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Interest rates are critical to any economy. Usually the central bank of a country supervises and tries to control the interest rates but there is always an element of uncontrollable effects: local or international. A central bank adopts a monetary strategy to affect various macroeconomic parameters such as inflation, exchange rate (ER), economic growth and many others. A country may decide to adopt Ultra-low Interest Rate Policy (ULIRP) or Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP) or a policy with moderate/high rate of interest. In today’s global business scenario, economies are connected and influence one another. The US and UK economies have seen a very low and negative interest rates historically, at least in recent past. Indian and Sri Lankan economies are integrated with the US and UK economies and thus are affected by their prevailing interest rates. The effect of low and zero interest rate policy of a country (USA and UK) on interest rates and economy of co-integrated economies (India and Sri Lanka) have been studied in this research. The objective of this study is to understand the implications of ULIRPs and NIRPs in the context of Indian and Sri Lankan economies. Two significant conclusions of the research are that Indian and Sri Lankan economies are affected by the US and UK policies and that they are affected at a lag of eight years.

An understanding of the relationship between economic variables and healthcare variables will enable a better policy framework for a country. This study focuses on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), healthcare expenditures (HCE) and Out of Pocket expenses (OOP) using an annual data (2000-2015) from Saudi Arabian economy. The study uses statistical techniques such as unit root test, co-integration, linear regressions, Vector Auto Regressions and mediation technique for analysis.The research found that healthcare expenditure and GDP are correlated and co-integrated in long term (3-7 years) and that the GDP can be best explained at a lag of 3 years by healthcare expenditure. Mediation analysis revealed that private health expenses mediate the relationship between government health expenditure and national income.

Dividend decisions, Financing decisions and Investment decisions are three very imperative decisions taken by a firm. The effect of these decisions is on the performance of the firm which subsequently effects the valuation of the firm. These decisions in a firm are also influenced by the growth and status of the respective economy.The current research attempts to analyze the dynamics between these three major decision areas and also assess their relationship with the market value of the firm. These dynamics are further tested against the economic growth of the respective economy. Annual data for 50 companies from Jordanian economy for the time period 2007-2018 is used to achieve the objective. Basic and advanced statistical techniques such as regression analysis and Vector Auto Regression (VAR) have been used in the study. The sample involved 50 Jordanian companies.The study found that the value of the firm is affected by three key decisions (value drivers) of dividend, investment and financing and this effect is best measured at a lag of two years. Also the combined effect of the three value drivers is more than standalone effect.

Behavioural finance is one field of study, which tries to explain the financial anomalies, in relation to individual traits and biases. Since personal biases like risk aversion, may result in market anomalies, it is imperative to explore it. In this paper, we attempt to study risk averseness in Indian investors, by conducting a survey on behavioral traits, which are pertinent to financial and investment decisions. The research was based on a survey, which generated 186 responses to questions on risk averseness and related behavioral traits. Initially, demographics of investors were analyzed, followed by correlation and regression analysis. Three behavioral traits related to thumb rule, natural calamity and double mindness were found to be closely associated with risk aversion. The findings of the research would be useful for market participants, for business development and product development.

Behavioral finance is one field of study, which tries to explain the financial anomalies in markets, which are formed because of irrational behavior and personal biases of investors. It is because of this irrational behavior, people have their personal biases which leads to different behavior and a collection of similar biases create financial anomalies. Herd mentality or imitation phenomenon is one such bias where investor tends to follow other market participants and this phenomenon has not much been studied in Indian context. The objective of the current research is to study ‘Herd mentality’ and its interaction with other behavioral traits under the influence of demographic variables. The research uses a sample of 186 Indian investors and their 22 behavioral traits and analyzes them. The research generates a better understanding of herd mentality and related traits and it is expected that the findings would be useful for market participants for business development and product development. Three behavioral traits (preference for short-term gains; double mind mentality; Ignoring counter information) were found to be closely associated with herd mentality. The analysis also uses demographic variables as a moderator of behavioral traits. Techniques like regressions and moderating effects have been used in analysis.

Bank financing is an imperative component of financing the companies. When banks are short on liquidity, this financing activity also tends to go slow. Banks liquidity is dependent upon the policy enforced by the central bank which uses cash reserve ratio (CRR) and Repo rates very frequently to this effect. Since bank credit is dependent on its liquidity position, any change in key policy rates will affect the corporate funding. This is the basic hypothesis which is being tested in this research. The objective of the article is to understand the effect of two important policy rates, Repo and CRR, on corporate output through aggregate sales of the listed companies. The objective was achieved by building a VAR system and doing the required analysis using quarterly data for the time period 2000–2015. One of the important findings was that lag effect is very critical to understand this relationship between policy rates and corporate output and while formulating policies, this should be an important variable to be considered.

Digitalisation of organisations is rampant in current times. For both government (Digital India Initiative) and commercial organisations, connectedness to digital platforms is required and investment in digital platforms is a competitive priority. This investment also has strategic implications as it has the capability to reduce certain costs and enhance the effectiveness of an organisation's systems. Going digital involves many indirect benefits and also direct costs. Thus, it becomes imperative to understand the cost and benefit structure of digital platforms in organisations and the effectiveness of such platforms. The basic premise of this study is to understand the effect of digitalisation on the business and efficiency in an organisation which has chosen investments in digital assets and information technology. This research paper tries to answer a very basic question on the effect and effectiveness of digitalisation on companies and analyses the effect. Investment in information technology was found to be positive and highly correlated with sales and moderately correlated with PAT. The regression analysis also indicates that sales and PAT have positive coefficients for IT investments. One significant finding of the study is that the effect of digital investment was positive on PAT and sales.

The given case is a hypothetical demonstration of valuation of a business using simple techniques. It can also be used to discuss entrepreneurship issues such as business modelling, sale of business and different aspects of financing for new ventures.

The entrepreneurial journey for a young and aspiring entrepreneur and that too from a middle class family, is triggered for a variety of reasons but has its own share of crests and troughs. It requires a strong will and character on the part of the entrepreneur to sustain the momentum and once too often we see a start-up die a premature death, leaving the protagonist thinking- what went wrong? This case is about one such young entrepreneur, who motivated by the success of his role model, launches an enterprise only to see it wither away in quick time. In trying to understand why it happened, we trace the entrepreneurs’ background, the antecedents of his taking the entrepreneurial route and the reasons why the enterprise could not be sustained. We also make an attempt to see if the failure of the first shot at entrepreneurship deters an individual to start another one.

The question of Islamic economy being a social economy rather than a viable economy has been raised and debated time over time. To prove the viability of Islamic financial system as an alternative to the interest based financial system, it is an imperative to prove its commercial viability over the modern financial system. To provide Islamic economics as an alternative to modern financial system, its viability, application and logic needs to be studied and empirically tested. This study is an empirical attempt to verify the application of the concepts and beliefs of Islamic finance in various investment avenues, including Shariah and non Shariah investments. It attempts to compare and study the returns from Shariah and non-Shariah investments by taking relevant indices as a proxy for respective markets.

Apart from land, labour, capital and technology, any entrepreneurship venture involves efficient use of networks which may be for generating business or increasing the efficiency in business processes. The given case is one such compilation of data about an entrepreneurship venture where the protagonist uses the concept of networks in business. The business model used by him has been successful in short term but he is apprehensive of its utility in long term, especially in the light of the problems which he is currently facing. This entrepreneur operates a micro enterprise located in a backward district of India and uses his networks to start a business. The case discusses the application and utility of supply chain networks in microenterprises. The basic objective of the case is to provide for discussions to the problems this business is facing with a focus on the business and not the entrepreneur. This involves a study of the business model in practice by the protagonist as of now, the problems faced by the business and related present and future issues.

One of the key roles of the Reserve Bank of India or any central bank is to ensure economic stability in the country. For the purpose, the central bank adopts various measures to ensure that the inflation rates, interest rates, exchange rates and money supply remains under control. It uses tools like Cash Reserve Ratio and Repo rates to control liquidity and inflation in the country. The effectiveness of such policy rates in ensuring economic stability needs to be verified and tested. The decision maker needs to understand the effect of these changes on the affected variable. This given research is such an attempt to test and verify the effectiveness of the changes in monetary and policy rates on the desired critical factors. The research is aimed to provide inputs to decision makers in formulating monetary and economic policies and contributes to the limited existing literature on the subject.

This paper deals with interaction between ground water and an adjacent river. The interaction is described quantitatively by chemical mass balances (CMBs) which is the most widely used receptor model. Ground water and river upstream and downstream samples are tested for seventeen parameters to determine the ground water underflow rates to the river by using the CMBs. Also electrochemical compositions of major ions for each samples are analyzed to provide the characteristics of each water. Through the analyses for overall compositions between ground and river waters, the impact of ground water underflow to the river quality is evaluated.

Secondary market is an integral part any economy. Stock market in India is immensely volatile. Any insight into this market is always encouraged. This paper is an attempt which tries to convert the dynamics of stock returns into a mathematical model. It is a part of the PhD research of the two authors. It is based on the concept of Arbitrage Pricing Theory which is of the opinion that the return of a stock is based on ‘n’ number of factors. Here, two factors have been used to understand the returns in Indian stock market. These are Financial and Market factors. Each of the two factors consists of input variables which are regressed over returns as dependent variable. Thus a model was generated using multivariate regression. Finally the constructed model is used to forecast return and compare it with actual return. This research is an attempt to contribute its bit to the literature on the subject and give an insight into the complex world of stock market.

Some of the gases that industrial society routinely spews into the air by burning fossil fuel sami cooling our buildings are trapping heat in the earth's atmosphere and warming the planet. This is called the greenhouse effect. This decade has seen the four hottest years of the last century and the first five months of 1988 were the warmest on record. Since 1880, mean global temperatures have increased more than 0.78 Celsius degrees. James Hansen of NASA'S Goddard Institute for space studies declared that he is certain that the greenhouse effect is here and will continue to increase: however, this view is not shared by many atmospheric scientists who have not detected the greenhouse ‘signal’ in the global temperature data. Since 1958 concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have increased 25 percent, mostly the result of burning oil and coal. North America. Western Europe, the U.S.S.R and Soviet-block countries are responrible for about 67 percent of the emissions. The level of carbon di...

India is a large and growing market with the services sector contributing highly to the growth. Islamic economics are gaining significant growth worldwide but is still in conceptual stage in India. There is a genuine demand for products based on interest free economics. To provide Islamic economics as an alternative to a modern financial system, its viability, application and logic needs to be studied and empirically tested. This study is an empirical attempt to verify the application of the concepts and beliefs of Islamic economics and its perception in the Indian market.

This paper tries to empirically study the perceptions of people who indulge in innovation in Indian financial sector. The data collected from a sample of 200 employees working at top and medium levels, on analysis, results in a ten-item scale with Cronbach’s alpha value 0.82 and the reliability of subscales ranging from 0.94 to 0.73. The validated instrument, based on construct validity, is comprised of three dimensions: nurturing environment, characteristics of innovations and deterrents. Regression analysis shows the relative significance of various dimensions with nurturing environment having the maximum significance and deterrents being negatively correlated. The paper contributes to the area of management by helping understand the perceptions of people who matter in innovations for financial sector and how their opinions can be constructively used by organisations. Their learning’s can be productive for financial sector. The applicability of the scale is also discussed towards the end.

Capital structure theories in finance aim towards an ideal debt-equity ratio in the traditional interest-based financial system. The capital structure theories as per the Shariah law also aim towards an ideal debt-equity ratio but the debt contract used here is different with different intention. Also, since the debt-equity ratio affects the bottom line of a business organisation and thus becomes an important aspect to study. This paper is an attempt to study the relationship between capital structure and profitability from the perspective of Islamic finance. It is an empirical attempt to verify the application of the concepts and beliefs of Islamic finance focusing on financial risk as an issue of corporate finance. The study is particularly relevant in the light of current global financial crisis as the root of the crisis lies in the failures of some of the big multinational corporations. It aims to make a significant contribution to the available literature on the subject.

Islam, the Holy Quran and the Hadith lays great emphasis on Zakah (Zakat) as a social tool to bridge the differences between the rich Muslims and poor Muslims. This research paper underlines the importance of Zakah as a tool for poverty alleviation. It discusses the fundamental concept of Zakah, its calculation methodology and how it is levied. The paper suggests a novel concept of the Zakah Fund, which can be implemented as a tool of poverty alleviation. Also, the paper tries to analyse the viability of the concept by conducting a relevant survey, the conclusions from which can be used to enhance the understanding of the concept and its utility.

The Kufra and Sarir basins of Libya have huge ground-water resources. Three well fields-Sarir, Kufra, and Jalo-have been constructed for irrigation purposes. The Tazerbo and West Sarir well fields are under construction. Wells in these well fields have tapped only a small portion of the total ground water available. The hydrological behavior of the Sarir well field (determined by using analytical and numerical models) indicated a leaky artesian aquifer and a significant partial penetration effect. Long and short-term pump tests did not provide true estimates of the values of transmissivity and the coefficient of storage. A steady-state model of the Kufra and Sarir basins indicated a minimum of 80 m3 /s of underflow entering from Tibesti, Chad and Sudan. A transient model was constructed to pump a total of 120 m3 /s from 14 well fields. The simulation indicated that sufficient drawdown was available to last at least 50 years.

Acid mine drainage is a serious problem in the Appalachian region. Coal mining has disturbed the natural ground flow system. The mines are continuously being flushed by this disturbed flow system and producing enormous quantity of sulphuric acid. A study of McDaniel Mine has revealed that the flow is lateral and clay layers under the coal do not allow it to leak into the underlying aquifer. A study of water well logs within 10 miles of Todd Mine revealed the existence of three separate aquifers. A pilot plan for Todd Mine is proposed to discharge the uncontaminated water from the upper aquifer to the lower aquifer under the concept of “weeping wells.” The acid discharge from the mine may be stopped. The extension of this scheme may solve the serious problem of pollution of Lake Hope. The concept may further be extended to other areas of the Appalachian region to control acid mine pollution.

On January 31, 1986, an earthquake of Richter magnitude 4.9 occurred in northeastern Ohio some 17.0 km south of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant (PNPP) and 12.0 km south of the Calhio injection wells. Accelerometers on site at the PNPP recorded accelerations as high as 0.19 to 0.23 g. Many instruments tripped due to high-amplitude vibrations. Microearthquake networks have recorded 16 microearthquakes within 5.0 km of the injection wells with focal depths ranging from 1.0 to 3.0 km. A hydrological model of an anisotropic reservoir 7.2 km wide and 18.4 km long indicates a pressure buildup of 5.3 MPa at the epicenter and 11.8 MPa at the injection well. The assumption of an anisotropic reservoir is consistent with available geophysical and geologic data. A pressure increase of 11.8 MPa, based on stress ratio estimates in crustal rocks in the region, is more than sufficient to induce failure to a depth of 5.0 km. Furthermore, brittle faults and extensive fracture permeability within the basement rocks would allow for the migration of pressure transients to hypocentral distances. The indicated pressure buildup of 5.3 MPa at the epicenter may have been sufficient to trigger the January 31, 1986, earthquake.