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Primary agricultural cooperative credit societies (PACSs) in India are considered to be the backbone of the last mile delivery of rural credit for landless and marginal farmers and the poorest sections of the society. Contribution of PACS in social welfare is well documented. However, in spite of being such important form of organization at the grass root level, the authors find a typical baffling phenomenon which is fluctuating growth of PACS. Given that PACS have not been able to establish a consistent growth rate, thus hindering its trajectory to become a strong and consolidated organizational form, it is natural to investigate and identify those success factors that are critical for a newly formed PACS to survive and sustain. Hence it is necessary to undertake a strategic assessment of the function of PACS and hence identify those critical success factors (CSFs). This paper aims to address this issue.

The authors review the existing literature and conduct interview with experts and other stakeholders with the purpose to gain a view of the strategic situation of PACS in India, especially with respect to their birth and death processes and identify a set of factors that are critical to the survival and sustenance of PACS. Based on the inputs from the experts, we modelled the interrelationships amongst these CSFs using interpretive structural modelling (ISM). Further, fuzzy Matriced’ Impacts Croise's Multiplication Appliquée a UN Classement (MICMAC) analysis is performed to cluster these CSFs into four quadrants based on their influence and dependence in the system.

The findings point out that a hierarchical interconnected structure exists amongst the CSFs that influence the survival and sustenance of the PACSs. “Quality and Motivation of Management” was found to be driving all other factors so far the survival of any PACS is considered. Also the authors have found that “Loan Recovery” is the most sensitive factor that needs to be taken care of for the sustenance of PACS. These findings are in the expected line and commensurate with the conventional wisdom yet to be documented till date.

It is a forward-looking analysis that tries to find out the CSFs for the survival of PACS in order to face the changing economic scenario of India which is still agrarian in nature. Both in terms of research question as well as methodology, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is first of its kind so far PACS are concerned being one of the most important but neglected entities in India; so far the last mile rural agricultural credit delivery is concerned, this study will help the policy makers to develop a holistic viewpoint in relation to long term sustenance of PACS.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2022-0331

Embedded options can create asymmetries in information impounded by cash and futures markets, causing errors in price discovery estimation. This paper aims to investigate the impact of embedded location options on measures of price discovery.

Various price discovery metrics are computed using observed futures prices that contain embedded location options and cash prices for Chana. Prices of a futures contract that contains no options using observed futures prices and estimates of location option value are synthesized. The price discovery measures are recomputed using synthetic option-adjusted futures contract prices and cash prices, and changes in these measures are attributed to the impact of the embedded location option.

If the presence of the location option is ignored, futures appear to dominate price discovery. Once the location option is adjusted for, cash markets are found to dominate price discovery.

The lack of complete time-series data from the exchange for multiple commodities allows only limited empirical evidence for generalizing conclusions.

This paper highlights that regulators, exchanges and policymakers in India need to revisit delivery specifications of agricultural commodity futures contracts to enhance their utility from a price discovery perspective.

This work shows that ignoring the presence of embedded options can cause significant errors in price discovery assessment of agricultural futures contracts, particularly in heterogenous cash markets.

Banks are exposed to many challenges to name a few i.e. growing market competition, political environment, market forces of demand and supply, technological changes, frauds and poor management. The banking sector devasted experiences of fraud have impacted all facets of the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance. In continuation, this study aims to revolve around themes of different types of frauds, especially insider frauds that have gained mainstream attention in recent major value fraud events with prominent Indian banks. This study will identify the types and drivers of insider frauds.

The methodology opted for the study is through confidential primary survey and focused group discussion with risk officers of banks who are associated with Indian banks for more than three years, further to understand the relation between type of Insider frauds and originating drivers were paired based on the principal component analysis.

Finally, the paper concludes with the conceptual mitigation framework for different types of insider fraud and driver pairs within the scope of this paper. This paper thought will support policymakers of the Indian banking system to create a more robust environment within the banking system via timely detection of frauds so that up to an extent it can be squared before it appears.

The study is innovative in the area of banks’ internal fraud management, where original data collected through a primary survey contributes to the conclusion of fraud management for various Indian banks.