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Financial literacy (FL) literature has gained momentum in the last one and half decades in the Indian context with the government’s active role. FL encompasses knowledge of financial instruments and practices in its scope. The current study aims to measure FL by collecting primary data from the students, salaried class, traders and businessmen of two towns of Tripura, a North Eastern Indian state. For executing the study, it prefers a cross-sectional research design. Data from 160 respondents were collected using a self-administered interview-schedule applying disproportionate stratified random sampling technique. A pre-test with randomly chosen 30 respondents affirms its wording, content validity and ordering. The tool’s reliability and validity further support applying inferential statistics. Significant cross tabulation results affirm impacts of demographics on the levels of FL. For assessing the perceptional differences in FL basics between the two groups of respondents, that is, students-salaried class and traders-businessmen, it applies WPG analysis indicating significant perceptional differences about basic FL, and FL awareness levels. For evaluating whether the four types of sample respondents classified based on their occupations have any significantly differential influences on FL awareness, the Pearson Correlation Coefficient results affirm the same. Policy implications, limitations and scope of further research also indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on 1st December 2022, through a pilot project, launched retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) (₹) with ₹1.71 crores with four participating banks in four cities. The RBI created around 1.5 million users in the project before its more comprehensive application. The CBDC may form in either token or account types, and the RBI for ₹ prefers the token. Tokenisation can be physical and digital, and its trading is possible in full and fractionally. For smooth implementation of retail digital currency (DC), the RBI Act was amended incorporating DC as a legal tender at par with currency notes and coins as a legal tender. Although the pilot project reports a successful launch and the RBI made it compatible with quick response (QR) codes, Indians’ cash preference remains. Against this backdrop, the present study assesses the relative merit of in the CBDC retail scenario. The study concludes that DC retail could substantially transition the Indian financial market if the RBI and government could counter the fundamental challenges associated with its success, such as the provision of working without internet connectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian Income Tax Act, 1961, in Chapter VI-A, has provided different sections 80A-80U under which deductions have been allowed while computing gross total income. Section 80C has been amended from time to time under the Finance Act and currently provides tax benefits to the tune of INR 150000 for the assessment year 2022-23. Albeit section 80C of the Indian Income Tax Act offers an array of saving instruments popular among taxpayers, the current study has motivated to assay the less popular instruments. Following a cross-sectional research design and a stratified random sampling technique, 150 sample respondents were selected. Statistical results have indicated that particular demographics and tax deductions have influenced saving decisions, while tax deductions and tax literacy have influenced tax compliance. Moreover, it has acknowledged limitations, indicated policy formulation, and sketched a future research roadmap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jet.2004.05.004 Byline: Anna Bogomolnaia (a), Rajat Deb (b), Lars Ehlers (c) Abstract: We consider the problem of efficiently allocating several indivisible objects between agents who are to receive at most one object and whose preferences are private information. We examine this standard 'assignment' problem from the perspective of mechanism design giving up the usual assumption of linear preferences and instead using a full preference domain (with indifferences permitted). We characterize two classes of mechanisms: (i) Bi-polar Serially Dictatorial Rules by Essential Single-Valuedness, Pareto Indifference, Strategy-Proofness and Non-Bossiness; and (ii) all selections from Bi-polar Serially Dictatorial Rules by Single-Valuedness, Efficiency, Strategy-Proofness and Weak Non-Bossiness. We compare the outcomes from the (Bi-polar) Serially Dictatorial Rules with the outcomes obtained using a market based approach, namely the 'core' of the market. We show that all strongly efficient outcomes in the core can be generated using Serially Dictatorial Rules. Moreover, we argue that Serially Dictatorial Rules have an advantage over the market based approach in that they yield strongly efficient solutions for all preference profiles, making it possible to use randomization to restore equity. When preferences are private information, this type of ex ante equity cannot be implemented using the market based approach. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Economics, Rice University, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA (b) Economics Department, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275-0496, USA (c) Departement de Sciences Economiques and CIREQ, Universite de Montreal, C.P. 6128 Succursale Centre Ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7, Canada Article History: Received 6 February 2003; Revised 20 May 2004