The Most Alluring Future Destination For Foreign Direct Investments: A Case Study Of India.

Nearly two decades of economic liberalization, coupled with robust domestic demand, an emerging middle class, a young population, a high return on investment , cost competitiveness and an epic pool of talent endures to transform India as one of the most preferred destinations for FDI. India’s domestic demand-driven growth model is playing a catalyst role in enticing FDIs in the country. India is now transitioning into the next phase of the growth cycle where manufacturing might play a leading role in determining its growth trajectory. During 2007-11, India’s Top Five FDI Destinations (i.e. Bangalore, New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Chennai) enticed 1826 FDI projects creating above 378,548 jobs. We have enough evidence to comprehend that India is the next most alluring destination for FDIs. Hence, it is evident that India is the future Destination for FDIs. Keywords: India, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Domestic Demand-Driven Growth, India’s Top Five FDI Destinations, Information Technology (IT), Case Study of India

Over-Indebtedness of Rural Micro-credit Financing in Bahawalpur: An Impediment to their Social & Financial Mobility

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of micro-credit finance on over-indebtedness and social & financial mobility of micro-credit finance participants. The objectives of this research is to investigate that micro-credit finance participation leads to over-indebtedness of micro-credit finance and over-indebtedness of micro-credit finance effect the social and financial mobility of micro-credit finance participants. The study also investigates the role of women participation in those financial decisions through which over-indebtedness exist. The study is quantitative and the research design is explanatory in nature. The data was collected from 266 current and ex-micro-credit finance participants through questionnaire and interview were also conducted in order to facilitate respondents. The data was analyzed through different statistical software I.e. Microsoft Excel and SPSS. The findings of the study indicate that micro-credit finance participants experience over-indebtedness by participation in micro-credit finance program but it does not affect the social and financial mobility of micro-credit finance participants. It also evaluate that women involvement has weak mediating relation with over-indebtedness and financial mobility. This study has important implications because it provides insights regarding over-indebtedness of micro-credit finance participants that effects their social & financial mobility. This study also helps policy makers in formulating new regulations in the area of micro-credit finance sector in Pakistan. The new policies may target the aspect of over-indebtedness among micro-credit participants in future

Factors Affecting Bankers’ Behavioral Intention to Adopt Green Banking: An Empirical Analysis of Banks in Pakistan

The global temperature has reached its highest level since the start of the industrial revolution, which is the major cause of global warming. Global warming has become one of the gravest problem now a days as it has considerable influences over markets, societies and economies. For sustainable environment management, remarkable efforts are carried out across the world and every institution is playing its role towards minimizing its impact on the environment. From financial institutions, banking sector is playing an important role in this regard. Banking sector has introduced a concept of Green Banking (GB). State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has recently issued guidelines regarding the adoption of green banking. This study attempts to identify the factors which affect bankers’ intension to adopt green banking. This study would prove to be helpful in identifying the most influencing factors towards adoption of green banking practices and in developing policies towards its adoption in Pakistan. Structured questionnaire based on a 7 point Likert scale as used for data collection from a sample of 300 respondents. Regression analysis was used to check the association among the variables. The result of study shows that all independent variables of study have shown significant association with dependent variable. Which means to some extent every independent factor is playing role in affecting bankers’ behavioral intension to adopt green banking. Result shows that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use contribute more in predicting the Attitude toward use, which along with effort expectancy and performance expectancy are major contributing factors towards behavioral intention to adopt green banking practices

Dairy Industry of Pakistan

The livestock sector alone contributes 11% of Pakistan’s GDP, with an estimated 42 billion litres of milk produced per annum. Economic Survey of Pakistan 2009 assertions that Pakistan has a herd size of around 63 million animals – the 3rd largest in the world. After witnessing all the issues regarding the dairy industry of Pakistan, it can be concluded that the dairy industry possesses potential of growth and is very important from economic perspective. The major problem with dairy farming in Pakistan is the low milk yields of Pakistani cattle and buffaloes. This low production potential of Pakistani animals is mainly attributable to a few clearly identifiable issues such as lack of a systematic national breed improvement program, lack of availability of good quality fodder and nutrients and poor farm management practices. On average a dairy animal in Pakistan yields 6-8 times less milk than a dairy animal of the developed world. So Pakistan needs to have a coordinated and integrated strategy/approach beginning from enhancing per animal productivity, going straight to milk procedures/procurement and minimize the wastage. Keywords: Dairy Industry, Pakistan, Milk, Productivity, per animal productivity, livestock, farm management practice

Nation Branding: Ghana

Akwaaba – welcome to Ghana, also referred to as "island of peace" in one of the most chaotic regions on earth. Ghana is usually known as “Gold Coast” due to large gold deposits in the southern parts of the country. The Ghana as a relatively new nation has not developed extensive symbols. If successful the branding of Ghana would allow the country to flourish at an incredible rate. The nation branding of Ghana can be done from its Coat of arms which represents the most distinctive emblems originated from nationalist movement. The key elements considered while branding Ghana are Gold, Cocoa, Oil and Volta Lake. Ghana is rich mineral resources such as gold, diamonds, manganese, limestone, bauxite, iron ore as well as various clays and granite deposits. Despite of all the advantages of Ghana, the branding is not so successful because Ghana is deprived of any international brands, which provide a success guide framework to emerging brands. The main impediment is the fact that Ghana cannot be separated from the negative image of 'brand' Africa. Keywords: Nation Branding, Ghana, Africa, Business, Gold, Cocoa, Oil, Volta Lak

An Empirical Study on the Impact of Micro-Credit Financing on the Socio-Economic Status of Small Agriculturists in Pakistan

This study empirically studies the impacts of micro-credit finance on the socio-economic status of small agriculturists in Pakistan. Little research has been conducted in this area in Pakistan. The data was gathered from 693 micro-credit finance participants and non-participants, at a 2 to 3 ratio, through an adapted questionnaire from the 8-clusters out of 12 clusters of 36 districts of Punjab using the cluster sampling technique. A survey was organized to perform the investigation in which two close-ended structured questionnaires were developed to collect data from the small agriculturists who owned less than twelve and a half acres of land. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the results of the study. Various statistical tests, such as EFA, SEM, KMO, ANOVA tests, etc., were used to test the expected hypothesis of the study and to confirm the affinity among variables. This research revealed that micro-credit finance has performed a positive role in developing the socio-economic status of small agriculturists after obtaining the micro-credit finance. The study indicated that micro-credit finance has played a significant role in changing and developing the socio-economic status of the respondents. Participation of small agriculturists enables the poor masses of rural areas to eradicate poverty in rural areas to enhance their living standards and to strengthen their financial conditions. The end results of the study revealed that most small agriculturists were taking benefits from micro-credit lending schemes. They also improved their socio-economic status and mitigated poverty. The findings of the study provide profound insight and should be helpful to regulators, policy makers, managers, microfinance institutions, government authorities, and all other stakeholders

Impact of Perceived Corporate Social Responsibility on Banks’ Financial Performance and the Mediating Role of Employees’ Satisfaction and Loyalty in Pakistan

Inspired by the global increase in awareness of corporate social responsibility (CSR), this paper is an attempt to explore the influence of CSR on bank employees’ satisfaction and loyalty and banks’ financial performance. It was assumed there could be differences in the perception of CSR among employees toward the CSR initiatives being undertaken by the banks they work for. Employees’ level of awareness and extent of involvement with various CSR activities could affect their satisfaction and loyalty. This study used regression analysis for hypothesis testing. Its findings reveal that CSR positively affects employee satisfaction and loyalty as well as banks’ financial performance; employee satisfaction positively affects employee loyalty; and employee loyalty positively affects banks’ financial performance. Hence, bank management should focus on CSR from the perspective of employees to contribute to employee satisfaction and loyalty, and ultimately, to enhanced financial performance. Suggestions and inferences for future research and banking sector practices are suggested based on these results

Political Stability and the Resolve to Save: The Case of Pakistan

Savings is potential solution to consume the scarce resources in an efficient way, which helps large scale production, improved productivity of the labor and result in increased economic development. The purpose of this study is to examine how macroeconomic indicators like GDP growth rate, income, inflation rate and interest rate affect gross national savings rate of Pakistan and how political stability influence the relationship between these four macroeconomic indicators and savings rate. Using 10 years macroeconomic data of Pakistan from year 2006-2015, multiple regression analysis technique was run and  it was found that all four macroeconomic indicators significantly affects the savings rate. Income appeared to be strongest predictor in causing an increase in the savings rate. Although GDP found to be have an inverse relationship with savings rate. Political stability appeared to be non-significant in influencing the relationship between macroeconomic factors and savings rate

Design of Event-Triggered Asynchronous H∞ Filter for Switched Systems Using the Sampled-Data Approach

The design of networked switched systems with event-based communication is attractive due to its potential to save bandwidth and energy. However, ensuring the stability and performance of networked systems with event-triggered communication and asynchronous switching is challenging due to their time-varying nature. This paper presents a novel sampled-data approach to design event-triggered asynchronous H∞ filters for networked switched systems. Unlike most existing event-based filtering results, which either design the event-triggering scheme only or co-design the event-triggering condition and the filter, we consider that the event-triggering policy is predefined and synthesize the filter. We model the estimation error system as an event-triggered switched system with time delay and non-uniform sampling. By implementing a delay-dependent multiple Lyapunov method, we derive sufficient conditions to ensure the global asymptotic stability of the filtering error system and an H∞ performance level. The efficacy of the proposed design technique and the superiority of the filter performance is illustrated by numerical examples and by comparing the performance with a recent result

Role of Fintech Innovation in Financial Inclusion: Avoiding Vulnerability of Cybercrime and Backwardness

Fintech plays a vital role in the financial industry as it has experienced tremendous growth in the last decade and more importantly, services sector is shifting towards digitalization. Financial inclusion particularly contributes to the economic and social well-being of the country. This study provides insight into fintech and financial inclusion by addressing vulnerability, including cybercrime and backwardness, to explain their impact on individual and societal well-being using the PLS-SEM analysis technique. The findings of the study explore that Fintech has significantly affected financial inclusion which is positively associated with individual and societal well-being. Moreover, the study suggests that vulnerability (cybercrime and backwardness) does not moderate societal and individual well-being. An explanatory cross-sectional study is conducted to investigate the role of fintech innovation in financial inclusion avoiding the vulnerability of cybercrime and backwardness. Applying a simple random sampling technique with a sample size of 514 respondents, primary data is collected through self-administered survey questionnaires. The PLS-SEM approach is used to test the study's theoretical framework. Empirical results of the research support the proposed hypothesis by determining the significant influence of financial inclusion on individual and societal well-being, fintech and financial inclusion, and vulnerability to individual and societal well-being. &nbsp