Factors Affecting NPAs in Indian Banking Sector

Banking sector is the backbone of any economy, so it is necessary to focus on its performance which is largely affected by its non-performing assets (NPAs). In the year 2018–2019, NPA of scheduled banks was Rs 355,076 Crore which is 3.7% of net advances. The purpose of this study is to identify the determinants based on analysis from previous literatures, and majorly macroeconomic and bank specific factors which are affecting NPAs using the relative weight analysis and to frame a model to predict future NPAs using multiple regression model using SPSS. The study also attempts to focus on actions and remedies that banks should make to control future NPAs. Findings of the study will act as a scaffolding for financial analysts and policymakers to prevent the conversion of its performing assets into NPAs and also help in proper management of banks and also in the recovery of economy.

Depicting the Prototype Change in Rural Consumer Behaviour: An Empirical Survey on Online Purchase Intention

E-commerce is an undeniable growth opportunity. The infrastructure of e-commerce has been successful in making their system resilience in this age of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). Besides during the time of pandemic, e-commerce have accomplished in meeting the demand of the consumers crossing various obstacles and scarcity of resource across the colours of socio-economic stratification of India. A detailed investigation of social, cultural, behavioural norms along with effect of socio-cultural regions has been investigated to strengthen the research. The method of cluster analysis has been used to segment the consumers into homogeneous subsets. The implied findings of this research will help the digital entrepreneurs to know their target consumers. Through cluster analysis, six clusters have been identified and they are named as, (a) Advanced changers; (b) Price sensitive; (c) Enthusiasts; (d) Realistic and logical; (e) Conservatives; (f) Unconcerned. The outcomes of this research can help the strategy managers and intrapreneurs to make informed decisions. This study can be of value addition for startups, digital entrepreneurs to start their own business through online shopping portals. The extracted results can help the marketing managers to know about the specific attributes of the consumers of rural areas which will lead to framing strategy according to market design, market space and marketplace.

Understanding Customer Perception on Sustainable Tourism and Related Practices Using Cluster Analysis: A Study in Indian Context

‘Sustainable tourism’ has emerged as an increasingly acceptable phenomenon and is widely recognized as an important factor in making a positive impact on protecting the environment as well as contributing to the economy. Several agencies and organizations worldwide promote sustainable tourism but the adoption and practice amongst the travellers have been seldom explored in the Indian context. This article attempts to identify the class of ‘sustainable tourists’ by identifying their demographic characteristics through the application of K-means cluster analysis. The results depicted that females are likely to be more sustainable than their male counterparts. Apart from that, young, more educated along with those in full-time employment are more likely to exhibit characteristics of a ‘sustainable tourist’. Further, this study is also successful in identifying specific practices in which a ‘sustainable tourist’ is likely to engage themselves. This article provides important implications for a range of stakeholders including tour and travel agencies, hoteliers as well as tourist guides who can reformulate their marketing strategies to include ‘sustainable tourists’ in their efforts to expand their customer base. It will also give useful insights to the administration and other authorities of the tourist destinations to minimize the damage and promote the culture of sustainable tourism.

Structural Relation of Export Assistance Programme and Export Performance Determinants: A Study of Handloom Industry

This study focuses on export assistance determinants and qualitative export performance determinants of the handloom industry. Additionally, the effect of export assistance needs to check on export performance determinants. The study found the determinants from the extensive literature review. A model is proposed based on identified determinants, and the hypotheses developed accordingly. Initially, first-order CFA is applied for validity measures and then second-order CFA due to presence of multicollinearity among the determinants. Second-order CFA analyses the combined effect of all studied determinants with the help of structural equation modelling. The four determinants of export assistance and five determinants of export performance are identified from the extensive literature. The financial support construct influences the export assistance majorly that is represented through high correlation coefficient and mixed response for other determinants. Overall, the combined effect of export assistance is positive on export performance determinants. There is a need to establish the functions of various export assistances based on their characteristics, and this study helps in operational classification of assistance based on identified determinants. Additionally, the impact of individual assistance can measure the changes in the export performance determinants of the handloom industry.

Functional Effectiveness of Commodity Futures Market: A Comparative Assessment of Agricultural and Metal Commodities

The study focuses on examining the price discovery process, short run disturbances and hedging mechanism of agricultural and metal commodities futures market for the period January 2010 to December 2018. Contango and normal backwardation have also been taken into deliberation for select commodities which are traded in MCX and NCDEX, India which is a valuable addition to the existing body of literature in derivatives market. Johansen’s co-integration, VECM, Granger causality test and OLS are employed for understanding the price discovery and constant hedging for select commodities. Further, existence contango and normal backwardation have been observed by comparing the spot and futures prices. It has been found that spot market is acting as a leader in the longer period and laggard in short run investors can be benefitted to take short run or long run investment decision.

Ind-AS Enforcement in India: An Assessment of Readiness, Benefits and Key Challenges

This study endeavours to recognize the preparedness, advantages and pitfalls associated with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) enforcement in India. The data have been complied using purposive sampling technique from 75 accounting individuals from diverse corporate sectors of India, and the research findings of the article convey that the whole accounting community is extremely positive about the advantages related to IFRS enforcement, but they too considered challenges a major roadblock towards smooth implementation. There are few studies available reporting the readiness towards this high-quality international accounting standards in India, which intrigued the authors to evaluate the readiness level in the country regarding IFRS-based Ind-AS. The current accounting system in India calls for extensive training in terms of IFRS technicalities, seminars and workshops on a large scale should be embarked upon by all educational institutions, accounting regulatory bodies, accounting professional organizations such as ICAI, KPMG and other accounting experts to impart and share knowledge about IFRS for a smooth enforcement of IFRS.

Investigating the Long-run and the Short-run Relationship Between Domestic Macroeconomic Forces and Indian Equity Market: Evidence Based on ARDL Bounds Testing Approach

Understanding the effect of domestic macroeconomic forces on equity market is essential since macroeconomic forces have a systematic effect on the equity market returns. The present study uses monthly observations from India for the period from January 2012 to December 2019 to investigate the long-run and short-run relationship between the domestic macroeconomic forces and equity market. The study employed the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach and pair-wise granger causality test to attain the objective. The long-run empirical results indicated that the Indian equity market and the domestic macroeconomic forces are cointegrated. The long-run coefficients of foreign exchange rate and money supply are found to be significant. The short-run coefficients suggest that money supply, inflation and foreign exchange rate significantly influence the Indian equity market. The study also observed the presence of feedback mechanism between foreign exchange rate and Indian equity market. The study provides the policy and managerial implications.

Effectiveness of Online Marketing Tools: A Case Study

Offline marketing strategies are widely used; however, they are facing tough challenges from online marketing which has limitless options and proffers enormous amount of possibilities. With voluminous growth of Internet users and growing trend of online marketing, it seems indispensable to run a business without online presence. This is due to the fact that ‘consuming in shops’ is changing to ‘online consuming’. Companies are using different online marketing strategies to attract prospective buyers. Different tools and techniques are used to influence the purchasing decision of consumers. This case study on online marketing, research through survey and analysis of data received from respondents is still in its embryonic stage, and it is conducted to find the effectiveness of tools and techniques—online chat assistance, email advertisement, and word of mouth—causing opinion/decision change of prospective buyers. Marketers have to retain old loyal customers and evolve strategies to attract new prospective buyers.

A Pathway to Technology Integration: Eliciting Consumer’s Behavioural Intention to Use Paytm Services

The present study integrates the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) for analysing consumers’ intention to make use of Paytm services. It is a cross-sectional study; the data was gathered from 259 Internet consumers. The statistical tools, including structural equation modelling (SEM), are applied to understand the inter-construct relationships. The intention to use Paytm is positively influenced by a perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and social influence. Moreover, the moderating effects of perceived risk (PR) are found to be significant on the associations among social influence, perceived ease of use and Paytm usage intentions. This study will help digital wallet service providers (DWSP), who focus on identifying the important factors for accelerating the use of mobile wallets. The findings will also facilitate the government to devise ways for augmenting cashless fund movement in the economy. Besides explaining the phenomenon of Paytm usage intentions, the study reveals the moderating role of PR with respect to various antecedents, thereby filling the gap in the existing literature.