Dr.Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu
@siu.edu.in
Assistant Professor - Symbiosis School of Banking and Finance
Symbiosis International (Deemed University)
EDUCATION
MBA (Finance and Marketing – Gold Medalist, Uni-versity Topper), M.Phil., PhD.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
• Transparency and Disclosures
• Corporate Governance
• Shareholder Activism
• Environmental, Social and Gov-ernance
• Financial Inclusion
• BFSI sector
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Jagjeevan Kanoujiya, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, and Shailesh Rastogi
SAGE Publications
Banks are facing varied issues worldwide. The existing set of performance measures of banks lack a cohesive and concerted approach for adequate fulfilment of the purpose. This study proposes a holistic view of the bank performance, which includes profitability, risk-taking (non-performing asset [NPA]), and regulation. It has been observed that Indian banks fare miserably in this litmus test of comprehensive performance measure. The meanest of the expectation that NPA should be affected by the regulatory mechanism is found surprisingly missing in the Indian banks. The existing literature has not taken a holistic view of bank performance, and therefore, the findings of this study provide enough impetus to all the stakeholders of the banks to respond. Policy makers and regulatory bodies can redirect both the banking governance and regulation so that the basic tenet of comprehensive bank performance expectations, as raised in this study, are met reasonably.
Anureet Virk Sidhu, Rebecca Abraham, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, Jagjeevan Kanoujiya, and Shailesh Rastogi
MDPI AG
The current study investigates the impact of the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) on the efficiency of Indian banks for the period 2010 to 2019. The study examines the effect of internal bank elements like ownership structure, transparency and disclosure, and technological advancement on the relationship between the LCR and efficiency. Bank efficiency proxied as technical efficiency is evaluated by applying the data envelope analysis approach. Applying the panel data regression technique, the authors discover that the LCR has a positive impact on the technical efficiency at a constant return to scale of banks. The relationship between the LCR and the technical efficiency at a variable return to scale is non-linear. Initially, as liquidity increases, the efficiency of banks improves, after reaching its optimum level, efficiency starts to decline. Furthermore, liquidity tends to improve efficiency of banks with higher promoter stakes, whereas opposing results are evidenced for institutional investors and technological advancement.
Jagjeevan Kanoujiya, Pooja Jain, Souvik Banerjee, Rameesha Kalra, Shailesh Rastogi, and Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu
MDPI AG
The firm’s valuation (FV) is the key element for all stakeholders, particularly the investors, for their investment decisions. The main impetus of this research is to estimate the effects of the debt ratio (DR, i.e., leverage) on the FV (i.e., assets and market capitalisation) of the non-financial firms listed in India. The quantile panel data regression (QPDR) on the secondary data of 76 non-financial BSE-100 listed firms in India is employed. This study also checks the effect of the net profit margin (NPM) as profitability on the association between DR and FV. The QPDR estimates result in multiple quantiles and provide evidence in scenarios. The findings reveal a positive relationship of DR to assets only in higher quantiles, i.e., 90%ile), and a negative association of DR is found with a market capitalisation in all quantiles. Under the interaction effect, profitability (NPM) does not affect the association of DR with assets but negatively affects the association of debt ratio with market capitalisation in the middle (50%) quantile. The findings indicate that leverage (DR) affects a firm’s value. The study’s outcomes are helpful to all stakeholders, particularly investors, to realise the leverage (DR) as a critical indicator of FV before making any investment decisions. Managers should also consider lower debt ratios for better firm value. The present analysis is original and holds novelty in the form of the moderating role of the net profit margin, i.e., the profitability of the firm between DR and FV in the non-financial firm in India. To the best of our knowledge, no such studies have been performed to look for the association of the debt ratio with a firm’s value under the effect of profitability in different quantiles using quantile regression.
Jagjeevan Kanoujiya, Shailesh Rastogi, Rebecca Abraham, and Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu
MDPI AG
Firms’ financial distress (FD) is a major issue for smooth business activities. Timely recognition of FD should be a prime concern; otherwise, it may cause a nasty bankruptcy situation. The FD issue is paramount to researchers, policymakers, and investors. Several factors, whether they are financial or non-financial, may be responsible for financial distress. Such aspects specific to the firms have been explored. Exogenous factors such as competition can also be responsible for a firm’s FD situation. In view of this, this study proposes to determine competition’s impact on financial distress in the Indian context. BSE 100 (“Bombay Stock Exchange”)-listed non-financial firms (NFFs) in India, over a timeframe of 2016–2020, are incorporated in this study. Panel data econometrics is performed for hypothesis testing. This study is novel in its approach, employing multi-technique analysis for measuring financial distress. FD is measured using Altman Z-scores, BOS, and AC distress scores variants. The Boone index (BI) and Lerner index (LI) are undertaken for the competition assessment of NFFs in India. The findings have contrasting views based on BI and LI; BI is positively connected to Z-scores; however, LI negatively connects to Z-scores. The findings suggest that competition (reverse of BI) positively affects financial distress (reverse of Z-score), while competition (reverse of LI) has an adverse effect on FD. It is also found that competition as BI affects FD non-linearly (inverted U shape connection). This means that competition (or market power) initially increases financial distress (or financial stability), and after a specific limit, it reduces financial distress. It can also be said that market power improves financial soundness to a specific limit, and after that, it starts decreasing financial stability. The study’s findings provide fresh and exciting evidence for the connectivity of competition and financial distress. This situation has noticeable implications for all stakeholders and policymakers concerned with the survival of Indian listed firms. The significant connection of competition with financial distress implies that all stakeholders should consider competition an essential element for a firm’s financial distress.
Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, Shailesh Rastogi, and Preeti Mulay
SAGE Publications
Corporate transparency is a critical requirement for effective governance. Through a thorough financial regulation, it has the potential to influence investors’ investment decisions in a company. The global financial crisis, in the past, has prompted a high level of openness worldwide since it frequently implies the quality of information disclosure. To make investment decisions, investors rely on the information provided by the firms. Hence it is crucial to have an encyclopaedic understanding of corporate disclosures. This research employs bibliometric analysis from a multi-industry approach to systematically synthesize and improve corporate transparency and disclosures. For 23 years, 410 journal articles were collected from the Scopus database between 1998 and 2021. This article highlights the publication trend and identifies the most influential work, authors, countries and journals. Finally, the Author, Journal and keyword co-occurrence have expressed the article’s research themes through thematic progression. Lastly, the article highlights the gaps in the literature and makes recommendations for further research.
Aman Pushp, Rahul Singh Gautam, Vikas Tripathi, Jagjeevan Kanoujiya, Shailesh Rastogi, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, and Neha Parashar
MDPI AG
Financial inclusion is an emerging economic growth paradigm, especially in developing economies like India. It is an essential barometer for the all-encompassing growth of a country and its economy. However, there is still a debate regarding the effect of Financial Inclusion (FI) on achieving sustainable development. This study aims to determine if FI helps achieve Sustainable Development Growth (SDG) in India and if internet subscribers significantly influence the connection between FI and SDG. Secondary data from 16 states and one UT in India have been collected for 2017–2019. Therefore, the sample data is recent and covers a large country span. The data source is NITI Aayog and PMFBY (“Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana”) reports. The findings of this research are that FI has a positively significant relationship with sustainable development goals (SDG) in India. However, when the internet subscribers are high, the FI’s positive association with SDG gets reduced. PMFBY and SDG have been used for the first time, along with internet subscribers as moderators. The outcome has direct policy implications for improving the nation’s financial inclusion and economic growth.
Jagjeevan Kanoujiya, Rebecca Abraham, Shailesh Rastogi, and Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu
MDPI AG
Transparency and disclosure (T&D) of information trigger the interest of all stakeholders, including investors in a company. Cognizance of the company’s financial health before investing is very necessary. Disclosure of information in the firm’s financial reports reflects the firm’s financial performance. A firm’s financial health protects investors’ and other stakeholders’ interests and the firm’s long-term sustainability. Owing to the importance of T&D and a firm’s financial health, this paper investigates the impact of T&D on the financial distress (FD) of non-financial firms (NFFs) listed in India. This study examines both linear and nonlinear connectivity of T&D and financial distress (FD). Their association is also investigated in a competitive scenario (under the moderating effect of competition). The panel data analysis is incorporated into the study having 78 NFFs as cross-sectional units with a timeframe from 2016 to 2020. Altman Z-score measures a firm’s FD (higher Z-score means low FD). BOS (Berger, Ofek and Swary) and AC (Almeida and Campello) scores are taken to consider investors’ perspectives of the firm’s FD. The T&D and Lerner indexes are used to assess the level of T&D and competition. The findings reveal that a higher T&D level decreases a firm’s financial stability or increases a firm’s FD. In nonlinear association, it is found that T&D has an inverted U-curved connection with financial stability or U-curved association with FD. It indicates that initially, higher T&D reduces FD, and after a threshold, it increases FD. However, under competition, T&D is not found to be significantly impactful for FD. The study is novel as no previous study has focused on such association under competition and taking investors’ perspective of a firm’s FD.
Rebecca Abraham, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, Zhi Tao, and Shailesh Rastogi
MDPI AG
Cash ownership emits a powerful positive signal. We examine four sources of cash in firms, i.e., cash flows, cash holdings, cash proceeds from debt, and cash proceeds from equity. We examine the effects of cash ownership for firms growing by disruption, and firms growing by acquisition. Information signaling theory maintains that free cash flows may be used to increase shareholder wealth. Two-stage least squares regressions determined the impact of cash funding on disruptors and size of acquisition in the first stage, and cash-funded disruption or cash-funded acquisition in the second stage, for a US sample of 832 disruptor firms and 924 acquirers, from 2000–2020. Disruptions funded by cash holdings, cash flow, and cash proceeds from debt, significantly increased stock returns. A size effect was observed, with small disruptors showing significant effects. Acquisitions funded by cash holdings, cash flow, and cash proceeds from debt, significantly increased stock returns and return on assets. Agency costs significantly reduced returns and profits. Results for disruptions and acquisitions support signaling theory with free cash flows signaling higher share prices for both disruptors and acquirers, and higher profits for acquirers.
Anureet Virk Sidhu, Pooja Jain, Satyendra Pratap Singh, Jagjeevan Kanoujiya, Aashi Rawal, Shailesh Rastogi, and Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu
MDPI AG
The present study primarily examines the impact of financial distress (FD) on the dividend policy of 33 banks working in the Indian economy from 2010 to 2019. In addition, we further explore the association between financial distress and dividend policy under the influence of shareholder activism (SHA). Using the static panel data regression technique, it is revealed that financial distress is non-linearly associated with the dividend policy of banks in an inverted U-shape. In the initial phase of a distressing situation, banks tend to have a liberal dividend policy. However, after reaching the pressure point, the banks start to squeeze dividend distribution to the stakeholders. Furthermore, the significant impact of shareholder activism has been found in the association between financial distress and the dividend payout policy of banks. From the policy perspective, the study will provide the policymakers with a clear all-round perspective of distressing situations, as the current research involves exploring the impact of distress on the dividend policy that will help the experts in basically understanding the adverse effect of financial distress and the repercussions, respectively, on the earning of the shareholders.
Rahul Singh Gautam, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, Shailesh Rastogi, Jyoti Mehndiratta Kappal, Hitesh Patole, and Aman Pushp
MDPI AG
This study investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding in the education sector and the environment and how it affects India’s sustainable development. This study was conducted using secondary data and the data were collected from 28 Indian states and three union territories for the four fiscal years 2018 to 2021. This study examines the hypothesis using the generalized method of moments (GMM). As a result, it is found that overall CSR funding positively contributes to India’s sustainable development. Additionally, this study finds that CSR funding in education and the environment supports India’s sustainable development. It is also observed that, under the interaction effect of poverty (poverty score), CSR funding (total) and CSR funding on education positively affect sustainable growth. However, CSR funding for environmental activities does not significantly influence India’s FD under the moderation of poverty score. These factors are essential for India’s sustainable development and poverty reduction. Investing CSR funds in rural development, education, the environment, health, and other areas supporting India’s sustainable development leads to impressive economic growth and reduces poverty. Hence, it is attributed that CSR funding plays a vital role in India’s sustainable development. Future research can be carried out on CSR policies and funding using different variables and periods.
Bhakti Agarwal, Rahul Singh Gautam, Pooja Jain, Shailesh Rastogi, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, and Saumya Singh
MDPI AG
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities have become essential and viable activities of corporations because of the increase in concern for environmental, social, and governance issues. The motive of this research is to measure the effect of ESG on the financial performance (FP) of healthcare corporations using the market-to-book value (MTB) ratio as a proxy of FP. A sample of 33 pharma companies in India from 2011 to 2020 has been considered. The study relies on the panel data method to assess the association between ESG and FP. The potential moderating role of competition has also been studied to simplify their relationship in this framework. The finding of this study is that there is a significant negative association between ESG and FP, and it is also found that when competition is used as a moderator, it results in a significantly positive impact on the ESG and FP of healthcare companies. This study increases the understanding of the association between ESG and FP and helps corporations to formulate corporate strategies and stakeholders to make investment decisions. The originality of this study is that it addresses the impact of competition on ESG and FP of the healthcare industry and will become foundational literature for future studies.
Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, Shailesh Rastogi, and Jagjeevan Kanoujiya
Emerald
Purpose The disclosures in banks have become a matter of grave concern, especially post 2008 world financial crisis. The issue further gets exacerbated because disclosers in banks are part of the III pillar of BASEL-II floated in 1999, and despite that, banks face challenges in this regard. Ownership concentration (OC) is a point of discussion because it may affect banks’ corporate governance and transparency and disclosures (T&D) issues. This study aims to determine how OC affects the transparency in the banks. Design/methodology/approach A T&D index is built into the study covering all the relevant contemporary issues regarding disclosures in banks. The panel data specification is used to find out the association of components of the OC on the T&D practices in the banks. Bank data of 34 banks are gathered for four years for the study. Findings It is found that except for retail investors, other classes of OC are not concerned with the disclosures in the banks even though substantial financial and non-financial interests are at stake concerning them. The study’s findings suggest framing policies and regulations considering the accountability of promoters and institutional investors for ensuring disclosures in banks. Research limitations/implications A few proxies to measure T&D found in the literature have not been used in the study. Similarly, the definition of promoter’s class of investors can be improved. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study builds T&D for banks and examines their impact because of the ownership classes (as used by the current study). This study is unique in this aspect.
Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, Shailesh Rastogi, and Rebecca Abraham
MDPI AG
Research on the impact of transparency and disclosures (TD) on the firm’s valuation presents an ambiguous result. The effect of disclosure on value is a concern because disclosure is not an economic activity. It grows further due to the embellishment of positive disclosures and the suppression of hostile facts. This situation has motivated the authors to conduct the current research. The study aims to empirically find the influence of TD on the valuation of banks in India while the Environmental, Social, and Governance Index (esgi), Shareholder activism index (shai), and Lerner Index (li) act as moderators. A panel data regression (PDR) is adopted to analyse the data in the study. Panel data for 31 public/private banks for ten years (2010–2019) are collated. The authors used econometric models to understand the linear, quadratic, and interaction association of Transparency and Disclosure (TD) with the valuation of the banks in India. It is empirically found that TD alone does not impact the valuation of banks but is positively associated with a bank’s value under the influence of the moderators, Environmental, Social, and Governance variables (esgi), and shareholder activism (shai).
Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, Shailesh Rastogi, Rajani Gupte, Geetanjali Pinto, and Sudam Shingade
MDPI AG
The global economic crisis in 1997 significantly impacted all corporate firms. Measuring valuation is becoming increasingly important in corporate firm analysis. Transparency in disclosures enables a company to meet market expectations while also adhering to regulatory requirements. The study’s primary purpose is to measure the impact of transparency and disclosures on the valuation of non-financial firms in India and explore the role of Environmental, social and Governance (ESG) as a moderator variable in determining the firm’s value. Panel data regression is the methodology adopted for the data analysis in the study. Panel Data of seventy-six non-financial firms was collected for ten years (2011–2020). Market capitalization is considered as a proxy variable for the valuation. The study results indicate that transparency and disclosures (TD) have a negative and significant influence on the value of the firms. Inferring that a higher degree of TD reduces the firm value. At the same time, the interaction term of TD and ESG show a positive significant association. This finding implies that high ESG reduces the negative impact of high TD on the valuation.
Rahul Singh Gautam, Shailesh Rastogi, Aashi Rawal, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, Jagjeevan Kanoujiya, and Samaksh Rastogi
MDPI AG
Financial technology is a powerful tool in financial infrastructure, used to strengthen and smooth the delivery of financial services into the broader space. Financial technology involves software, applications, and other technologies designed to improve and automate traditional forms of financial services for businesses established in different areas. The authors aimed to explore the impact of financial technology on the digital literacy rate in India, by utilizing the poverty score as a moderating variable. The panel data analysis (PDA) has been employed in the current study. Data from 29 states and two union territories (UTs) of India were considered for three financial years, i.e., 2017–2018 to 2019–2020. The study’s findings reveal that Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs), both in terms of numbers and amount, are positively associated with the literacy rate. However, ATMs are negatively significant in association with literacy rate. Furthermore, the study’s empirical results show that KCCs and ATMs positively impact literacy when interacting with poverty scores. The study’s findings bring noteworthy implications for the government and other officials to understand the situation at the ground level of Indian states and UTs while forming new rules and policies for society’s betterment, particularly in finance and digital literacy. Additionally, the findings imply that ordinary people living in urban and rural areas of India should take advantage of financial technology and get motivated towards digital literacy.
Anureet Virk Sidhu, Shailesh Rastogi, Rajani Gupte, and Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu
MDPI AG
The post-crisis liquidity framework improves banking stability by imposing stricter liquidity requirements. However, consistent bank performance continues to be an essential factor in achieving this goal. This study examines the impact of the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) on the profitability and non-performing assets (NPAs) of Indian banks using annual data from 2010 to 2019. By applying the dynamic panel data regression technique, we found that compliance with the minimum level of the LCR reduces the net interest margins (NIMs) of banks due to a narrower interest spread, thereby impacting banks profitability. Moreover, the NPAs of the banks tend to grow with an increase in LCR. The study’s findings have far-reaching implications for policymakers. Indian policymakers/regulators need to understand the strategies used by banks to meet liquidity standards and, if necessary, revisit the policy framework to achieve better compliance results. The study’s framework establishes a foundation that can be used for conducting similar research in other complex geographies such as India.
Sudam Shingade, Shailesh Rastogi, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, and Abhijit Chirputkar
MDPI AG
The paper’s prime objective is to understand the impact of Shareholder activism on firm performance. This study is conducted in a unique setup where traditional activist investors such as pension funds and hedge funds are not present. However, the activism cases are increasing yearly in an emerging economy like India. We have created a comprehensive shareholder activism index (sha index) using multiple activisms and corporate governance factors. To measure firm performance, we have used valuation (Tobin’s Q and Market capitalization), profitability (operating profit margin and net profit margin), and return ratios (Return on capital and return on equity). Panel data analysis (PDA) is employed for the current study as it overcomes the shortcomings of the time series analysis and cross-sectional studies. The sample comprises 37 listed firms’ data for FY2017 to FY2020. Chosen firms have experienced activism instances at least once during the 2017–2020 period. As per our analysis, shareholder activism has a significant negative impact on valuation measured in market capitalization and profitability estimated by operating profit margin. Activism primarily impacts the other four parameters negatively, but it is insignificant. India is in the nascent stage of activism, partly explaining the insignificance of the effects of shareholder activism on firm performance. Also, activist investors are targeting companies. These attacks are not fructifying desired outcomes as promoters own over 50% stake in the listed companies. The latest data for FY2021 has not been considered for the study as covid-19 impacted the businesses during the financial year. Also, we cannot capture activism instances that are not reported in regulatory filings. Unlike past research in this area, we have used a comprehensive activism index as a proxy of activism and have employed PDA instead of event studies to assess the impact on firm performance. Also, this is the first such empirical study conducted in an emerging economy setup where neither large hedge nor pension funds are present.
Rahul Singh Gautam, Jagjeevan Kanoujiya, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, and Shailesh Rastogi
IEEE
The firm's financial distress is an unwanted situation that needs to be overcome timely, otherwise, it leads to business failure. This study examines the influence of transparency and disclosure (TD) on financial distress (FD) using inventory as a moderator. This study used secondary data from CMIE Prowess database for the five years from 2016 to 2020 of BSE100 listed firms. This study has used the panel data analysis (PDA) method for data analysis. The result of this study states that transparency and disclosure (TD) have a negative significance on financial distress under the influence of inventory in health firms in India. The findings provide key implications for managers, and policymakers to entertain the inventory and T &D on a serious node to improve the firm's FD in the health industry. Investors should also consider inventory and T &D as important segments for the firm's FD to have informed decisions. This study contributes substantially to the existing literature to provide insights on T &D, inventory, and firm FD. There exists no such study, hence it provides novel evidence on the association of T&D with firm's FD of Indian health firms considering inventory as moderator.
Aniket Gupta, Shailesh Rastogi, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, and Rahul Singh Gautam
IEEE
This paper examines the areas where corporations in India can enter into, allowing them to leverage government initiatives like Jan Dhan – Aadhar and Mobile infrastructure (JAM) and Digital India in the coming years, for developing cost-effective and affordable products and services while enhancing their financial and digital capabilities in new avenues. With the launch of Jan Dhan – Aadhar and Mobile (JAM) infrastructure in 2015 by the Government of India, it became a watershed moment in the country's economic history in promoting financial inclusion for the first time at a massive scale. With 250+ million bank accounts been opened, the government has been successful in laying ‘1 Billion– 1 Billion–1 Billion vision’ for the country in terms of the bank accounts, Aadhar cards and mobile network coverage to bring India into financial and digital mainstream. The government along with the financial markets regulator and the central bank has also laid out its vision in granting universal access to financial services to all the citizens of the country.
Rahul Singh Gautam, Shailesh Rastogi, Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu, and Aashi Rawal
IEEE
This research mainly aims to investigate the impact of financial technology on the sustainable development of India. This study uses secondary data for three fiscal years, 2018 to 2020, and this data has been taken from 29 states and two union territories of India. We use panel data analysis (PDA) to examine the hypothesis of this study. The result shows that financial technology positively impacts sustainable development in India. According to these results, government and RBI need to provide knowledge to people about their digital platforms and products. The government should improve its digital infrastructure in rural areas to better understand and use it because it benefits financial inclusion, economic growth, and poverty reduction.
Jagjeevan Kanoujiya, Shailesh Rastogi, and Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu
Informa UK Limited
Abstract Financial distress (FD) is a crucial issue that needs to be resolved in time; otherwise, it may adversely influence society’s areas. Therefore, identifying the factors responsible for FD and how these factors affect FD is an exciting area of research. Given this, this paper proposes investigating the effect of competition on the bank’s FD in India. This paper uses the data of 34 banks operating in India for the observation period (2016–2019). Three variants of Altman’s Z-score are used for the assessment of FD. Lerner’s index of the banks is developed for the competition measurement. A panel data analysis is further performed for regression analysis. The current study has an interesting outcome. The findings reveal that high market power or low competition lowers financial distress and adds more financial stability in banks in India. This paper provides fresh evidence on the connection between market power and FD of banks in India. Moreover, no other study has been observed to use all the three variants of Altman’s z-score to provide robustness and reliability in results. Therefore, the study has a significant contribution and a novelty in its approach.
Darshan Gaidhani, Nishant Nair, Saniket Jadhav, Shailesh Rastogi, and Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu
IEEE
This paper examines the relationship between Research and Development expenditure and the GDP growth of countries using data collected from 135 countries from 2008 to 2018. Previous research in this area has focused on a select group of countries at the researcher’s discretion, giving rise to sample bias. The current research paper has rectified the above problem by employing a larger sample of data comprising both developing and developed economies. The study employs static panel data regression analysis with R&D expenditure, the number of publications in scientific research journals, and population per sq. km as the independent variables and GDP growth of countries as the dependent variable. The results indicate a significant but negative impact of R&D expenditure on GDP growth. The research in this paper could help academicians critically examine the applicability of the endogenous growth model in the case of developing countries and gather more empirical evidence to support our conclusions.
Shailesh Rastogi, Chetan Panse, Arpita Sharma, and Venkata Mrudula Bhimavarapu
Horizon Research Publishing Co., Ltd.
UPI (Unified Payment Interface) platform has been used especially in India since 2016. This paper is aimed at exploring how UPI is impacting, financial literacy, financial inclusion and the economic development of the poor in India. Structured equation modelling is applied in the paper to explore the path analysis of the relevant construct to establish the relationship. A structured questionnaire of interval scale was administered to gather the data for the study. It is found that UPI is impacting the financial literacy. In addition to that, it is found that financial literacy is significantly impacting financial inclusion which in turn is significantly causing economic development. Moreover, the significant association of financial literacy to financial inclusion is partially mediated by financial stability and the significant association of financial inclusion to economic development is also partially mediated by trust. The main implication of the study is that UPI is helping people in more than one way. It is not only supporting the financial literacy but also contributing to financial inclusion and economic development of the poor, indirectly. Therefore, policy makers can use the findings of this study to frame policies for UPI more effectively in the future. This study is unique as no other study is observed on the linkage of UPI with financial literacy, financial inclusion and economic development of the poor.