Journal Press India^®

Editorial

This issue of PRAGATI discusses pertinent aspects related to both traditional and non-traditional sectors of the Indian economy. The first paper that I would like to introduce is ‘Performance evaluation of the microfinance sector in India and its neighboring countries: A Comparative Analysis’ by Ms. Kanishka Sethi, Prof. Reshma Nasreen and Dr. Matloobullah Khan, from Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. The objective of this paper is to analyse and compare the performance of the microfinance sector in six South Asian countries namely Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Fixed effects panel data estimations shows that significant difference in performance has been witnessed on all 14 parameters of performance.  Bangladesh bags the first position closely followed by India while Afghanistan ranks last.

Another paper entitled ‘Smartphone, internet and digitalization in India: An exploratory analysis, by Prof. Debabrata Mukhopadhyay and Dr. Arun Kumar Mandal from West Bengal State University dwells on the changing face of Indian smartphone market in the era of internet and digitization being recently observed in the Indian consumer durables market. This study also establishes that smartphones are increasing more rapidly compared to mobile phone market.

The paper on ‘Cost-benefit analysis across different landholding size of contract farming: An empirical study for select districts in Karnataka’ by Dr. Harish, N. from Adarsha PU College, Bengaluru concludes, that small, marginal, and medium farmer respondent’s income has increased after joining contract farming, because it gives assured price to crops and market.

‘Evolution of institutional environment in India: Formal and informal institutions’, by Ms. Shilpa Garg, of Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, tries to identify various elements of formal and informal institutions and then analyse the evolution of overall institutional environment in India.

Another paper on ‘Channelizing wage from MGNREGA into farmers’ insurance schemes: A lesson from farmers in Kakching District, Manipur’, written by Dr. Mayengbam Lalit Singh, of KHA Manipur College, speaks of how farmers are lacking in their investments which should be channelized into health and crop insurance. There is possibility of channelizing wage from MGNREAGA into various insurance schemes to achieve social welfare goal of farmers in the country the paper concludes.

The next paper is on ‘Comparative financial performance of selected oil refineries in India: A study during the period 2005-2018’ by Prof. Partha Ghosh of George College of Management & Science, Kolkata. The paper makes an attempt to provide an insight into the comparative financial performance between two selected oil refineries in India.

‘An analysis of employment growth in Maharashtra’ by Mr. Gorkhnath Uttekar and Dr. Prakash Salvi, from Mumbai School of Economics, observed that during 1961 to 2011 the employment structure has shifted from the agricultural and allied activities to non-agricultural activities.

We sincerely hope that our readers find this issue of PRAGATI interesting and insightful.

Happy reading and Happy New Year!

Prof. K. V. Bhanu Murthy

         Editor