An analysis of mergers in the private corporate sector in India

The liberalised economic policies have exposed Indian industry to several challenges. In response to this, the Indian economy has witnessed a sharp increase in mergers and acquisitions. An attempt has been made in this paper to analyse the significance of such mergers and its characteristics. The study suggests that acceleration of the merger movement in the early 1990s is accompanied by the dominance of mergers between firms belonging to same business group or house with similar product lines. So it is argued that though the merger movement in the early 1990s might have contributed to an increase in product or asset concentration measured on a firm-wise basis, it could not have contributed to an increase in concentration as measured by relative shares of business groups. But, there are signs that mergers between unrelated firms, though numerically less significant, have been gaining ground. This is especially true of mergers involving foreign-owned firms. The participation of foreign-controlled firms in the merger process has increased significantly since 1992-93. However it is evident that mergers contributed significantly to asset-growth in only one fifth of the sample firms studied. Most of these firms mobilised a large share of resources through capital markets, to finance their expansion during 1989-90 to 1994-95. Therefore the study argues that the merger wave in the early 1990s was more a means of internal restructuring rather than an instrument to further product market or asset share. JEL Classification : D43, G34, L41 Key Words: mergers and acquisitions; horizontal merger, vertical merger, conglomeration, private corporate sector, Indi

Financing pattern of Indian corporate sector under liberalisation : with focus on acquiring firms abroad

Indian corporate sector has experienced a paradigm shift over the last two decades with the initiation of certain measures of financial liberalisation. As a result of these policy changes, the ratio of Indian FDI outflows to Indian FDI inflows has increased significantly since 2000. An increasing trend in the purchases of firms or assets abroad is also observed since 2000, for various reasons. Against this background, an attempt has been made in this paper to analyse the financing pattern of Indian corporate sector during 1990-2009. This paper further seeks to identify the pattern of resource mobilisation of Indian firms acquiring firms abroad. Indian private corporate sector mobilised large share of resources through external sources although there is an increasing trend in the share of internal financing since 2000. Borrowings are the major source of external financing. Share of resources mobilised through capital market has sharply declined since mid-1990s. A similar trend is observed in case of the selected industries as well. Indian acquiring firms mobilised large funds through external sources although the share of retained profit was quite substantial unlike in case of the manufacturing sector. They could also consistently raise resources through capital market throughout our study period. However, borrowings constituted the major contributor to external financing. These firms were also raising resources from abroad and therefore we could argue that it is not primarily their financial muscles which enable firms to engage in acquisitions abroad. Revenue foregone through various tax concessions is still found to be a major source of corporate growth during liberalisation period. The paper argues that the pecking order theorem does not seem to be applicable in case of the Indian manufacturing sector. Further, we conclude that, although stock market development is expected to lower the cost of capital for Indian corporations, it has not played a major role as far as the actual resource mobilisation of the Indian manufacturing sector is concerned. Finally, we argue that regulation by the State through measures of corporate governance is important in order to create conditions for a desirable path of growth and development. Key Words: Capital and Ownership Structure; M&As; Corporate Governance. JEL Classification: G32, G34, G3

DINACHARYA MODALITIES - A REVIEW ON EVIDENCE BASED RESEARCH W. S. R TO ORAL HYGIENE

Ayurveda recognizes oral cavity as one of the nine openings of physical body and also stressed that these openings are full of blemishes with their secretions throughout day and night, hence it suggests cleaning these openings frequently and regularly. Oral cavity being the chief entrance of the main gateway, as it were to the body, should be kept healthy from the attack of enemies of health. Ayurveda prescribes Dinacharya modalities like brushing the tooth (Dantadhavana), gargling (Kavala and Gandoosha) to keep up the health of the oral cavity, prevention and treatment of diseases of the oral cavity. Researchers have shown that all kinds of chewing sticks (Dantadhavanakashta) and gargling especially with sesame oil (oil pulling) described in Ayurveda texts have anti- plaque and antimicrobial activity thus promote oral hygiene. Use of safe, quality products and practice must be ensured, based on available evidence and traditional medicine has to be acknowledged as part of primary health care. It is also required to ensure patient safety by upgrading the skills and knowledge of the traditional medicine providers. Scientific validation of the Ayurveda oral health practices given above could justify their incorporation in to modern oral health care. Publicity of these techniques using appropriate media would benefit the general population by giving more confidence in ancient practices, thus preventing the decay and loss. The preparation of standard protocol for implementation of these modalities in the community is need of the hour

Wetting Characteristics of Oleate Monolayers Adsorbed at Calcium Mineral Surfaces:a Molecuar Dynamics Study

In this paper we present our Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations results on the wettability characteristics of the surfaces of three calcium minerals namely, fluorite, calcite and fluorapatite with an adsorbed oleate monolayer in the presence of water. The contact angle of water on these oleate-adsorbed mineral surfaces are computed and compared with experimental values available in the literature. The modeled adsorbed oleate monolayers on calcite (104), fluorite 11 1 1 ) and fluoroapatite (100) are packed so as to achieve the most favorable configuration, that is, 100%, 67% and 75% packing respectively

Prevalence of intestinal parasites among patients of a tertiary hospital in Ambala city, Haryana, India

Background: Intestinal parasitic infestation is major public health problem in the world. Gastrointestinal (GI) protozoa and helminthes flourish in settings characterized by warm temperatures, humidity, poor sanitation, dirty water, and substandard and crowded housing. Various sanitation programmes are launched in India from time to time. Our present study was conducted to know the prevalence of Intestinal parasitism among patients with gastrointestinal symptoms in rural area surrounding Mullana, Ambala, Haryana, India; which will tell us about the effect of these sanitation programmes in this area.Methods: The present study was conducted between November 2010 to August 2012 in the Department of Microbiology, Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Mullana, Ambala, Haryana. Specimen was stool of the patient. The study was conducted on 500 consecutive stool samples received in the Department of Microbiology and processed as per departmental protocol.Results: Total of 500 consecutive stool samples were processed within a period of 21 months (November 2010 to August 2012). The overall prevalence of intestinal parasite infections was 7.8%. Giardia lamblia 12 (30.76) was the most common parasite followed by E. histolytica 7(17.9) among protozoa and H.nana 4(10.25) followed by Ascaris lumbricoids 3(7.69) among helminths.Conclusions: The decrease in prevalence of intestinal parasites especially in soil-transmitted helminths in patients attending hospital evidences the success of sanitation programmes, health education, improved sanitation and a healthy lifestyle.

A Survey on Color Normalization Approach to Histopathology Images

The requirement of high-speed data for various forms of application is increasing rapidly. Power Line communication (PLC), a technology which uses the existing power line network as a transmission medium, is a choice for this provision, owing to the ready presence of the medium. This channel (power line), is severely bewitched by noise and attenuation owing to the branches, length and the load connection on the line. Cooperative relaying, which transmits the same information through several nodes is deployed in this paper to combat the data outages caused by the channel's characteristics. Amplify-and-forward and decode-and-forward were the cooperative protocols deployed.The outage probability of each of the protocols were obtained, analysed and compared with the conventional direct link (without cooperation). Results shows that outage probability was drastically reduced on the cooperative links. The performances of the two cooperative links were close due to the noise mitigating circuit incorporated.This achievement in outage probability performance enhances the reliability of the PLC system

Surface and Flotation Characteristics of Spodumene:A Molecular Modeling Approach

Surface characteristics of spodumene [LiAl(SiO3)27 and aluminosilicates (feldspar [KA1Si3041 and muscovite IK2A14(A1257602a)(01-00 are modeled using molecular simulations. Surface energies are computed for various cleavage planes of these minerals and compared with those measured experi-mentally. Adsorption mechanisms of oleate collector on spodumene in the selective flotation of spodumene from these aluminosilicates are studied using molecular model-ing methods. Further, the wettability characteristics of spodumene are quantified by computing the contact angle of a drop of water on the adsorbed oleate layer. These simul-ated computed contact angles are compared with those measured experimentally

Enhancing peptide antigenicity by helix stabilization

AbstractThe engineering of antigenic determinants on super secondary structures using de novo design approaches often involves synthesis of long peptide chains (35–80 residues long). This communication illustrates that the stabilization of secondary structure by rational design can also greatly enhance immunogenicity and antigenicity, but in much shorter peptide sequences (21 residues long). A peptide epitope the sequence of which has been derived from the C-terminus of the chicken riboflavin carrier protein (cRCP), H2N-Tyr-His-Ala-Cys-Gln-Lys-Lys-Leu-Leu- Lys-Phe-Glu-Ala-Leu-Gln-Gln-Glu-Glu-Gly-Gly-Glu-Glu-OH, has been chosen for analysis. Helical conformations were induced in the peptide in aqueous trifluoroethanol. Analogs were designed to stabilize this conformation in water by either the introduction of appropriately spaced ion pairs or the strongly helix nucleating residue α-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib), substituted for Ala/Gly, thus affording a comparison of the helix stabilization strategies. Circular dichroism (CD) results demonstrate that all the designed analogs are appreciably more helical than the parent peptide in 50% aqueous trifluoroethanol. Peptide antisera were raised for all analogs in rabbits. The affinities of these antisera for the native protein antigen, determined using a chaotrope disrupted binding assay, correlated very well with the helix content determined by CD