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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the extent, quantity and quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures made by the top Indian companies in their annual reports.

This study analyzes the annual reports of the top 137 companies from CNX-500, over ten years, from 2008 to 2017. The technique of content analysis has been employed manually to examine the number of CSR activities disclosed, quantity and quality of CSR disclosures made by the selected companies in their annual reports. Also mean, percentages, trend analysis and analysis of variance have been employed to analyze the disclosures.

This study highlights that there is a continuous increase in the quantity of disclosures and the number of CSR activities disclosed by Indian companies over the selected period. It also observed that among the selected themes, most disclosed CSR activities are from “customer theme” and “community development theme.” Findings regarding the quality of CSR disclosures revealed that the “qualitative disclosures with specific information” are preferred most by the companies within India. Also, there is a significant variation in the quantity of CSR disclosures across the selected eight themes.

As most of the prior literature on CSR disclosures focused on developed countries in comparison to developing ones, this study contributes to the existing literature by carrying out an extensive investigation of this concept among the Indian companies. Moreover, there are very few studies addressing such a scientific inquiry in the Indian context, especially after the introduction of amendments in the Companies Act, 2013. Furthermore, this study utilizes a comprehensive research instrument consisting of a total of 178 CSR activities, divided across eight themes for collecting data on disclosures from the annual reports. This instrument can be used in the future studies on CSR disclosures in other developing countries as well.

Despite continuous research efforts, the literature is still inconclusive about the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance. With an aim to address this problem, this study aims to analyze the impact of CSR on financial performance in the Indian context.

Using a panel of top 137 companies from CNX-500 for 10 years (2008-2017), the impact of CSR on three indicators of financial performance, namely, Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) and Net Profit Margin (NPM), is evaluated using the panel data regression analysis. The technique of content analysis is used to collect data on CSR from the annual reports of selected companies.

The study finds that the impact of CSR on financial performance may be neutral (with ROA and NPM) or negative (with ROE). The negative influence of CSR on ROE of firms supports the theory by Friedman (1970) that the only responsibility of business is to maximize profits and returns for its shareholders.

After amendments in Companies Act, 2013, there is limited literature addressing this scientific inquiry in the Indian context. The study period (2008-2017) includes CSR disclosures from both periods, before reforms and after reforms, which adds to the uniqueness of this research study. In addition, this study uses a research instrument consisting of a total of 178 CSR activities divided across 46 themes for collecting data from annual reports of the companies. The utilization of such a comprehensive research instrument, for the study, also adds to its peculiarity.

Given the dominant share of India in global production of fruits and vegetables, this paper intends to analyze the export competitiveness of India and other major food exporters in the world trade. The purpose of this study is to examine export structure, substitutability and complementarity of selected fresh and processed fruits and vegetables of top ten food exporters for the period 2010-20.

Balassa’s (1965) revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index was used to measure RCA indices of selected fruits and vegetables under study. Also, revealed symmetric comparative advantage (RSCA) and normalized RCA (NRCA) indices have been calculated. Further, Spearman rank correlation coefficients were computed to analyze changes over the study period for India and other competing countries. The export data have been sourced from UN Comtrade, an electronic database of United Nations, as well as World Trade Statistical Review, a database of World Trade Organization. The analysis was undertaken at Harmonized System (HS) four-digit classification for the period 2010-20.

The results disclosed an improvement in India’s comparative advantage over the period of 2010-20 in HS 07 product category, whereas the advantage ceded to other competitive nations in HS 08 product category. Further, Spearman rank correlation coefficients revealed that India faces competition from countries like China, Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand, Argentina and European Union for HS 07 product category, while countries like Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil and Thailandare the major competitors of India in HS 08 product category.

The paper expands the existing agricultural trade literature in three ways. First, it is one of the very few studies that have analyzed RCA for Indian fresh and processed fruits and vegetables using three different types of indices, namely, Balassa’s RCA, RSCA and NRCA. Second, the authors provide a number of comparisons related to RCA for Indian fruits and vegetables with other top food exporters in the world for a period of 10 years (2010-20). Third, the authors contribute to agricultural trade literature by assessing the substitutability or complementarity of India in the export of fruits and vegetables with other competing nations by using Spearman rank correlation coefficients.

Drawing upon uses and gratifications (U&G) theory and customers' online brand-related activities framework, the present study aims to examine the influence of customers’ motivations to engage with brand-related social media content on different social media engagement behaviors (consumption, contribution and creation) and brand-related outcomes (brand trust and brand loyalty) in the quick service restaurant (QSR) context.

Based on a self-administered survey dataset of 500 social media users who are customers of QSR brands, partial least square structural equation modeling is used to verify the hypotheses.

Results showed that interactivity motivation and information motivation drive all the social media engagement behaviors (consumption, contribution and creation). The results also confirmed the mediating effect of brand trust on the relationship between two levels of social media engagement behaviors (consumption and contribution) and brand loyalty.

To entice customers to engage with QSR brands on social media, social media marketing managers should incorporate elements of interactivity, information, entertainment and incentive into QSR social media brand posts rather than relying solely on delivering social media content in a variety of ways such as photos, videos and status updates.

This study makes a novel contribution to hospitality and social media engagement literature, thus uncovering opportunities for managers to engage their customers on social media.

Manufacturing sector plays a vital role in the economy of developing countries like India. The Indian textiles and clothing industry has an overwhelming presence in the economic life of the country. The readymade garment segment contributes 42 per cent of the Indian textiles exports, which include cotton garments and accessories, manmade fiber garments and other textiles clothing. The overall export basket of India has increased from 13.6 per cent in 2014-15 to 15 per cent in 2015-16 for textiles and apparel products including handicrafts. Though clothing exports from India have witnessed high growth rates in the past decade as compared to other commodity exports, India’s performance, when compared to many competing countries, has not been much encouraging. India has lagged behind in clothing exports as compared to China, Bangladesh and Vietnam. This study mainly focused on analyzing the changing clothing export structure of select countries such as India, China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Turkey by using revealed comparative advantage indices.

This study uses different variants of revealed comparative advantage indices, namely, Balassa’s RCA Index (Balassa, 1965), Dynamic RCA index (Kreinin and Plummer, 1994) and Revealed Symmetrical Comparative Advantage Index (Laursen, 1998). Indices were calculated for the period 2003 and 2013 under knitted category (HS 61) and not knitted category (HS 62) up to four-digit classification. Spearman rank correlation was applied for analyzing changes during the period under study. For calculation of RCA and dynamic RCA indices, the export data have been taken from UN Comtrade, an electronic database of United Nation and International Trade Statistics database of World Trade Organization.

The results highlighted that India ranks at the bottom in seven HS 61 clothing products and fourth in five HS 61 products. Bangladesh stands at the top in 11 of the HS 61 clothing products among selected countries. Similarly, Vietnam has also gained stronghold position in the global clothing trade. In many of these products, Bangladesh has higher revealed comparative advantage as compared to other countries. In HS 62 product category, India was at the bottom in eight products, whereas Bangladesh has gained the most in nine products on the comparative advantage basis. The findings highlighted the shift taking place in global clothing trade structure as trade was shifting toward low-cost countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh. Surprisingly, India has foregone strategic advantage in many value-added products to low-cost countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam.

This is one of the few studies undertaken to analyze comparative advantages of leading clothing exporter countries (mainly from Asian region) in the recent times. Findings depict changing export structure and dynamics of clothing exports in the region. Findings would help government, industry associations and policymakers in enhancing sector competitiveness and in identifying the growth products.

The study aims to investigate the factors influencing the behavioural intention of bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) consumers in developing economies, such as India, to adopt mobile wallets, drawing upon the framework of the uses and gratification theory. Furthermore, the study also examines the moderating effect of gender.

To achieve the objective, primary data were collected from a sample of 220 respondents using the survey method. The reliability and validity of the survey instrument were demonstrated through confirmatory factor analysis. Subsequently, structural equation modelling (SEM) was used for hypotheses testing.

The study revealed that only convenience and social influence have a positive significant influence on the behavioural intention to adopt mobile wallets whereas, innovativeness, trust and compatibility have no significant relationship with behavioural intention to adopt mobile wallets among the BOP consumers. Further, gender moderates the relationship between compatibility and behavioural intention to adopt mobile wallets in India.

This study contributes to the underexplored area of research concerning the behavioural intention to adopt mobile wallets among BOP consumers in a developing economy. It introduces a novel approach by using the uses and gratifications theory to uncover the underlying motivations behind adoption behaviour.

The textiles and clothing sector is one of India's most important economic sectors, next to the agriculture sector in terms of industrial output and employment, providing employment to more than 30 million people. Many studies predict that India will get a significant share of the world textiles and clothing trade due to the advantage of cheap labor and other factor resources but India's slower growth rate, as compared to other low‐cost competitors, indicates otherwise. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the comparative advantage of India and Bangladesh for the clothing sector in the world export trade with the help of Balassa's index of Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA). The study highlights the shift in comparative advantage for India and Bangladesh between two periods. The study also points out constraints restricting the growth of export share of India in world market and offers suggestions to policy makers for enhancing India's export share in the world clothing trade.

RCA indices have been calculated for various clothing product categories (under Harmonized System) up to four digit classification with the help of Balassa's relative measure for India and Bangladesh. Tables have been prepared for India and Bangladesh, highlighting products having comparatively higher revealed comparative advantage. For calculation of RCA indices, the export data have been taken from “UN Comtrade”, an electronic database of the United Nations and from the database of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Further, Spearman rank correlation coefficient has been calculated for analyzing the changes over the period 1995‐2003 for India and Bangladesh.

Findings reveal that the number of products for which India enjoyed the comparative advantage increased from 23 products to 25 products between 1995 and 2003 and for Bangladesh, this number increased from 21 products to 29 products between 1995 and 2003. Clothing exports of India and Bangladesh are classified on the basis of comparative advantage at the HS 4‐digit level for the years 1995 and 2003 and the comparative position is given on the basis of a measure of structural change in exports of India and Bangladesh. The products in which India and Bangladesh have comparative advantage in garment exports are highlighted.

This paper has calculated and compared revealed comparative advantage indices over a period of time up to four digits classification of HS product categories. Also, this paper highlights constraints, and offer suggestions which would be helpful to exporters and policy makers.

The study was conducted with the aim of understanding brand awareness among consumers and analyzing the attitude of consumers towards selected branded commodity food products. An attempt was also made to examine the factors influencing the purchase of selected branded commodity food products.

The products selected for the study were branded rice and branded sugar. A sample of 200 respondents was selected from different localities of a city in India.

Major sources of awareness, for branded rice and branded sugar, are friends/relatives/reference groups, point-of-purchase display, and retailer's recommendations. Respondents perceive free from adulterants, free from insecticides/pesticides/harmful chemicals and social status as the most important parameters of branded rice and branded sugar. The most important factors influencing the purchase of branded rice and branded sugar were found to be flavor, aroma, free from insecticides or pesticides and free from adulterants.

Further studies can be conducted with a larger sample size. Importance of brand equity with respect to commodity products can be analyzed.

Marketers could frame strategies for different market segments based on demographics. Brand awareness needs to be given adequate focus by the marketers.

This paper has made an attempt to study purchase behaviour with respect to commodity products. Not many studies have been undertaken to analyze brand awareness, and consumers' attitudes towards branded commodity food products in developing countries like India.