The impressive growth profile of the tourism sector observed over the last two decades appears to be continuing.Tourism has become a major and integral part of economic, social, cultural and physical development in all the developing countries. The developing countries, in particular, promote tourism as a means of generating foreign exchange, increasing employment opportunities, attracting development capital, increasing government revenue and enhancing economic independence. Apart from being an instrument for generating employment opportunities, tourism has significant linkages with several other sectors like agriculture, horticulture, poultry, handicrafts, and construction and so on. Hence it generates more inclusive growth than other sectors. Tourism is defined as a journey by the tourist on his free will, and in search of enjoyment. Punjab has very attractive heritage sites and religious places, which attract both domestic and foreign tourists and has significant potential for becoming a major global tourist destination. Golden Temple, Amritsar has become internationally famous and popular among the tourists and is being recommended to UNESCO for World Heritage Monument Status. In this context, the problems and prospects of rural tourism in Indian economy is the thrust area of the present study. Keywords: Rural Tourism, Punjab, opportunities, problems.

Amid the previous couple of decades service quality has turned into a significant range of consideration regarding specialists, managers and analysts. It has solid effect on business execution, lower expenses, consumer loyalty, client satisfaction and productivity. This study pointed at assessing of retail service quality measurements at retail locations in Jaipur. The reason for this study was to discover how customer sees the general retail benefit quality in a retail store. The three stores that have been selected for study are SHOPPERS STOP, CENTRAL and LIFESTYLE in Jaipur. A survey of 120 customers visiting these stores in Jaipur was taken to evaluate the retail service quality according to Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS) which composes of 6 dimensions namely Physical Look, Convenience, Reliability, Personal Interaction, Problem Solving Solution, and General Policy. The analysis part includes multivariate test of variance, reliability test and descriptive analysis. The multivariate test of variance or MANOVA was mainly presenting item-wise correlations between the two stores. The reliability analysis was done to find out whether the selected dimension or scales are reliable or not. The descriptive analysis was mainly presenting the viability and efficiency answered by the customers for the general conclusions. The findings are that the respondents were more satisfied with LIFESTYLE, CENTRAL in reference to all the dimensions of service quality as compared to SHOPPERS STOP. Consumer's perception of service quality was significant in all dimensions, the stores selection helped in interpreting the customer's perceptions towards the retail stores in Jaipur. Keywords: Service Quality, Retail Service Quality, RSQS, Retail stores, Jaipur.

Biscuits Industry in India is the largest among all the food industries. India is known to be the second largest manufacturer of biscuits after USA. Biscuit is a hygienically packaged nutritious snack food available at very competitive prices, volumes and different tastes. Rising incidence of health conditions, growing media coverage on health, increasing concerns over physical appearance, changing lifestyle and soaring costs of healthcare have led the biscuits and cookies market to move towards a healthier path.Considering the demand and potential for nutritious biscuits, the present study checks upon the consumption and buying pattern of biscuits among the users in Gandhinagar city. The research discovered that the respondents are willing to change over to healthier variant of biscuits. They appreciate the benefits attached with consumption of biscuits made from other than white refined flour. The findings of the study could be considered by the existing players and the new entrepreneurs to launch such nutritious biscuits in future. Key Words: Nutritious, Biscuits, Processed Food, Consumption Pattern, Snack Item JEL Classification: C91

Purpose: This research is an empirical study within the field of management, focused upon restructures the dimension of Servqual in banking service through factor analyses in Indian context. Methodology: It is solely based upon data research which includes quantitative and deductive reasoning. The data for the study collected from the primary as well as secondary sources, with the help of questionnaire. Data was collected from 309 banking customers located in different cities of Rajasthan. Statistical tools such as Karl Pearson's Coefficient of Correlation, Principal Component Analysis, The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Measure of Sampling Adequacy test, Bartlett's sphericity test, Chi-square, Cronbach's alpha test of Reliability and Factor Analysis was used to test the hypothetical relationships among variables. Findings: This study reveals five different dimensions from the original Servqual scale. Modified Servqual therefore is a recommended instrument for future research when measuring banking service quality In Indian context as it specifically addressed the multidimensional character of banking service in Indian context. Research Implications: The findings from this study provide important information that can be used in the future research on service quality in banking arena by the industry, researchers and academia. Key Words: - Servqual, Service Quality, Expectation, Perception, Indian Context

The main purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of leadership style (Transactional/ Transformational) on employee engagement. Survey was conducted among 55 subjects in a beverages company using questionnaire. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, developed by Schaufeli et al. (2002) was used to measure employee engagement. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass, Avolio, 2000) was used to measure leadership style. The data collected was analyzed using various statistical tools – Mean, Correlation, Regression and Chi-square test with the help of SPSS. The findings revealed that there is significant positive correlation between transactional leadership and employee engagement as well as between transformational leadership and employee engagement. It is also found that transformational leadership is a better predictor of employee engagement when compared to transactional leadership. The study also concluded that the demographic variables influence employee engagement. Key words: Employee engagement, Transformational leadership, Transactional leadership.

This study was carried out in the form a desk research to understand issues relating to Indian power sector. The study highlights some key achievements of Indian power sector after establishing a link between power production and economic performance. While the achievements are noteworthy, the rate of electrification is neither fast enough nor is it reaching the poorest of the poor. India witnessed a percentage increase of households with no lighting in 22 states/Union Territories out of 35 listed during the period from 2001 to 2011. Key problems of the power sector are presented here. Wind energy is presented as an option that permits providing power at a low cost as compared to other renewable energy options. Further, India has great strengths in its use and would not depend upon external expertise or technology in tapping wind energy. Key Words: Electric power, T & D losses, Renewable energy, Wind energy

This is an empirical research paper which examined the demographic pattern of the customers using services at private and public sector bank and to know that how much banks focuses on correlates of service quality which plays prime role in customer satisfaction and loyalty. Survey was conducted on 200 customers to know the correlates. It is found that customers prefer reputed bank providing quick and effective services. SBI leads among Public sector banks and ICICI among Private Sector Banks. The Private Banks make their customers more aware about the grievance redressal system, about additional products, complaints status. Private Banks seem to have satisfied its customers with good services and they have been successful in retaining its customers by providing better facilities than Public sector Banks. But still Private Banks need to go a long way to become customer's first preference. Public sector banks enjoy the trust of the customers, which they have been leveraging to stay in the race however they need to improve their service quality by improving their physical facility, infrastructure and giving proper soft skill trainings to their employees. Key words: Service correlates, grievance redressal system, additional bank products

This study investigates the Impact of stock market on economic growth of India. ADF Unit Root test result shows all variables to be integrated of order one, that is they became stationary after taking first difference. Johansen Cointegration test shows the presence of long run relationship among the variables. Long run estimation result showed a positive and significant relationship between investment, labour and education with GDP, while stock market and GDP were found to be negatively related. Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) short run dynamics showed stock market to have a short run positive impact on economic growth of India. Impulse Response Function (IRF) shows the response of GDP to a shock in stock market and interest rate to be negative, while the response to shocks in labour, investment and education was positive. Policy recommendations includes putting in place measures aimed at reducing shocks in the stock market and making it have a positive impact on the economic growth of India. Key Words: Stock Market, Economic Growth, India JEL Classification: O16, G10

The objective of this paper is to analyse the determinants of dividend policy (DP) of FMCG sector in India. FMCG companies included in CNX FMCG the sectoral index for NSE are 15. Only 12 companies have been taken for the study. The period of study has been considered for 10 years i.e. from 2003-04 to 2012-13.The present paper is an attempt to empirically analyze the determinants of DP of FMCG Sector in India. For this purpose, various factors affecting DP such as dividend payout ratio (DPR), debt equity ratio (DER), earnings (ERN), corporate tax (CT), earnings per share (EPS) and firm size(FS) are considered for analysis. The empirical evidence from the study reveals that DPR, DER,ERN,CT has significant impact on EPS and also good predictors of dividend payout in FMCG sector.Ordinary least square models(OLS) are used to estimate the impact of DER, DPR, ERN, FS, EPS and on the DP. The DP of overall FMCG sector is strongly influenced by DPR, DER, EPS, and CT, which reveals that the DP of FMCG sector is significantly influenced by the selected financial variables during the period of the study.The overall regression analysis shows that the determinants of DP is significantly and positively influenced by the DPR, DER and EPS Key words: Dividend per share (DPS), Dividend policy (DP), Debt equity ratio (DER), Earnings (ERN), Earnings per share (EPS)

Banks are the arteries of any financial system. Their performance widely reflects the economic scene of the country. The consistent performance evaluation of these banks gives an overview of the ongoing economic conditions. Present paper is a study to compare major banks operating in India. Top 5 banks, based on their net profits in FY 14-15, have been taken up for study. Parameters like business indicators, staff productivity, efficiency and assets quality have been considered for performance analysis. Ranking have been used to evaluate these 5 banks and accordingly they have been overall ranked. Key Words: CASA Ratio, CAR, NIM and NPA

This study aims at making a comparison between CNX NIFTY and S&P BSE SENSEX, the two most popular large cap indices of Indian stock market, using monthly closing values from 3rd November 1995 till 31st march 2014. The performance has been evaluated using annualized return, annualized standard deviation, annualized Sharpe ratio and capital asset pricing model. Based on analysis, it was found that statistically, there is no significant difference in the relative risk and return of both the indices. The non-rejection of joint hypothesis shows that both of them can be used in reciprocity to each other. Considering the economic significance, higher annualized return, slightly lower annualized standard deviation, positive value of alpha, relatively lesser beta and superior Sharpe ratio of CNX NIFTY suggest that it is a better index to invest than S&P BSE SENSEX for a long term Keywords: Index, India, CNX Nifty, S&P BSE SENSEX, Performance comparison

The aim of this study is to examine the influence of macro-economic variables on the corporate bond market in India covering the period of 23 years i.e. from 1990-91 to 2012-13. Macro-economic indicators reflect the state of economy and influence the issuance of fixed income securities by the corporate. The study provides the evidence that issuance in corporate bond market is significantly correlated with the foreign exchange reserves. Using multiple regression analysis, we arrive at the conclusion that all the selected variables but GDP and Trade openness, significantly explain the volumes of corporate bonds. Keywords: Capital Market, Corporate Bond Market, Government Bond, Macroeconomic Variables, Unit Root Test, Regression Analysis JEL Classification: G10, G12, G21, G28

Deregulation of the Indian general insurance sector has brought in a lot of opportunities and challenges. In the pre-reform era, the publicsector general insurers dominated the Indian non-life Insurance market with a market share close to 100 per cent. But the situation drastically changed since the enactment of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) Act in 1999. At the end of the FY 2014-15, the collective market share of the four public-sector general insurance firms, carrying on multi-line operations, stood at 50.24 per cent with the number of players having risen to 28 in the country's general insurance sector. One of the reasons for such a decline in the market share of the public-sector general insurers during the post-reform period could be attributed to the rising presence of the private players in the country's general insurance sector. In addition to this, the performances of the country's general insurance firms suffered a setback owing to the contagion effects of the global financial crisis since 2007-08. The present study provides an assessment of the financial efficiencies of the 04 public-sector general insurance firms in India during the postderegulation study-period from 2008-09 to 2014-15, against the backdrop of the US financial crisis of 2007-08. In this regard, the ratiobased CARAMELS framework has been used in line with the financial soundness indicators (FSIs) for the general insurance firms, as recommended by Das, Davies and Podpiera (2003) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The study has pointed out the United India general insurance company as the best performer among the publicsector general insurance firms in India. Key Words: General Insurance, CARAMELS, financial crisis, IRDAI

India is known to be the largest importer of gold in the world. Indians have strong fascination and high sentiments to possess the gold. Resultant, the gold loan market also shown vigorous growth in the recent years. Gold loan NBFCs has created a remarkable position for themselves in the process of economic development and financial inclusion by monetizing the idle gold stock of the country on one hand. On the other hand gold loan NBFCs meet the consumption and financing needs especially of the rural and under banked populaces. But on the same time the robust growth of these gold loan NBFCs and their aggressiveness in tapping the potential gold loan market necessitated that their operations should be closely monitored. So, the present study is an endeavor to analyze and compare the financial performance of the two giant gold loan NBFCs namely Manappuram Finance Ltd. and Muthoot Finance Ltd. on the basis of CAMEL model. Overall, the study resulted that both the gold loan NBFCs perform on the same lines on the parameters of CAMEL model. But Manappuram Finance Ltd. is better performer in context of capital adequacy parameter while Muthoot Finance Ltd. is gaining lead in context of management efficiency. Keywords: Gold, Gold Loan, NBFCs, CAMEL Model.

Working capital management is the discipline of management which is inevitable in all walks of economic life whether in a household or in an enterprise, in the public domain or in private domain,profit oriented or not .The efficient working capital management is most crucial factor in maintaining survival,liquidity,solvency and profitability of any business organization. Moreover, an optimal working capital management positively contributes to the firm's value. Theprofitability and the efficiency of every sector in the nation have direct bearing on the prosperity of economy which can be primarily achieved through efficient working capital management practices. It helps in designing a framework to smoothen the financial constraints of business so as to make effective use of its resources.Keeping in mind the significance of working capital management an attempt has been made to examine its impact on the profitability of Indian automobile industry. The Indian automobile industry is one of the largest in the world with an annual production of 23.36 million vehicles in FY 2014-15.The Automobile industry accounts for 22 per cent of the country's manufacturing gross domestic product (GDP).For the purpose of this research paper threeIndian Automobile company namely Tata motors ltd., Maruti SuzukiIndia ltd and Mahindra & Mahindra ltd. are taken ,as these are the giants companies in Indian Automobile industry and plays a pivotal role in growth of Indianeconomy. For analyzing the result ROCE is used as dependent proxy variable for profitability. Whereas CR, DTR, ITR are used as independent proxy variable for substantiating the impact of working capital management on the profitability of companies. Keywords : Working capital management, Automobile industry, ROCE, CR, DTR, ITR