Search results

The Indian pharmaceutical industry accounts for 8% of global production and exports medicines to over 200 countries. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) enter the Indian market either directly through the establishment of subsidiaries or indirectly through licensing arrangements. However, evidence on MNE’s contribution toward development in India in terms of capability enhancement and linkages or through other spillover effects is limited. The purpose of this research was to generate evidence on (a) contribution of MNEs in the pharmaceutical market in India, (b) nature and impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the Indian pharmaceutical sector, (c) contribution of MNEs in R&D and innovation in India, and (d) MNE’s contribution toward introducing new chemical entities (NCEs) and new biological entities (NBEs) in India through a mixed method research design. We conducted an in-depth quantitative analysis on multiple data sets and qualitative interviews of various stakeholders to generate a holistic understanding on the aforementioned research objectives. Our findings suggest that from the perspective of capability enhancement and linkages, the contribution of pharmaceutical MNEs in India is limited. We observed that majority of FDI investments are brownfield against desired greenfield investments. In addition, MNEs are investing far less of profit before tax (PBT) compared with Indian firms on research and development. However, MNEs are contributing significantly toward access to certain pharmaceutical segments like vaccines, hormones, and parenterals, which require sophisticated production facilities, advanced technology, and intellectual capital. Further, MNEs role in innovation and introduction of new medicines (new molecular entity [NME] and NBE New Chemical and Biological Entities (NCEs and NBEs)) in India is significant. We propose that creating a conducive policy environment and predictable regulatory environment can facilitate capability enhancement and linkages through MNEs. Some of the potential policy instruments include appropriate implementation of FDI policy and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy to balance trade and public health.

A company as an entity could cease to exist owing to its merger and dormancy in activity. The latter can be attributed to two causes – unsustainability of present state of production or shell companies. Therefore, three questions are posed – one, why do companies merge, two – why do companies shut down and third – of those that disappear can they be identified as shell.

The motives for each of these cases of disappearance of a company are enlisted and a firm-level analysis is undertaken where each firm is compared with a counterfactual.

It is found that companies that survived despite the inefficiencies and smaller market shares were the ones that had some foreign affiliation and were unrelated to existing business entities. On the other hand, the dormancy or shutdown can be attributed to lack of access to imported technology and low shares of market with dismal profitability. With the growing intensity of globalisation, the Indian corporate sector is now more prone to global economic conditions. Lastly, the disappearance or shutdown of companies that may have been used for tax avoidance is supported by the data.

The present study is the first to amalgamate and discuss various the causes for shutdown of companies. Further, the methodology adopted is unique in terms of the use of counterfactuals.

In many situations, India is positioned as one of the world's most economically active countries, with richer touristic acquisitions. India dominates touristic values and development in many scenarios. India shapes and reshapes tourism in a comparatively different manner than the rest of the tourist-generating regions, riding the waves of Asian domination in tourism development. This chapter examines the transformative features of Indian tourism in terms of resources, social development, tourist mechanisms inside the country and various types of tourism industry modelling. Domestic, inbound and outbound tourism perspectives have been taken from both insiders' and outsiders' perspectives. The chapter also highlights the comparative similarities and differences between Indian tourism and some of the selected tourist-generating regions in the world.

Purpose – The aggregate investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in the Indian stock market is significant compared to that by domestic institutions and individual (retail) investors. The question of whether FIIs exhibit herding and positive feedback trading while investing in the Indian stock markets has not been examined so far. This study is an attempt to fill the gap and contribute to the existing evidence on foreign portfolio investment in India.

Methodology/approach – We have analyzed the daily data on purchases and sales of securities by FIIs sourced from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). We have adopted the approach of Lakonishok et al. (1992), and Wermers (1999) to examine herding and positive feedback trading by foreign investors.

Findings – Our results suggest that FIIs exhibit herding and positive feedback trading during different phases of the stock market. This observed behavior is prominent in but not restricted to large cap stocks as they enjoy better liquidity.

Social implication – The herding and positive feedback trading by FIIs is a cause for concern for government of India, capital market regulator (SEBI), and the country's central bank (RBI) as it adversely affects stock prices and volatility. They are required to formulate and implement a suitable policy response given their objective of protecting the interests of small investors in the market. They may also have to monitor the purchases and sales of equities by FIIs in general and of better performing large cap stocks in particular.

The aim of this chapter is to develop a strong research base for the academia and the industry to understand the importance of data analytics in International Trade. This chapter focuses on the case of cotton trade from India and explores different methodologies developed by the World Bank and International Trade Center to analyze the Big Data available on export and import. Through Big Data analysis, this chapter attempts to find out the export performance, market demand, export potential, and attractive markets for Indian cotton. This chapter also explores the trade competitiveness of Indian cotton over the years. The data through appropriate analysis can address some simple yet complicated questions in trade like what export potential the commodity holds, if the commodity is competitive or not in international market, what are new markets to look up to, and other similar questions. In other words, this information could make huge difference in decision-making of traders and policymakers directly, and farmers indirectly.

This study examines return and volatility spillovers from the US and Japanese stock markets to three South Asian capital markets – (i) the Bombay Stock Exchange, (ii) the Karachi Stock Exchange and (iii) the Colombo Stock Exchange. We construct a univariate EGARCH spillover model that allows the unexpected return of any particular South Asian market to be driven by a local shock, a regional shock from Japan and a global shock from the USA. The study discovers return spillovers in all three markets, and volatility spillovers from the US to the Indian and Sri Lankan markets, and from the Japanese to the Pakistani market. Regional factors seem to exert an influence on these three markets before the Asian financial crisis but the global factor becomes more important in the post-crisis period.

Introduction: Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a deciding factor in the insurance industry’s growth in any nation. Besides, similar socioeconomic conditions, some countries tend to attract more FDI inflows. This chapter focuses on exploring the FDI in the insurance industry in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS).

Purpose: The chapter aims to explore the current situation of FDI in the insurance industry in BRICS member nations and uncover the factors that have led to higher foreign investments in some countries.

Methodology: Using descriptive and comparative approaches, this chapter explains the FDI scenario in the insurance sector of BRICS nations.

Findings: Based on a comparative analysis, the authors observed that deregulation, increased foreign engagement, and adoption of innovative technology and distribution methods are some avenues that could be worked upon to improve FDIs in the Indian insurance sector.

With a population of 472 million, Generation Z in India is the largest in the world. This chapter studies the demographic breakdown of the members of Generation Z, their political and social concerns, their career aspirations, their workplace preferences, and the changing consumer attributes. The research design for this study incorporated a qualitative approach comprising of four focus group discussions (see Appendix). Members of Generation Z in India show common behaviours and preferences with their counterparts around the world. However, members of Generation Z in India have clear opinions and ideas of how youth can contribute to a developing nation like India.

Mayan towns in the Guatemalan highlands hold periodic markets on specific days of the week. A market is attended by local townspeople, by peasants residing in the town’s hinterland, and by vendors bringing wares from other towns. This study aims to determine the effects of physical, environmental, and cultural differences on the number of vendors that are sent from one Guatemalan town to a periodic market in another.

To understand how these markets are integrated, a gravity model is developed, examining the flow of vendors from 85 towns of residence to 15 market towns. In this model, the flow of vendors from one town to another is a function not only of physical distance, but of ecological complementarities, of linguistic differences, of road access, and of demographic endowments.

Results show that traveling vendors in these periodic markets do indeed integrate Guatemala both ethnically and ecologically, serving as a place in which different ethnic groups meet and bring in products that cannot be produced locally. Results also suggest that participation in markets is part of a diversified set of activities used by rural peasants to support their households.