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The purpose of the paper is to examine the linkages between exchange rate and interest rate in India using quarterly data from Q1 of 1996 to Q4 of 2014.

Stationarity properties of data are checked using the Augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF), Dickey–Fuller test with GLS de-trending (DF-GLS) and Kwiatkowski-Phillips-Schmidt-Shin (KPSS) tests and Perron’s unit root test with structural breaks. Johansen Juselius and Gregory Hansen tests are applied to assess cointegration, and block exogeneity test is used to detect causality among variables.

The study finds long-run relationship among interest rate, rupee–dollar exchange rate, capital flows, intervention, inflation differential, money supply differentials, output differentials and trade-balance differentials. However, the interest rate does not explain movements in the exchange rate, directly and indirectly, via capital flows. Intervention by the Central Banks to stabilize exchange rate does not have implications for movements in interest rate.

The study finds capital flows to be insensitive with respect to interest rates and hence thwarts International Monetary Fund ’s (IMF) claim of using interest rates as a tool to stabilize exchange rate. The much-debated conflict between exchange-rate stabilization and control over interest rates also does not hold up to the empirical reality of India.

The study augments the existing literature by taking into account the problem of structural break in the relationship between interest rate and exchange rate. Three measures of interest rate are used to assess the robustness of results adding to their credibility compared to previous studies.

This paper empirically examines the impact of financial development on domestic investment in India for the period 1989–2017.

This study employs the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to co-integration to test the long-run relationship between financial development and domestic investment. To test the direction of causality, Toda–Yamamoto causality test and vector error correction model (VECM) Granger causality/Block Exogeneity Wald test have been employed. Investment has been measured by Gross Capital Formation. To capture various aspects of financial development in India, eight alternative indicators (both bank based and market based) have been used. With the help selected indicators, a composite index (FINDEX) of financial development has been constructed using principal component analysis (PCA).

The estimated result finds evidence in favour of positive, short-run and long-run impact of financial development on investment in the Indian economy. Both bank-based and market-based indicators are found to significantly affect the level of investment. The significant effect of efficiency-based financial development indicators (both bank based and market based) upon domestic investment implies that there is a need to implement policies that ensure the efficiency of financial intermediation.

To the best of authors' knowledge, not much research has been done to explore the relationship between financial development and domestic investment, especially in the case of Indian economy. This study also tries to find the impact of bank-based and market-based financial development indicators upon domestic investment to explore banks vs market issue.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the motivational drives of women entrepreneurs and highlight the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs operating micro, small and medium enterprises from an institutional perspective in Rajasthan – a patriarchal state in India.

The study is based on data collected from a questionnaire survey conducted from July 2018 to January 2019 on 347 women entrepreneurs operating in seven districts of Rajasthan. Descriptive and factor analysis were used to find the major motivations and challenges of the entrepreneurs.

The findings indicate that intrinsic factors, namely, growth, creativity, autonomy and rejecting stereotypical gender identity are primary motivations driving women entrepreneurship in Rajasthan. Further, institutions pose challenges rather than offering a motivational drive to female entrepreneurs. The two most critical challenges, which the women entrepreneurs face are gender stereotypes and the lack of social capital. In patriarchal societies, entrepreneurial roles are considered masculine than feminine. Furthermore, cultural norms reflected in gender-specific role distribution result in the problem of work-life balance. The lack of both bonding and bridging social capital in terms of family support and networks, respectively, also reflects an unfavorable informal institutional environment.

The study adds to the sparse empirical literature on the motivations and challenges of women entrepreneurs in the Indian context. This study explores the motivations and challenges of female entrepreneurs from an institutional perspective for India in general and Rajasthan, in particular, using a large, heterogeneous sample using factor analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the motivations and key challenges women entrepreneurs experience in running small businesses in the Jaipur city of Rajasthan.

A purposive sample of 13 women entrepreneurs from a cross-section of enterprises is selected. A qualitative methodology based upon semi-structured, in-depth, exploratory interviews with female entrepreneurs is used which enables the respondents to give voice to their individual experiences.

The study reveals that pull factors including the urge for creativity, innovation, self-identity and independence, and to serve the society are the main motivations for female entrepreneurs to start their venture. From the institutional theory perspective, the challenges of female entrepreneurs originate mainly from informal institutions. A significant challenge is that their ability as a professional entrepreneur is not recognized and acknowledged by the society. Furthermore, the cultural norms reflected in the gender-specific role distribution result in the problem of work–life balance. The challenges emerging from the formal institutions do not appear to be pervasive and gender specific.

The unique contribution of the study is to provide evidences on the motivations and challenges of women entrepreneurs in Rajasthan based on qualitative data derived from in-depth interviews. Furthermore, the study is the first attempt to view the motivations and challenges of female entrepreneurs from an institutional perspective for India in general and Rajasthan in particular.