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When spillovers are measured at a national level, the regional benefits may not be identified if they are too small. Very few studies that examined how FDI impacts the regional productivity of the host nations have shown mixed results. The evidence is still scarce and little is known about how the regional penetration of FDI affects the regional productivity performance. The trajectory of regional productivity growth in India has been a subject of scrutiny and intense debates and remains less systematically investigated. The purpose of this paper is to fill this lacuna by investigating the effect of FDI spillover on regional productivity in Indian states.

Using data supplied by the Central Statistical Organization, National Statistical Organization, National Sample Survey Office, and National Accounts Statistics, Government of India at the Indian Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, first, the study employs stochastic frontier model to explore the extent to which FDI spillover contributes to the regional productivity from panel data of 28 Indian states over 1993-2013. Second, the study examines the roles of absorptive ability and technology gap on productivity effect of FDI. Third, by adopting SFA, we measure productivity growth of Indian states in terms of Malmquist productivity index. Fourth, India’s development is imbalanced. To analyze the imbalance due to skewed distribution of FDI among Indian states, Indian states are divided into three regions, and the spillover effects of FDI on TFP in these regions are explored.

The results on the effects of FDI spillover on regional productivity in India using stochastic frontier and panel data from 28 states over 1993-2013 show that R&D, technology import, human capital, and various specifications of FDI have a significant impact on the regional productivity in India except technology gap. Study does not find support for the resource curse hypothesis in Indian states. Productivity growth for India using the Malmquist TFP index based on the stochastic frontier shows positive impact. The TFP growth in the three regions of India is turned to be differently attributed by the FDI spillover.

Little is known about how the regional penetration of FDI affects the regional productivity performance. This research aims to fill this lacuna by investigating the effect of FDI spillover on regional productivity in Indian states which has been a subject of scrutiny and intense debates.

The purpose of this study is to test the impact of entrepreneurship education on business, engineering and arts and science students using the theory of planned behaviour. The study adopted a pre-test–post-test (time 1, t₁ and time 2, t₂) to measure the change of attitudes and intentions over a period of six months. The participants who took entrepreneurship as a compulsory or elective course within their curriculum are 450 in total. To measure attitude, the subjective norm and perceived behavioural control, the study adopted a measure proposed by Kolvereid (1996b). For the intention to become self-employed, the study adopted a three-item measure of career intention, proposed by Kolvereid (1996b), which captures the intention of an individual to start a business. The results showed that the post-programme mean values of subjective norm, attitude towards self-employment, perceived behavioural control and intention towards self-employment increased in relation to the pre-programme ones. But the mean difference value in all four variables is higher for business students when compared to the other two student groups. Also, t-tests indicated no significant differences between respondents and “incomplete” non-respondents (students who filled the t₁ questionnaire but failed to respond at t₂).

The study adopted a pre-test–post-test (time 1, t₁ and time 2, t₂) to measure the change of attitudes and intentions over a period of six months – one semester. A convenient sample technique has been used. The participants who took entrepreneurship as a compulsory or elective course within their curriculum are 450 in total – 100 (Bharathidasan University, Trichy) from business, 100 (National Institute of Technology, Trichy) from engineering and 250 (Bharathidasan University, Trichy) from art and science). The total 250 arts and science students were selected from four reputed art and science colleges in India where entrepreneurship course is offered either as compulsory or elective course, and due share of 60 was given to each college where the total number of students in the final year was 1,000 to 1,500 in each college. The 100 engineering students were selected from one reputed engineering college where the total number of final year students was 750. Finally, 100 business students were selected from two reputed business schools where the number of final year students was 600. All the students from arts and science and engineering were soon-to-graduate undergraduates and business students were soon-to-graduate postgraduates. It was clearly explained to the surveyed students that the questionnaires were for research purposes only, participation was voluntary and their views would not affect their grades. Both time 1 (t₁) and time 2 (t₂) questionnaires were reviewed by three academics and five non-participating students to ensure clarity of wording and face validity of the constructs.

The overall response rate was 55.3 per cent. The mean and standard deviation of variables, attitude towards self-employment, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and intention towards self-employment for the samples of business students, engineering students and arts and science students are presented in . To test the hypothesis, the present study used the following tests: Correlation (Tables III-V) and regression (Table VI) to test the relationship between attitudes and intention at t₁ and t₂. To test the effect of the programme on the change of attitudes and intentions, the current study used one-way ANOVA on the difference scores (for sample of business, engineering and arts and science) with the group membership (programme) as the independent variable. The “difference scores” method is preferable to split-plot repeated measures ANOVA for pre-test–post-test designs, because it gives equivalent results in a simpler and less confusing way (Girden, 1992). No significant violations of the assumptions for t-test, repeated measured ANOVA and regression were identified. Specifically, the common problem of multicollinearity was not evident for all the three majors of students, as the correlations between independent variables were moderate and the tolerance values were all higher than 0.70 for business group, 0.72 for engineering group and 0.73 for arts and science group.

The study aimed to address the attitudes and intentions among business, engineering students and art and science students, but not actual behaviour, and therefore, the study echoes the suggestion that longitudinal studies following the subjects for years after graduation are the only way to prove with accuracy the intention–behaviour link (Kolvereid, 1996b). The study is a comparative study on the effect of entrepreneurship education through the Azjen’s theory of planned behaviour on the scores of variable attitudes towards self-employment, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and intention towards self-employment and has not made any attempt to find out the causes for such scores.

Using the theory of planned behaviour, the study tested the impact of entrepreneurship education on business, engineering and arts and science students. The study adopted a pre-test–post-test (time 1, t₁ and time 2, t₂) to measure the change of attitudes and intentions over a period of six months. The participants who took entrepreneurship as a compulsory or elective course within their curriculum are in total 450. To measure attitude, the subjective norm and perceived behavioural control, the study adopted a measure proposed by Kolvereid (1996b). For the intention of becoming self-employed, the study adopted a three-item measure of career intention, proposed by Kolvereid (1996b), which captures the intention of an individual to start a business. The results showed that the post-programme mean values of subjective norm, attitude towards self-employment, perceived behavioural control and intention towards self-employment increased in relation to the pre-programme ones. But the mean difference value in all four variables is higher for business students when compared to the other two student groups.

A widespread focus on the plant-based antimicrobial cotton fabric finishes has been accomplished with notable importance in recent times. The antimicrobials prevent microbial dwelling in fabrics, which causes severe infections to the fabric users. Chemical disinfectants were conventionally used in fabrics to address this challenge; however, they were found to be toxic to humans. Thus, the present study aims to deal with the utilization of phytochemical extracts from different parts of Pongamia pinnata as antimicrobial coatings in cotton fabrics.

The root, bark and stem were collected and washed several times using tap water. Then, the leaves were dried at room temperature and the root and bark were dried using an oven at 40ºC. After drying, they were ground into fine powder and extracted with ethanol using the Soxhlet apparatus. After that the extract was coated on the fabric tested for antimicrobial studies.

The results reported that the leaf extract of P. pinnata-coated fabric exhibited enhanced antibacterial property towards gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria, followed by root, bark and stem. The wash durability test in the extract-coated fabric samples revealed that dip-coating retained antibacterial activity until five washes. Thus, the current study clearly suggests that the leaf extract from P. pinnata is highly useful to develop antibacterial cotton fabrics as health-care textiles.

The novelty of the present work is to obtain the crude extract from the leaves, bark, root and stem of P. pinnata and evaluate their antibacterial activity against E. coli, upon being coated on cotton fibres. In addition, the extracts were subjected to wash durability analysis to study the coating efficiency of the phytochemicals in cotton fabrics and a probable mechanism for the antibacterial activity of P. pinnata extracts was also presented.

This study attempts to analyze the overall effectiveness of Lean System (LS)-based India post facility layout design (FLD) selection.

We have grouped all Lean Six Sigma elements into three different categories: Lean Technical Practices, Lean Workplace Environment Practices, and Lean Ergonomics Practices based on literature support and field surveys in the Indian postal service. Further, it employs a mathematical model known as the graph theory (GT) method. From the GT approach, interactions were identified through LS tools represented through the digraph, matrix model approach. This study was directed at the National Sorting Hub in Mysuru, Karnataka, in the southern part of India. A number of insights were given in the GT area where FLD is possible to evaluate.

The results showed that Layout five has the highest value, followed by Layout one from the GT approach. The relative relevance and effect values are given as inputs to the permanent function in the digraph technique, and an evaluation index is obtained as an output.

When solving any optimization issue with a high number of attributes, the digraph and matrix technique is successful. The layouts that have been identified have yielded valuable insights into how to enhance critical decision-making processes, which are necessary to accomplish company strategic objectives like growing postal business services.

The process operations carried out in India post service as well as its heterogeneity of articles and the intangible measures of production are the significant challenges to keenly analyze the layout design through lean service principles.

Induction heating applications aided by power electronic control have become very attractive in the recent past. For cooking applications, power electronics circuits are very suitable to feed power to multi loads with an appropriate control technique. The purpose of this paper is to develop a three leg inverter to feed power to three loads simultaneously and independently.

Pulse density modulation control technique is used to control the output power independently with constant switching frequency.

Multi-load handling converter with independent power control is achieved with reduced number of switching devices (two switches/per load) with simple control strategy.

The proposed system is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink, and the thermal analysis is carried out in COMSOL multi-physics software. The hardware realisation is performed for a 1 kW prototype with 20 kHz switching frequency and 10 kHz pulse density modulation frequency. PIC16F877A microcontroller is used to validate the experimental results for various values of control signals (D_PDM). The simulation and experimental results are in good agreement and validates the developed system.

For the developing countries involving in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with China as the main source of foreign development investment (FDI) and development as the top priority, it appears to attract more and more attention on how to make the best use of China’s outward foreign development investment. However, the contradictory evidence in the previous studies of FDI spillover effect and the remarkable time-lag feature of spillovers motivate us to analyze the mechanism of FDI spillover effect. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The mechanism of FDI spillovers and the unavoidable lag effect in this process are empirically analyzed. Based on the panel data from the Belt and Road developing countries (BRDCs) and China’s direct investments (CDIs) from 2003 to 2017, the authors establish a panel vector autoregressive model, employing impulse response function and variance decomposition analysis, together with Granger causality test.

Results suggest a dynamic interactive causality mechanism. First, CDI promotes the economic growth of BRDCs through technical efficiency, human capital and institutional transition with combined lags of five, nine and eight years. Second, improvements in the technical efficiency and institutional quality promote economic growth by facilitating the human capital with integrated delays of six and eight years. Third, China’s investment directly affects the economic growth of BRDCs, with a time lag of six years. The average time lag is about eight years.

Based on the analysis on the mechanism and time lag of FDI spillovers, the authors have shown that many previous articles using one-year lagged FDI to examine the spillover effect have systematic biases, which contributes to the research on the FDI spillover mechanism. It provides new views for host countries on how to make more effective use of FDI, especially for BRDCs using CDIs.

The issue of foreign aid has continued to gain renewed economic cum political attention in the early years of the twenty-first century. At a summit, popularly known as the Millennium Summit, which took place in 2000, there was an agreement by the international community concerning some goals known as the Millennium Development Goals which were targeted to be reached by the year 2015 but have now been replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals. Against this background, it becomes pertinent to ascertain the contributions and impact of foreign aid in the form of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) on capital formation in Nigeria. This is an area of foreign aid studies that has been ignored by many researchers. Most studies are seen delving into analyzing the aid-growth nexus without evaluating the transmission link through which foreign aid transmits to affect economic growth. There is paucity of studies on the aid-capital nexus. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The empirical method used was autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model.

The empirical results from the ARDL model estimations show that foreign aid, which is proxied by ODA, has a positive and significant impact on capital formation in Nigeria for the years under analysis. The result of the Granger causality test shows that a bi-directional granger causality exists between foreign aid and gross fixed capital formation (GFCF).

Empirical results from the ARDL model estimations show that foreign aid, which is proxied by ODA, has a positive and significant impact on capital formation in Nigeria for the years under analysis. The result of the Granger causality test shows that a bi-directional Granger causality exists between foreign aid and GFCF. It is therefore recommended that government should make serious efforts toward the implementation and effective utilization of foreign aid. Appropriate policy measures that would monitor the maximum and effective utilization of foreign aid are also required.

The objective of this study is threefold–first, to develop a Regional Competitiveness Index (RCI) for measuring competitiveness of sub-national regions for India; second, to test this index for its ability to explain regional growth, which validates usage and applicability of this index; and third, to further investigate if the competitiveness of states is in turn caused by economic growth, i.e. it is tested if there is a bidirectional causality between competitiveness and regional growth.

The data of indicators used in the index are from sources available freely in public domain. The competitiveness index is constructed using equal weightage supported by principal component analysis (PCA) technique. The causal relationship analysis is done using panel data of 10 years from 2008 to 2017 for 32 Indian states/union territories. The generalized method of moments (GMMs) is used for this dynamic regression estimation.

Based on RCI score, states have been ranked and through rank analysis, the authors observe the performance status of these sub-national regions and are able to categorize them as improving, no change or deteriorating in regional competitiveness. Using the GMM estimation, the association between RCI and economic growth is found to be significant at 10% level. This shows that regional competitiveness as captured through the RCI score is able to explain regional economic growth and economic disparity among the sub-national units. Further, that RCI score is found to Granger-cause growth, while growth does not lead to better RCI scores. This establishes the usefulness of RCI as an important policy variable to compare states and provide direction for sectoral reforms.

The limitations of the study include (1) broad assumption that these sub-national regions belong to a uniform macro-economic and technology environment, and (2) data constraints as it is a longitudinal study. The study implies that the composite index could capture differences in regional competitiveness explaining regional economic disparity and that competitiveness causes higher economic growth and not vice versa.

The RCI score can prove to be a useful indicator of economic performance of different states and can be used by national and state policymakers to compare and assess regional disparity among different states. The pillar-wise scores will be useful for in-depth study of weakness and strength of the sub-national territories.

Construction of an RCI for sub-national territories and analysis of panel data for longitudinal study of ten years is unique in the regional competitiveness literature.

The purpose of this study is to explore and evaluate potential nonmonotonicity in the determinants of profit efficiency, specifically IT and R&D investments in the Indian commercial banking sector.

The study employs an alternative stochastic profit efficiency framework and introduces nonmonotonic effects by parameterizing the location and scale parameters of the inefficiency component on an unbalanced panel data set of 72 commercial banks in the 2008–2019 period. Marginal effects across quartiles are calculated using a bias-corrected and accelerated bootstrap procedure of 500 simulations. The study disaggregates across ownership and size for gauging the impact of structure on the associations between determinants of profit efficiency.

The study partially rejects the productivity paradox as it discovers a negative association of IT and R&D with profit inefficiency. However, the observed nonmonotonicity of IT is of significance for bank managers, as the study concludes that overinvestment in IT is detrimental to a bank’s profit-maximizing interests. Further, bank size, loan default and credit risk depict a nonmonotonic relationship across the sample with large banks, high NPAs and high credit risk associated with reducing profit efficiency. In addition, higher margins and greater diversification are related positively to efficiency, and banks with cost-heavy structures or having high liquidity risk associated negatively with efficiency.

To the best knowledge of the authors, the study is perhaps the first to acknowledge and incorporate nonmonotonic associations of IT investments amidst other exogenous determinants under a stochastic profit efficiency framework.