334 research outputs found
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Some features of rural credit in India with special reference to Tamil Nadu: A Study of the period after bank nationalisation
No full textBenchmarking urban sustainability -A Composite Index for Mumbai and Bangalore
No full textThe study investigates whether the present pattern of urban development in India in the creation of mega cities is sustainable and what it can learn from the global mega cities. This has been done by comparing the two Indian cities Mumbai and Bangalore with selected mega cities of the worlds representing different stages of development (Shanghai, London, and Singapore) using an indicator-based approach under a sustainability framework. The prioritised indicators under the three dimensions of sustainability - economic, social and environmental - are included for the comparison.
The approach is used for developing dimension-wise sustainability indices as well as composite urban sustainability indices (USIs) for all the chosen cities. In the next step, these index values are compared with the hypothetical benchmark urban sustainability index values and sustainability gaps are identified. These gaps essentially represent the targets for achieving sustainable urbanization. The results indicate that compared to benchmark index values, both Mumbai and Bangalore have large gaps to bridge with respect to economic sustainability where as they relatively better placed with respect to
social and environmental sustainability. Among the five cities, Singapore emerges at the top with a high USI value and Bangalore and Mumbai occupy the last two positions respectively. We believe that the indicator-based approach represent a primary tool to provide guidance for policy makers and to potentially assist in decision-making and monitoring local strategies/plans. The outcome of the study will contribute to the design of policies, tools, and approaches essential for planning to attain the goal of sustainable development and the social cohesion of metropolitan regions
Choosing private schools: Examining primary school enrollment decisions in rural North India
No full textThis study examines primary school choice in seven states in rural north India, using data from a survey of schools and 1586 households in 274 villages. The analysis emphasizes the role of choice sets faced by rural households, given uneven provision of primary education, and of the relative importance of voice versus exit in household decisions on school choice. The overarching findings suggest that parents value the facilities and functionality of the chosen school and are sensitive to the characteristics of the alternatives available, with possible differences based on the gender of the child. Significantly, the odds that the chosen school is privately managed are lower when variables denoting quality of the government schools in the village are higher. However, the presence of vehicles for parental representation denoting voice does not matter in expected ways. Overall, parents might be discerning with respect to individual school characteristics rather than merely sorting over school management type
Distribution fees and mutual fund flows: Evidence from a natural experiment in the Indian mutual funds market
No full textMutual fund companies typically charge investors distribution fees, such as 12b-1 fees in the United States, which they then use to pay commissions to brokers. We evaluate a major Indian investor protection reform that limited the ability of mutual funds to charge distribution fees to pay broker commissions. We identify the impact of this policy change by comparing funds charging high distribution fees prior to the reform to those charging low distribution fees; we show that trends in asset growth across these groups prior to the reform were similar, and argue that a comparison of their asset growth after the reform is indicative of the policy impact. Contrary to industry claims that banning
distribution fees would dramatically reduce investment in mutual funds, we find no evidence that the post-reform asset growth was lower for funds charging higher distribution fees prior to the reform. We primarily find that asset growth in funds with previously high distribution fees was higher after the policy change. At the aggregate level, our results suggest that Indian mutual fund growth in the post-policy period was lower for reasons independent of this policy change, such as a general move away from mutual funds towards real assets such as gold and real estate following the 2008 financial crisis