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This paper aims to analyze the pattern of public debt in Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) in a comparative perspective. Besides, an attempt is made to verify the existence of debt overhang as suggested by Krugman (1988) among BRICS nations.

Annual panel data for BRICS for the period 1980-2016 has been used for the analysis. Percentage ratio method has been used to analyze the pattern of debt. Panel covariate augmented Dickey–Fuller (pCADF) test has been used to verify the time series properties of the variable, while panel cointegration test of Pedroni (1999) is used to check the existence of any co-integrating vector among the variables. Panel Granger causality test is used to check the causality between the variables.

Co-integration result suggests that there exists a strong long-run equilibrium relationship between debt service, domestic savings, capital formation and economic growth of BRICS nations. From Granger causality test, it is observed that domestic savings and capital formation are Granger caused by debt servicing. The coefficients from fully modified ordinary least squares measure a negative impact of debt service on gross capital formation and gross domestic saving. This suggests that the payment for debt service affects capital formation and gross domestic savings adversely. Thus, it gives primary signals for debt overhang effect in BRICS nations.

Allowing debt service to negatively affect the investment and potential investment will result in slowdown or stagnation in economic growth in the long run, so strategies need to be taken in BRICS nations to check the adverse effects of rising level of debt-service-payment-to-gross national income ratio on domestic savings and capital formation. BRICS nations need to reduce their debt service payment by undertaking appropriate strategy of debt overhaul and fiscal management so that domestic savings and capital formation in the country will not be adversely affected. Besides, BRICS nations need to take measures to augment its domestic savings and capital formations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no published works have analyzed the pattern of public debt for BRICS (major developing nations). Debt servicing is also not checked for BRICS in recent papers, considering overhang approach.

Smooth and autonomous navigation of mobile robot in a cluttered environment is the main purpose of proposed technique. That includes localization and path planning of mobile robot. These are important aspects of the mobile robot during autonomous navigation in any workspace. Navigation of mobile robots includes reaching the target from the start point by avoiding obstacles in a static or dynamic environment. Several techniques have already been proposed by the researchers concerning navigational problems of the mobile robot still no one confirms the navigating path is optimal.

Therefore, the modified grey wolf optimization (GWO) controller is designed for autonomous navigation, which is one of the intelligent techniques for autonomous navigation of wheeled mobile robot (WMR). GWO is a nature-inspired algorithm, which mainly mimics the social hierarchy and hunting behavior of wolf in nature. It is modified to define the optimal positions and better control over the robot. The motion from the source to target in the highly cluttered environment by negotiating obstacles. The controller is authenticated by the approach of V-REP simulation software platform coupled with real-time experiment in the laboratory by using Khepera-III robot.

During experiments, it is observed that the proposed technique is much efficient in motion control and path planning as the robot reaches its target position without any collision during its movement. Further the simulation through V-REP and real-time experimental results are recorded and compared against each corresponding results, and it can be seen that the results have good agreement as the deviation in the results is approximately 5% which is an acceptable range of deviation in motion planning. Both the results such as path length and time taken to reach the target is recorded and shown in respective tables.

After literature survey, it may be said that most of the approach is implemented on either mathematical convergence or in mobile robot, but real-time experimental authentication is not obtained. With a lack of clear evidence regarding use of MGWO (modified grey wolf optimization) controller for navigation of mobile robots in both the environment, such as in simulation platform and real-time experimental platforms, this work would serve as a guiding link for use of similar approaches in other forms of robots.

Many studies conducted on cause-related marketing (CaRM) are concentrated in advanced economies. However, there is very little work reported pertaining to CaRM in emerging economies like India. Hence, the aim of this study is to analyze the effect of CaRM on the customers' purchase intention (PI) in the Indian fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) sector, which is the fourth largest sector in the Indian economy. Further, this study tests the mediating effect of attitude and the moderating effect of cause involvement.

This paper employs a quantitative methodology. Primary data were collected from 1220 respondents from North India. PLS-SEM is employed to examine the data.

The findings reveal that CaRM strongly impacts FMCG customers' purchasing intentions. Further, a positive attitude toward cause-related marketing triggers the customer purchase intention. Third, the results show that cause involvement moderates purchase intentions, so those who feel passionately dedicated to the cause are more inclined to buy while being involved in the cause-related marketing program.

The results would aid marketers in developing effective CaRM campaigns for their FMCG brands by understanding the different combinations of factors influencing CaRM.

FMCG is one of the major pillars of the Indian economy. This research proposes a comprehensive conceptual framework for the current study that is supported by literature. This study provides evidence of the increasingly important role of CaRM in establishing a win-win association with customers, aiming to solve specific societal causes and creating a favorable image of the brand in the FMCG sector.