importance in recent years alongside the increasing openness of the Indian economy. The biggest challenge facing the conduct of fiscal and monetary policy in India is to continue the accelerated growth process while maintaining price and financial stability. Therefore, the self-imposed rule-based fiscal correction at both the national and subnational levels has to be consolidated and carried forward. The existence of a high level of fiscal deficit also contributes to the persistence of an interest rate differential with the rest of the world, which then also constrains progress toward full capital account convertibility. The success achieved in revenue buoyancy through tax rationalization and compliance has to be strengthened further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the history of the relationship between the state and the private sector in India. It concludes that India's economic reforms, which made development policy more dependent on international trade and private initiative, depended on the evolution of technocratic and political conviction. Reformers needed the support of financial crises for overcoming the powerful vested interests opposed to reforms. Successful reforms involved largely homegrown strategies of policy and institutional change. They have produced impressive growth rates and have benefited the rich and the middle class. The challenge for development and sustainable reforms is to make it more inclusive for poor farmers and unorganized workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a new procedure suggested in Coondoo et. al. (2004) for setting and updating the poverty line to take account of inflation and changing tastes. The procedure, which is based on the estimation of nutrient prices, takes an "absolute" view of poverty that is rooted in the idea of age and gender specific minimum calorie requirements to be obtained from a "balanced diet" of nutrients. This study goes beyond recent investigations on the link between calorie and food expenditure by working in nutrient space and enforcing the idea of a "balanced diet" of the principal energy generating nutrients that would not be possible by focussing on calorie alone. Moreover, the proposed procedure of using estimated nutrient price indices to calculate cost of living indices provides a novel way of overcoming the problem of item comparability, definitions, missing items, etc. that affect the traditional cost of living indices based on food items. Household level data from the individual states in India are used to calculate and compare alternative poverty rates over a time period that includes the period of recent economic reforms. The application to Indian data makes it particularly interesting given the regional heterogeneity in food expenditure patterns. Also, since the study covers the period of recent economic reforms in India, the results on the temporal movement in the state wise poverty rates are of considerable policy interest. The poverty rates obtained from the application of the nutrient price based new procedure are compared not only with the official poverty rates but also with those obtained from a constrained minimisation of food expenditure that yields the shadow price of nutrients. In several cases, the official poverty figures seem to understate poverty compared to those obtained from calorie/nutrient norms. Moreover, while the official poverty rates generally show declining poverty in India during the decade of the '90s., this is not true of the alternative poverty estimates. A significant by product of this study is that we have proposed and implemented a new procedure for constructing spatial price indices, based on the application of the multi lateral EKS index to the estimated nutrient prices. The paper exploits the attractive property of circular consistency of the EKS index in calculating the spatial nutrient price index over the sixteen major States of the Indian Union. The estimated values are used to rank the States with respect to their nutrient prices. These are then compared with those obtained from the unit value of the Food items, both with respect to their individual magnitudes and their temporal movements, at the State level. The results of this study on Indian data suggest that these procedures have considerable potential for future applications on international data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose — This paper aims to attempt to compare the development strategies and achievements of India and China in the last 50 years and to analyse the challenges lying ahead if the trend continues. Design/methodology/approach — The paper critically evaluates the growth strategies of the two economies. Changes in approaches, achievements and failures are analysed using materials from past research and secondary data. Impacts of economic reform process and economic management capabilities have been evaluated. Critical analysis is the main approach of the paper. Findings — Based on the experiences of economic growth so far with reformed and open economies, India can learn several things from China. China has achieved better results based on investment-driven export-oriented policies that may not be sustainable in the long run. It has so far ignored the socio-political issues, which can have very serious consequences in the future. Relatively slower economic growth in India is based on stronger socio-economic foundations. Mutually beneficial economic cooperation between the two economies and rising interdependence with regional and global powers should provide a better future. Originality/value — The paper provides a comprehensive picture of strategies, outcomes and possibilities. It links past development strategies to future challenges. It may be of value to researchers and policy makers in both economies while considering future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Phelps' notions of 'corporatism' and 'flourishing' from the point of view of India's growth experience since independence in 1947 up to 1990s when economic reform was initiated. It looks at two pre-reform Indian stories, those of agriculture sector and industrial sector, which provide a developing country color to Phelps' analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Horizons of Politics / Horyzonty Polityki is the property of Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The rapid economic growth that India enjoyed following the start of its economic reforms in 1991 has led to a growing scholarly interest in Indian organizations and management practices. In this paper, we bring together extant yet dispersed research on one important and salient element of Indian economic growth: innovation. We organize and review the substantive innovation research in India based on its scope and focus, and find that it has yielded unique insights about India's innovation systems and processes at both the institutional and firm levels. Three interesting trends emerge from this review of the literature. First, a growing body of research has started identifying innovation phenomena unique to India, such as 'frugal innovation' and the related notion of ' jugaad.' Second, a discernible arc in Indian innovation research can be observed, that is, a shift from a focus on the role of the state to the role of MNEs and Indian businesses in innovation. Finally, unlike much innovation research elsewhere, there appears to be significant interest in innovation that serves the need of the poor. We conclude with directions for future research on innovation within the Indian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory and economic intuition suggest that domestic institutions influence the employment impact of economic reform, but the evidence base is thin. This paper seeks to address this by examining the extent to which differences in regional labour market flexibility shaped the impact of unanticipated economic reforms on employment in informal (unregistered) manufacturing enterprises in India (1990–2001). It employs a difference-in-differences strategy and finds that tariff reductions are not associated with significant employment shifts in informal enterprises, a finding that may be attributable to the fact that these enterprises rarely engage in international trade. However, on average and ceteris paribus, delicensing (FDI reform) is associated with statistically significant increases (increases) in informal employment and informal enterprise numbers in inflexible (flexible) labour markets. There is some evidence that the delicensing effect is attributable to increases in product market competition in delicensed industries. However, the channel underlying the result associated with FDI reform is less clear. In light of the persistent primacy of the informal sector in India and other developing economies, these findings have substantial policy relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As developing countries seek to improve their economic prospects, electricity reform has been widely viewed as a central part of this effort. While the focus of most research to date has been at economy or utility level, there has been much less research on regional outcomes. India presents a unique case, as its states share a common economic and political system, whilst having been given considerable flexibility in how they implement reform, thus allowing a comparative analysis of alternative approaches to reform. This study presents an econometric analysis of the determinants and impact of electricity reform in India, giving special regard to its political economy and regional diversity. It assesses how electricity reform in India has affected key economic variables that determine sectoral efficiency, prices and investment flows. We use panel data for 19 states, spanning 1991-2007, using dynamic panel data estimators. Results show that individual reform measures have affected key economic variables differently; thus the nature of reform in individual states would determine these economic outcomes. Findings suggest that due to political economy factors, outcomes have tended to be adverse in the initial stages of reform, as previously hidden distortions become apparent. The performance of reforms, however, may improve as the reform progresses beyond a 'baseline' level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of economic reforms in India, particularly reforms in the banking sector, although boosted and edged up the profits and improved efficiency of the banks, an unwarranted consequence was the decline in credit to the less developed states and regions. The emphasis on efficient allocation of resources overlooked the developmental needs of these regions and states. This study examines the role of banks in the different states of India in the post-reform period and explores multi-dimensional role of credit in terms of, what it calls, the G-GUIDE indicators. Bank credit in the present study is examined in terms of growth, globalization, urbanization, inequality, reduction in poverty (development) and the empowerment of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the economic reforms of the 1990s, Indian states have largely contributed to India's foreign policy decision-making in two critical areas, namely, economic diplomacy and influencing India's foreign policy with its neighbours. Given India's growing importance in the world arena, one would assume that Indian states will continue to have an increased role in its foreign policy decisions. However, the Indian Constitution was framed with the idea of a strong union government and the power to drive foreign policy initiatives continues to remain under the exclusive purview of the union government. There is no institutional framework that facilitates the involvement of the Indian states' in foreign policy decision-making. States' involvement is usually on an ad hoc basis and often pushed through by strong state level leaders or by the coalition compulsions. The article examines the Indian paradiplomacy experience to note that paradiplomacy has the potential to democratize foreign policy decision-making only if it is supported by a strong institutional framework. A fragmented practice of paradiplomacy to suit immediate political needs neither promotes democratization of foreign policy nor does it allows for a meaningful engagement of Indian states in the global governance debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An assessment of Modi's economic policies ("Modinomics") shows that the gap between intentions and outcomes remains wide because Modinomics has been too cautious and contradictory to overcome the unusual structural challenges facing India's economy. Moreover, the contradictions of Modinomics, which privileges trade protectionism and selective financial-sector liberalization, limits the potential gains from deeper global economic integration. This article argues that deepening economic reforms, including integration into the global economy, can help mitigate the structural impediments facing the Indian economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Development Research is the property of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of European Journal of Development Research is the property of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The question of social mobility in a terrain of increasing inequality has gained particular urgency in post-reform India. We approach social mobility not as a one-way ascent toward the top, rather as a risk-laden enterprise prone to fluctuations that include both incremental gains and the possibility of sliding downwards. We argue that to ‘move up the ladder’ is not merely a matter of individual choice or hard work in the face of odds as free-market believers have long held. It is as much an outcome of collective political bargaining, privileges that dominant class and caste status affords, access to resources and, indeed, occasional luck. Two propositions follow. First, we suggest that the state remains albeit as a reluctant enabler of social mobility in the age of markets. Second, the participation in the new economy hinges also upon one’s ability to ‘dress up’ for the part, to be able to craft one’s look as if one belonged to spaces – work or leisure – that one desires to inhabit. The work of appearances, we suggest, does not operate at individual levels alone, it also encompasses the nation’s spectacular projection of itself in the global political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although economic reform generates winners and losers, many people have no opinion whatsoever about it. Because most empirical research ignores these non-responses, the conventional wisdom on the determinants of support for economic reform ignores large groups of silent citizens. To correct this problem, we present a stylized model that accounts for support, opposition, indifference, and unawareness about reform. We argue that informed people and those who perceive the status quo as dysfunctional will form an opinion more readily than others. For evidence, we examine public opinion about electricity privatization from a large field survey in rural India. We find that information and perceived inefficiency have much larger effects on the likelihood of forming an opinion than on the direction of that opinion (yes or no), emphasizing the importance of accounting for opinion formation process. In this case, information and perceived inefficiency make reform a salient issue to a passive public, most of whom become vocal opponents of reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the initiation of economic reforms in 1991, India adopted an outward-oriented strategy for development. After the inception of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, the country initially relied on multilateral trade reforms for export growth, but slow progress of the Doha Round negotiations over the last decade caused it to explore the regional trade agreements (RTAs) route as well from 2003-04 onwards. While in the initial period India focused on deeper trade relationship with Asian partners--namely, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan, South Korea, etc.--as preferential trade allies, the perceived need to diversify the export markets has led the country to focus on potential trade partners in Africa, Europe, North and Latin America as well in recent times. On the other hand, the economies of East Africa are also embracing the RTA route for their trade promotion, and the growing Indian market offers an opportunity for them as well. The present analysis attempts to understand the trade potential between the five East African Community (EAC) countries and India in the sphere of merchandise and services trade by looking through various trade indices. The empirical results indicate that bilateral trade between the two regions have a strong potential, which can be aided further through policy reforms at both ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the role of exports in India's economic growth and examine whether the export-led growth hypothesis (ELGH) applies to India. Our causality analysis provides support for the validity of the ELGH for India in the trade liberalization phase. Error variance decomposition and other analyses are also undertaken; these corroborate the results of the causality analysis and suggest that the rapid growth of exports has played a substantial role in increasing the growth rate in India following the economic reforms of 1991. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]