Declining Women Work Participation in Rural India: Trends, Causes and Policy Implications

One of the major policy concerns in recent years has been decline in the number of women workers in the Indian labour market. The ‘education’ and ‘income’ effect hypotheses for such decline are generally advocated. Such analyses, however, are limited in their focus. This study attempts to fill up this gap by exclusively focusing on rural women. Using the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data for the years 2004–2005 and 2011–2012 and Periodic Labour Force Survey data for the year 2017–2018, it observes a widespread decline in rural women’s work participation rates (WPRs) across their different social groups, income strata and states in the country albeit at a significantly varying rate. While the major decline in women WPRs in the age-group, 15–24 years has been in favour of education, it has been largely in favour of ‘domestic works’ in the other age-groups. The major decline in women workforce is observed in case of those as not-literates, ‘unpaid family labour’ in agriculture and ‘casual wage labour’ both in farm and non-farm sectors. This is largely due to contraction in self-employment and casual wage works both in farm and non-farm sectors, more so during recent period. This study finds a positive impact of rising household income on women’s WPRs. While education emerges as a significant predictor of women joining workforce, its iteration with their social groups shows differing impact of similar level of education on different caste groups. It offers inputs for policy measures to be aimed at providing decent livelihoods in rural areas in a big scale, with strong focus on reducing caste and gender disparities. JEL Codes: E24, J16, J21, J18

What Determines Profitability in the Indian Automobile Industry?

This study tends to examine the firm-level profitability determinants of Indian automobile and ancillary industry which is recognised for its global competitiveness. The study uses recent dataset to investigate the firm-level profitability determinants in the Indian automobile and ancillary industry and records the effect of shifts in profitability due to change in economic environment. This study intends at using real financial balanced panel data for a period 1999–2019 and applies the two-step system generalised method of moments regression model with robust standard errors. The study has found that lagged profitability, marketing and advertising intensity, firm’s market power and operational efficiency have exercised positive impact on firm-level profitability. Negative and statistically significant impact of raw material import intensity and export intensity highlights the need of planning and implementation of appropriate investment strategies. The findings of this study suggest that firms should pay more attention to optimise their operating expenditures, marketing and advertisement expenditures and expand their market power as a part of their survival and growth strategy. JEL Code: L25

Inclusiveness of Poverty Reduction: A Study of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

This study examines the inclusiveness of poverty reduction among the newly formed states of undivided Andhra Pradesh by looking into the poverty among the different socio-religious groups both in the rural and urban regions during the 2000’s. The major proposition that has highlighted in this study: which socio-religious groups are more poverty ridden in the undivided Andhra Pradesh and its bifurcated states (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana)? The National Sample Survey Organisation unit level data (61st and 68th rounds) on Consumption Expenditure Survey have been used for the analysis. The result reveals that Telangana is having lower poverty level than Andhra Pradesh and records a faster reduction in poverty during 2004–2005 to 2011–2012. Andhra Pradesh constitutes around 70% of the total poor of the undivided Andhra Pradesh. This study found that most of the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes among the social groups and Muslims among the religious groups are more vulnerable and having higher head count ratio than the state average. Although several welfare programmes and schemes have already been implemented to eradicate poverty and inequality, still it is not effective in the ground level. Based on this argument, our study suggests that the schemes should focus on different sections of the people irrespective of rural and urban sectors in both the recently bifurcated states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. JEL Codes: I 32, D 63, P 25

Revisited the Relationship Between Economic Growth and Transport Infrastructure in India: An Empirical Study

This study empirically re-examines the relationship between transport infrastructure and economic growth in India for the period 1990–2017. Multivariate dynamic models are applied to estimate the relationship between economic growth and different modes of transport infrastructure namely road, rail and air transports in the vector error correction model framework. The results reveal that road and air transports have significant positive contribution to economic growth in the long-run while rail transport is insignificant. This study further examines the said issue using unit free index variables and has constructed a composite index of transport infrastructure using principal component analysis to analyse the nexus between aggregate transport infrastructure and economic growth in India in the post globalisation era. The results of the study indicate the bidirectional causality between aggregate transport infrastructure and economic growth. Results of this study suggest incorporating feedback issue in policy formulations. JEL Codes: C22, O18, R4

Import Demand Function in India Under the Liberalised Trade Regime

The trade liberalisation policy was initiated in India in the 1980s but executed effectively since the early 1990s. Since then India’s foreign trade embarks on a new road with a rapid expansion of export and import. Over the period, import exceed export. Identifying factors influencing such a significant elevation of import is a relevant issue of research. This study appraises import demand function in India for the liberalised trade regime particularly, for an extended period 1980–2018, and for the post-reform period, 1992–2018. The study identifies domestic income in aggregated and disaggregated level with exchange rate, trade openness and population growth as significant determinants of import demand. The income has a positive impact on import demand, where income elasticity of import demand differs significantly across the aggregate income and its components—consumption, investment and export expenditure. The exchange rate has a negative impact, implies a depreciation of Indian currency decrease import demand. The trade openness causes a rise in import demand both in the long run and in the short run. Population growth also raises import demand. The econometric diagnostics corroborate the fact that the estimated import demand functions are stable and robust. JEL Codes: F10, F14, C22

Addressing the Gap Areas Crucial for Survival by Focusing on the Key Growth Determinants of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in India: A critical analysis Pertaining to Textile Sector MSMEs

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are crucial for the overall development of the country. Realising the same, there are various policy support measures introduced by the government. This paper attempts to study the gaps in the present policies available for the MSMEs with respect to the textile sector MSMEs. Through a systematic approach, based on secondary literature and stakeholder engagement, the study attempts to come up with a decision matrix based on the identified key growth determinants of MSMEs. A questionnaire was developed for collecting the responses from expert stakeholders to rank the identified list of determinants influencing the growth of MSMEs. A mix of top-down and bottom-up methodology has been adopted to identify the key determinants of MSMEs having the major influence on the sector’s growth. It was found that the top 10 determinants influencing the growth of MSMEs are profitability, quality of product, entrepreneurial behaviour, legal structure, product differentiation strategy, new/improved products produced, industry friendly policies, employee sensitiveness, ability to fund enterprise growth from profits generated. It is argued that in order to make MSMEs sustainable, policymakers should take a targeted approach focusing on these key growth determinants so as to create a conducive ecosystem for MSMEs. JEL Codes: O100, L210, L250

An Empirical Investigation of Global Production Networks in Indian Manufacturing Sector

This article attempts to dive into the operation of global production networks in India with manufacturing sector in the primary scope of focus. It aims to analyse the long-run and short-run relationship among the factors which form a global supply chain and their effects on a supply chain, using yearly data from 1984 to 2017. Our primary results from the estimations show that all the factors incorporated into the study are important for initiation and effective execution of a supply chain. The autoregressive distributed lag model shows that Index of Industrial Production (IIP), export–import ratio, KOF index and electricity index affect a supply chain positively whereas USD–INR exchange rate and unemployment rate affect gross value added negatively. The error correction model shows long-run relationship between IIP and export–import ratio. The study also highlights the importance of trade balance and industrial production in the long run.

Money and Household Consumption Expenditure in Developing Asia: Some Panel ARDL Evidence

The role of money in influencing real economic activities has been a long-standing debate in macroeconomics. As per the Keynesian theory, household consumption expenditure plays a significant role in promoting economic growth. Given the rapid consumption-led growth pattern in the emerging Asia Pacific region, in this article, we attempt to assess the role of money in influencing household consumption expenditure, which propels economic growth. We employ a panel data set from 2005–2018 for 10 emerging Asian economies, covering Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. Given the region’s heterogeneous nature, we employ a variant of the popular St Louise equation model with autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) panel framework based on pooled mean group (PMG) and dynamic fixed effect (DFE) models developed by Pesaran and Shin to study the underlying relationships. Both PMG and DFE models suggest a strong positive relationship between money and household consumption expenditure both in the long run and short run. After allowing for control variables such as government final consumption expenditure and interest rate, the relationships continue to hold steady. Further, the relationship holds true across both narrow (M1) and broad money (M3) measures. The government final consumption expenditure and interest rates do not have influence on household consumption expenditure in the long run, but they have an influence in the short run. JEL Codes: C23, O16, O47, E51, E31, E21

The Future of the Clean-Energy Minerals in India: Issues and Challenges Out to 2050

The role of clean-energy minerals (CEMs) in the modern non-carbon energy technology development is indispensable. The scarcity of CEM resources in India is a severe concern. Almost complete import dependence on CEM-producing countries makes India vulnerable to the supply risk that could arise due to various reasons. For example, for India to do business with countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and China could be challenging given the geopolitical issues India have with China and the internal political and economic crises DRC have within. Situations like this call for securing domestic CEM resources and strengthening the bilateral trade agreements with friendly nations. India needs to focus on investing heavily in the domestic exploration and acquiring overseas leases of CEMs. Research and development promotion are crucial to finding reliable substitutes for priority CEMs such as graphite, lithium and cobalt.

Economic Growth and Electricity Consumption in India: An Econometric Analysis

The purpose of this study is to analyse the long-run causal relationship among the per capita electricity consumption ( PCEC) and per capita gross domestic product ( PCGDP), urban population ( UP) and employment ( EMP) pattern in India over the period of 1991–2018. To analyse the long-run association Johansen co-integration test has been used. The results of the Granger-causality test imply that there exists a bidirectional causal relationship between the PCEC and PCGDP whereas there exist unidirectional causality from EMP and UP to PCGDP. Jel Codes: L52, C53, P1