Total Factor Productivity and Energy Intensity in Indian Manufacturing: A Cross-Sectional Study

The objective of the paper is to estimate the transcendental logarithmic production function and further study the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) of Indian manufacturing industries. The estimation of TFP is based on four inputs model, where apart from labour and capital, material and energy are the other two inputs. The findings of the paper suggest that labour and material inputs play major role as compared to the capital and energy input. Age of the firm, ownership, energy intensity, embodied and disembodied technology imports, research and development and exports were considered as the possible determinants of the TFP in the second stage regression. The finding of the estimates suggest that age of the firm, export intensity and disembodied technology import are positively related to the TFP, where ownership, energy intensity, embodied technology import and R&D intensity are negatively related to the TFP of the firms for Indian manufacturing. Keywords: Production function; Total Factor Productivity; Energy Intensity; Indian Manufacturing Industries JEL Classifications: B3; D24; Q

Environmental Certification and Technical Efficiency: A Study of Manufacturing Firms in India

Obtaining ISO certification has become a status symbol for adopting environmentally benign practices for the corporate sector in emerging economies. Such certification can help improve the global visibility of firms and is mandated in international trade. This paper attempts to examine the impact of such certifications on technical efficiency of firms belonging to the manufacturing sector in India. In analysing the impact of ISO Certification on technical efficiency, this paper uses data from the CMIE Prowess for the period 2007-2012. In the first step, the paper estimates technical efficiency for the sample firms and then examines the determinants of inter-firm differences in technical efficiency using firm specific characteristics. The results of this study conclude that there are substantial inter-firm differences in technical efficiency and they are systematically different based on firm age, firm size, debt capital, MNE affiliation, and ISO certification. ISO certification, especially maintaining the standards associated with it, turned out to be an important factor in making the firms achieve higher technical efficiency. In addition, the results of this study also confirms that firms that are ISO certified and doing R&D are better off in technical efficiency as compared to the others

Environmental Certification and Technical Efficiency: A Study of Manufacturing Firms in India

Obtaining ISO certification has become a status symbol for adopting environmentally benign practices for the corporate sector in emerging economies. Such certification can help improve the global visibility of firms and is mandated in international trade. This paper attempts to examine the impact of such certifications on technical efficiency of firms belonging to the manufacturing sector in India. In analysing the impact of ISO Certification on technical efficiency, this paper uses data from the CMIE Prowess for the period 2007-2012. In the first step, the paper estimates technical efficiency for the sample firms and then examines the determinants of inter-firm differences in technical efficiency using firm specific characteristics. The results of this study conclude that there are substantial inter-firm differences in technical efficiency and they are systematically different based on firm age, firm size, debt capital, MNE affiliation, and ISO certification. ISO certification, especially maintaining the standards associated with it, turned out to be an important factor in making the firms achieve higher technical efficiency. In addition, the results of this study also confirms that firms that are ISO certified and doing R&D are better off in technical efficiency as compared to the others

Histidylated lipid-modified sendai viral envelopes mediate enhanced membrane fusion and potentiate targeted gene delivery

Recent studies have demonstrated that covalent grafting of a single histidine residue into a twin-chain aliphatic hydrocarbon compound enhances its endosome-disrupting properties and thereby generates an excellent DNA transfection system. Significant increase in gene delivery efficiencies has thus been obtained by using endosome-disrupting multiple histidine functionalities in the molecular architecture of various cationic polymers. To take advantage of this unique feature, we have incorporated L-histidine (N,N-di-n-hexadecylamine) ethylamide (L(H)) in the membrane of hepatocyte-specific Sendai virosomes containing only the fusion protein (F-virosomes (Process for Producing a Targeted Gene (Sarkar, D. P., Ramani, K., Bora, R. S., Kumar, M., and Tyagi, S. K. (November 4, 1997) U. S. Patent 5,683,866))). Such L(H)-modified virosomal envelopes were four times more (p <0.001) active in terms of fusion with its target cell membrane. On the other hand, the presence of L(H) in reconstituted influenza and vesicular stomatitis virus envelopes failed to enhance spike glycoprotein-induced membrane fusion with host cell membrane. Circular dichroism and limited proteolysis experiments with F-virosomes indicated that the presence of L(H) leads to conformational changes in the F protein. The molecular mechanism associated with the increased membrane fusion induced by L(H) has been addressed in the light of fusion-competent conformational change in F protein. Such enhancement of fusion resulted in a highly efficient gene delivery system specific for liver cells in culture and in whole animals

Nations within a nation: variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India, 1990–2016 in the Global Burden of Disease Study

18% of the world's population lives in India, and many states of India have populations similar to those of large countries. Action to effectively improve population health in India requires availability of reliable and comprehensive state-level estimates of disease burden and risk factors over time. Such comprehensive estimates have not been available so far for all major diseases and risk factors. Thus, we aimed to estimate the disease burden and risk factors in every state of India as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2016

Determinants of Energy Intensity in Indian Manufacturing Industries: A Firm Level Analysis

The demand for energy; particularly for commercial purposes, has been growing rapidly with growth of the economy, changes in the demographic structure, rising urbanization, socio-economic development, and the desire for attaining and sustaining self-reliance in some sectors of the economy. Energy intensity of Indian industries is among the highest in the world and specifically the Indian manufacturing sector is the largest consumer of energy sources. This study attempts to analyze the determinants of energy intensity of Indian manufacturing firms using data from the PROWESS database of the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) for the period 2000-2008. The results of the econometric analysis suggest a non-linear (U shape) relationship between energy intensity and firm size, implying that both very large and very small firms tend to be more energy intensive as compared to the medium size firms. The analysis also highlights that, foreign owned firms are less energy intensive as compared to the domestic firms. Further, technology imports are found to be important in contributing to the decline firmlevel energy intensity. The paper also identifies that there is a sizable difference in energy intensity between energy intensive firms and others. In addition, the result also shows that younger firms are more energy efficient as compared to the older firms