A recent controversial move by the Indian income tax authorities was the introduction of a fringe benefits tax (FBT) in 2005. Its introduction has been justified on the grounds that it taxes fringe benefits which are collectively enjoyed by employees and are in the form of facilities and...

India's financial sector reforms, introduced in 1992, may have influenced the performance of commercial banks through a variety of channels. The present study is an attempt to examine the efficiency levels of Indian banks for the period 1985–2004. We employ stochastic frontier analysis to...

There is a general view that the export performance of India is unsatisfactory because of its low competitiveness, but no systematic attempt has been made to validate this view. India needs a 12 per cent compound annual growth rate for exports during 2002–07 to reach 1 per cent of world...

This paper looks at the regulatory component of India's electricity reforms from four perspectives. Concerns about governance standards for the sector that set the context ofreforms are noted first, and the re-allocation of powers that reforms brought about is discussed with particular reference...

A well-developed insurance sector is necessary for the economic development of an emerging economy like India, as it provides long-term funds for physical and social infrastructure, while simultaneously strengthening risk-taking abilities. The investment requirements for India in the coming...

The increase in the volume of foreign institutional investment (FII) inflows in recent years has led to concerns regarding the volatility of these flows, threat of capital flight, its impact on the stock markets and influence of changes in regulatory regimes. The determinants and destinations of...

By applying the non-parametric Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) method, this paper attempts to investigate the sources of productivity change in China's State-Owned Commercial Banks (SOCBs) and Joint-Stock Commercial Banks (JSCBs) between 2000 and 2005. The empirical findings suggest that...

The paper describes tests of hypotheses from economic history concerning the significance of financial development as a determinant of economic growth. By invoking co-integration and causality tests for 12 representative countries that corroborate our analysis, evidence shows that the finance...

India's programme for universalisation of elementary education, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), is regarded as the largest such programme in the world. Over the last five years, impressive strides have been made in improving infrastructure, ensuring access, bringing out-of-school children into...

Ever since the enactment of the Cooperative and Regional Rural Banks Acts and nationalisation of scheduled commercial banks, financial inclusion measures in India have led to physical expansion in the country. Unfortunately, the expansion has not brought about the necessary change in the...