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The purpose of this paper is to establish the empirical link between real exchange rate (RER) undervaluation and sectoral growth in South Africa between 1984 and 2014.

The study employs a dynamic panel data approach estimated by the system generalised method of moments technique in a bid to control for endogeneity.

The authors find a significant positive impact of undervaluation on sectoral growth which increases with capital accumulation. Also, the authors confirm that undervaluation promotes sectoral growth up to a point where further increases in undervaluation retards growth.

The results confirm the importance of policies that keep the domestic currency weaker to foster sectoral growth.

The originality of this paper lies in establishing the impact of exchange rate undervaluation on growth at a sector level in the context of South Africa using a dynamic panel data approach.

This study examines the impact of doing, using and interacting (DUI) and science, technology and innovation (STI) learning mechanisms on firm performance, investigating their influence on financial performance through innovative performance in machine tools and textile manufacturing firms in Ludhiana, Punjab, India.

Primary data was collected through a survey of 202 manufacturing firms across two industries, as secondary data inadequately captures learning mechanisms, particularly for DUI mode. The study employed structural equation modelling (SEM) alongside descriptive analysis to examine the impact of STI–DUI learning mechanisms on performance.

The study reveals that firms, despite minimal investment in formal R&D, effectively learn through networking and imitation (DUI mechanisms). They also benefit from local industrial training institutions. Notably, innovative performance mediates the relationship between learning mechanisms (imitation, networking and industry institutions) and firms' financial performance.

The literature was found to be scant in terms of understanding the nature of firms learning mechanism, especially for the firms undertaken for the analysis. Although having distinguished nature of knowledge and learning required to compete for the products manufactured in machine tools and textiles industries, local conditions, domestic national institutions and regional aspects makes the industries unique case to understand the challenges amidst unique features of these industries. The study is expected to fill-in the gap in the literature of manufacturing industries belonging to developing countries in the era of increasing technological competition in the integrated world economies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges faced by the Ludhiana’s woolen knitwear industry that got accentuated with the outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The paper discusses the road map for building capabilities within the industry from the perspective of “system of innovation” approach that would help the industry to comply with the recent call for “AatmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.”

The woolen knitwear industry from Ludhiana district of North Indian state, Punjab, was taken as a case to examine the impact of COVID-19. Data was collected online through self-structured questionnaire along with telephonic interviews. Stage I was the period of “total lock-down” and Stage II was conducted after the announcement of “stimulus package” and during the unlocking period. Some local industry associations and labor unions were also interviewed to understand the wider perspectives of different stakeholders. Descriptive statistic was applied to analyze the results of the survey.

It is estimated that the industry would lose about INR 2,000 crores approximately US$282.1m with the monetary loss of man-days nearing INR 157 crores approximately US$22.1m for the total lockdown period of 68 days. This amount is feared to increase with the lackluster re-opening of the industry in the unlocking period. The study reveals that there were some concerns, such as infrastructural bottlenecks, obsolete internal and international connectivity and institutional rigidity with cumbersome rules and regulations that get heightened with the outbreak of COVID-19. The entrepreneurs and workers are skeptic regarding the nature of demand revival in the changing world economic order. The paper suggests a dynamic policy intervention with inbuilt feedback mechanism along with reviving the organizations to infuse enthusiasm among various actors of industry.

The study is one of the first few to conduct surveys at two different stages to assess the impact of COVID-19 from the perspective of micro, small and medium enterprises and workers working therein while taking the case of Ludhiana woolen knitwear industry. The findings of this study will aid the industry and policymakers to take essential steps to make the industry more innovative and competitive in the dynamic world market.

This chapter aims to analyse the evolution of research in the Indian tourism and hospitality domain from 1976 to 2021. By employing the bibliometric and systematic literature review, the chapter highlights the prominent authors, institutions, methods, emerging and explored research themes in the tourism and hospitality field. Accordingly, the authors collected 458 articles from core tourism and hospitality related journals using PRISMA and evaluated them using VOSViewer. The findings revealed an emic perspective of research contribution in Indian tourism and hospitality. While some topics such as religious tourism, sustainability, cultural and heritage tourism products have attained more attention, topics such as tourism entrepreneurship, technology and human resource development failed to seek attention in the eyes of journals and researchers. Although the literature has expanded significantly, there is a need to build global academic networks to examine the state of Indian tourism and hospitality. The chapters suggest that future research should critically evaluate the schemes and initiatives undertaken by the government to promote Indian tourism, expand research to western and eastern parts of the country, and follow the mixed-method research to contribute holistically to the topic.

The concept of the “global production network” (GPN) has emerged as a framework for analyzing the intricate connections between a dominant or pivotal firm and its suppliers across various countries.¹ The expansion of GPNs signifies that trade encompasses not only the final products but also the parts and components (P&C) involved in their production. The reduction of tariff barriers and advancements in transportation and communication technology have facilitated the fragmentation of production processes across different countries. This has led to a significant transformation in the nature and structure of global trade. This chapter aims to synthesize and present this literature. By identifying the key drivers, determinants, and consequences of fragmentation trade through a literature-based approach, this study aids in assessing the opportunities and challenges those lagging countries, like India, encounter in terms of increased participation in GPNs.

Globalization of agriculture via the evergreen revolution (which encompasses large-scale production-collection-cleaning-processing-packaging-transportation-storage-distribution-sale of high-value cereals-fruits-flowers-vegetables-agrofuel-feedstock through technology-intensive global value chains) has opened the door to corporate capital involvement in agriculture. While the mainstream perspectives and international organizations have optimistically viewed this as a catalyst for inclusive growth, this article seeks to unveil the concealed hegemony of capital underlying the ostensibly beneficial façade of the evergreen revolution. It underscores the concerns regarding the immiseration of asset-poor farmers, petty nonfarm entrepreneurs and labourers resulting from the globalization of agriculture. Furthermore, it explores the implications for micro and macro food security in this context.

Islamic banking and microfinance institutions (MFIs) share the core objective of serving the underprivileged. This study aims to investigate whether Islamic banking development facilitates (greases) or hinders (sands) the social mission of MFIs.

Data for 19 countries covering the period 2010–2018 were collected from the World Bank, Bank Focus and International Monetary Funds and analyzed using conventional econometric methods. Endogeneity-corrected techniques and alternative proxies were employed to ensure robust results.

The study revealed that Islamic banking development (proxied by the size of the Islamic banking assets) weakens the depth of outreach of MFIs (measured by average loan size). In countries with growing Islamic banking, MFIs appear to shift their focus toward wealthier clients, potentially due to market saturation among the poor. This is evidenced by MFIs offering larger loans, suggesting a mission drift toward profit maximization. Therefore, it can be inferred that competition from Islamic banks, to some extent, erodes the social mission of MFIs.

This study is among the few to examine the recent and comprehensive relationship between Islamic banking development and the social mission of MFIs.

The paper models the financial interconnectedness and systemic risk of shadow banks using Granger-causal network-based measures and takes the Indian shadow bank crisis of 2018–2019 as a systemic event.

The paper employs pairwise linear Granger-causality tests adjusted for heteroskedasticity and return autocorrelation on a rolling window of weekly returns data of 52 financial institutions from 2016 to 2019 to construct network-based measures and calculate network centrality. The Granger-causal network-based measure ranking of financial institutions in the pre-crisis period (explanatory variable) is rank-regressed with the ranking of financial institutions based on maximum percentage loss suffered by them during the crises period (dependent variable).

The empirical result demonstrated that the shadow bank complex network during the crisis is denser, more interconnected and more correlated than the tranquil period. The closeness, eigenvector, and PageRank centrality established the systemic risk transmitter and receiver roles of institutions. The financial institutions that are more central and hold prestigious positions due to their incoming links suffered maximum loss. The shadow bank network also showed small-world phenomena similar to social networks. Granger-causal network-based measures have out-of-sample predictive properties and can predict the systemic risk of financial institutions.

The study considers only the publicly listed financial institutions. Also, the proposed measures are susceptible to the size of the rolling window, frequency of return and significance level of Granger-causality tests.

Supervisors and financial regulators can use the proposed measures to monitor the development of systemic risk and swiftly identify and isolate contagious financial institutions in the event of a crisis. Also, it is helpful to policymakers and researchers of an emerging economy where bilateral exposures' data between financial institutions are often not present in the public domain, plus there is a gap or delay in financial reporting.

The paper is one of the first to study systemic risk of shadow banks using a financial network comprising of commercial banks and mutual funds. It is also the first one to study systemic risk of Indian shadow banks.