Operation of FDI caps in India and corporate control mechanisms

While India has generally been following an open door FDI policy, a few areas are still subject to caps on FDI and/or specific government approval. One of the justifications for the same is the need to retain a degree of control over the operations of the investee companies in Indian hands. Earlier this year, the government specified the methodology for calculating direct and indirect foreign equity in Indian companies in order to remove ambiguities in calculating the extent of FDI in a company. Based on empirical evidence this paper argues that percentage of shares or proportion of directors do not necessarily represent the extent of control and more direct intervention would be required if the objectives of imposing the caps are to be achieved.FDI; corporate control, veto powers, India, joint control, joint ventures, corporate governance

Formation of Porous Silicon through the nanosized Pores of an Anodized Alumina Template

This letter demonstrates the ability to fabricate porous silicon through the nanoscale pores of an anodized alumina template formed on a silicon substrate. The alumina template acts as a protective coating on the porous silicon surface increasing its mechanical integrity, thus eliminating the need for delicate handling that is usually required for this material system. The optical properties of the porous silicon formed through the template show characteristics similar to that of normally formed porous silicon. In addition, the porous siliconoptical properties show very little degradation with time; the alumina coating is believed to contribute to this improved stability. The results are significant and can increase the likelihood of commercial applications of this material

On the role of twisted statistics in the noncommutative degenerate electron gas

We consider the problem of a degenerate electron gas in the background of a uniformly distributed positive charge, ensuring overall neutrality of the system, in the presence of non-commutativity. In contrast to previous calculations that did not include twisted statistics, we find corrections to the ground state energy already at first order in perturbation theory when the twisted statistics is taken into account. These corrections arise since the interaction energy is sensitive to two particle correlations, which are modified for twisted anti-commutation relations

X-ray variability of GRS 1915+105 during the low-hard state observed with the Indian X-ray astronomy experiment (IXAE)

The galactic superluminal transient X-ray source GRS 1915+105 was observed with the pointed proportional counters (PPCs) onboard the Indian satellite IRS-P3 during 1996 July 23-27. We report here details of the behavior of this source during the relatively quiet and low luminosity state. Large intensity variations by a factor of 2 to 3, generally seen in black-hole candidates, are observed at a time scale of 100 ms to few seconds. No significant variation is detected over larger time scale of minute or more. The intensity variations are described as sum of shots in the light curve, and the number distribution of the shots are found to be exponential function of the fluence and duration of the shots. The cross correlation spectrum between 6-18 keV and 2-6 keV X-rays is found to have asymmetry signifying a delay of the hard X-rays by about 0.2 to 0.4 sec. This supports the idea of hard X-rays being generated by Compton up-scattering from high energy clouds near the source of soft X-rays. Very strong and narrow quasi periodic oscillations in the frequency range 0.62 to 0.82 Hz are observed. We discuss about a model which explains a gradual change in the QPO frequencies with corresponding changes in the mass accretion rate of the disk.Comment: 14 pages including 6 figures. To appear in Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Serie

Prediction of Liquefaction Potential for Kolkata Region by Semi-Empirical Method

The present study was carried out to propose a relationship between shear wave velocity and N-value for the deltaic region of Kolkata. The relationship was derived from shear wave velocity determined from Cross-Hole test and SPT carried out at Rajarhat, Kolkata. The derived relationship was applied to evaluate the liquefaction susceptibility in terns of factor of safety against liquefaction for the subsoil deposits explored at Rajarhat, Kolkata area and the factor of safety obtained from the derived correlations was compared with those determined from Seed & Idriss (1971) and Andrus and Stokoe (2000). The shear wave velocity method (Andrus & Stokoe, 2000) of evaluating liquefaction potential of cohesionless soil produces lower factor of safety than the method based on SPT as proposed by Seed & Idriss (1971). The liquefiable zone was identified down to about 15m below GL beyond which the subsoil was found not to be liquefaction prone

Coronal Elemental Abundances during A-class Solar Flares Observed by Chandrayaan-2 XSM

The abundances of low First Ionisation Potential (FIP) elements are three to four times higher (FIP bias) in the closed loop active corona than in the photosphere, known as the FIP effect. Observations suggest that the abundances vary in different coronal structures. Here, we use the soft X-ray spectroscopic measurements from the Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) on board the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter to study the FIP effect in multiple A-class flares observed during the minimum of solar cycle 24. Using time-integrated spectral analysis, we derive the average temperature, emission measure, and the abundances of four elements - Mg, Al, Si, and S. We find that the temperature and emission measure scales with the flares sub-class while the measured abundances show an intermediate FIP bias for the lower A-flares (e.g., A1), while for the higher A-flares, the FIP bias is near unity. To investigate it further, we perform a time-resolved spectral analysis for a sample of the A-class flares and examine the evolution of temperature, emission measure, and abundances. We find that the abundances drop from the coronal values towards their photospheric values in the impulsive phase of the flares, and after the impulsive phase, they quickly return to the usual coronal values. The transition of the abundances from the coronal to photospheric values in the impulsive phase of the flares indicates the injection of fresh unfractionated material from the lower solar atmosphere to the corona due to chromospheric evaporation. However, explaining the quick recovery of the abundances from the photospheric to coronal values in the decay phase of the flare is challenging.Comment: Accepted for publication in 'Solar Physics

Technical efficiency of shrimp farming in coastal Maharashtra: A production function approach

Technical efficiency of shrimp farming in coastal Maharashtra: A production function approac

Scaling ansatz, four zero Yukawa textures and large θ13\theta_{13}

We investigate 'Scaling ansatz' in the neutrino sector within the framework of type I seesaw mechanism with diagonal charged lepton and right handed Majorana neutrino mass matrices ($M_R$). We also assume four zero texture of Dirac neutrino mass matrices ($m_D$) which severely constrain the phenomenological outcomes of such scheme. Scaling ansatz and the present neutrino data allow only Six such matrices out of 126 four zero Yukawa matrices. In this scheme, in order to generate large $\theta_{13}$ we break scaling ansatz in $m_D$ through a perturbation parameter and we also show our breaking scheme is radiatively stable. We further investigate CP violation and baryogenesis via leptogenesis in those surviving textures.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.