The study examines the factors that drive a firm to seek protection against unfair trade practices through anti-dumping (AD) mechanisms. By focusing on AD cases initiated in the chemical and pharmaceutical allied sectors, taken from the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) website, we have identified 45 petitioners. The empirical strategy involves the construction of an unbalanced panel from 1995 to 2019, consisting of various firm-level and industrial-level characteristics such as GDP growth rate, firm age, firm size, profitability, research and development (R&D) intensity, export intensity and market concentration. We have also examined the firm’s past experience with AD activities and its impact on its probability of filing a new AD petition. The econometric analysis uses the binary choice Probit model (random effects). The findings reveal that firms during lower economic activities are more likely to file AD petitions. Lesser concentrated markets are more likely to seek AD protection. In addition to this, firms experiencing a decline in their profit margins have a higher likelihood of filing AD petitions. Notably, large firms are found to exhibit a greater likelihood of filing AD petitions. Lastly, the econometric findings suggest that firms in high R&D-intensive industries, such as the pharmaceutical sectors, are less likely to seek protectionist measures. JEL Codes: C33, F13, F14, L11, L21, L22, Y10

This study investigates the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), India’s 2016 initiative to expand liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) access, focusing on promoting clean cooking fuel and enhancing women’s health and empowerment. Using data from the National Sample Survey (NSS), 2020–2021, and the field survey in West Champaran district, Bihar, the research explores household fuel selection patterns ‘clean’ or ‘dirty’ through multivariate logistic regression. Findings indicate that household income, education and gender of the household head are critical determinants of LPG adoption. Moreover, increased LPG usage positively affects women’s health and empowerment. The study suggests that boosting LPG adoption should primarily address educational and affordability-related factors. JEL Codes: I12, I15, Q41

This article analyzes changes in monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) across Indian states between 2011–2012 and 2022–2023, using data from the National Sample Survey’s Household Consumption Expenditure Survey. During this period, rural MPCE grew by 40.4%, surpassing the 33.4% increase recorded in urban areas. Bihar posted the highest growth in both rural and urban segments. States with lower initial MPCE experienced faster growth, indicating a convergence in consumption levels across states in both rural and urban regions. The analysis highlights a persistent inverse relationship between total MPCE and the share of food expenditure. MPCE inequality remains more pronounced in urban areas and in non-food spending; however, it has declined over time, reflecting more inclusive growth—particularly for lower-income deciles. Overall, the findings suggest a broad-based rise in consumption, diversification of spending patterns and a gradual narrowing of well-being disparities, with food now accounting for less than 50% of total consumption. JEL Codes: D63, D31

Industrialization has been validated, tested and predicted as a reliable and sustainable route to development. Being late industrializers, the developing world started small on this journey. As a result, the industrial sector in these nations grew as a cluster of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Over the years, MSMEs have grown to become the face of industry in the developing world, including India. Within India, the MSME sector has organically been bifurcated into the formal and the informal sub-sectors. The present study is an attempt to analyze and evaluate the growth of the formal sector industrialization in the northern region of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The study covering 15 years explores the firm-level efficiency of the formal sector firms in J&K. The analysis validates a labour-intensive nature of the local industry and identifies the factors contributing towards its dim levels of efficiency. The analysis is concluded by making relevant and timely policy interventions. JEL Codes: D21, L25, O14

Private investment plays a vital role in reducing poverty and fostering economic growth in developing countries through job creation and capital formation. This study investigates the key determinants of private investment in Sri Lanka over the period 1977–2019, employing the autoregressive distributed lag model. The findings indicate that economic growth, credit to the private sector and the real interest rate exert a significant and positive influence on private investment. Conversely, political instability caused by war, foreign direct investment and public investment negatively affect private investment. The error correction term is –0.93, signifying a rapid adjustment towards long-run equilibrium following a short-run shock. These results suggest that policymakers should leverage interest rate management and improved access to credit as mechanisms to boost private investment. Furthermore, ensuring political stability is essential to creating an investor-friendly environment that supports sustained private sector development and long-term economic progress in Sri Lanka. JEL Codes: E22, E43, O4, R42

Studies about the J-curve have primarily focused on the trade in goods, and the application of the concept in the trade in services is a relatively new area of research. This study attempts to contribute to the literature on the J-curve by testing for the presence of symmetric and asymmetric J-curves in India’s services trade with the world in six sectors: Commercial Services, Insurance, Goods-related Services, Charges for the Use of Intellectual Property, Travel and Other Business Services. The study finds evidence for a J-curve in all six sectors, with some supporting a symmetric J-curve and others supporting an asymmetric J-curve. JEL Codes : C22, F14, F31, G20

This study undertakes a comparative analysis of the impact of international financial flows—specifically foreign aid, foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances—on economic growth in South Asia (SA) and 45 other developing countries, using panel data for the period 1980–2016. The study also analyses the indirect influences of financial flows on growth mediated through key transmission channels, including political stability, trade openness and human capital (HC) for both groups. On controlling endogeneity, the results indicate that foreign aid discourages growth both in developing countries and SA. However, FDI and remittances promote growth in the two groups of countries, while their impact is higher in SA. Investigation of transmission channels reveals multiple significant roles of financial flows in impacting economic growth. Exploring the dynamic roles of international financial flows, the findings of the study offer a deeper understanding and insights to policymakers in the developing world. JEL Codes: O4, F35, F21, F24

Using secondary data from the National Association of Farmer Producer Organizations, and the National Sample Survey’s (77th Round Survey) Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households (2018–2019), this article analyses the growth of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) over the last two decades. It also examines farmers’ participation in the FPOs and the factors that restrict the poor and marginalized farmers’ participation in these organizations. This study reveals that despite the remarkable growth of FPOs and the central government’s awareness mechanism, farmers’ participation in the FPOs is still quite dismal in India. There exists a host of factors, including a farmer’s education, gender, age and the size of operations, training and skill orientation, awareness of the minimum support price, and so on, which influence their decision to participate in the FPOs. Moreover, since the FPO participation in India is only limited to ‘technical advice’ and ‘input procurements’, instead of ‘marketing or sale of the final produce’, it is argued that demand-driven farmer welfare schemes would have been more useful for raising farmers’ income rather than supply-side interventions like the FPOs. JEL Codes: Q12, Q13, Q18

To enhance manufacturing exports, India, a major player in the services segment, has recently created an enabling environment through the launch of several programmes, for example, the ‘Make-in-India’ and the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes. As the firm-level evidence on the synergies between services input use (i.e., servicification) and manufacturing exports in the country is relatively scarce, the current analysis studies the relationship between them by using the CMIE-Prowess dataset over a period of 2000–2019, for both new and existing exporting firms. At the firm level, the article uses a two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator for studying the impact on export intensity, while a dynamic panel probit model is used to study the impacts on the decision to export. Apart from the analysis at the aggregate level, the influence of servicification is also judged for the low-tech and mid-to-hi-tech sectors separately and the disaggregated industry level. The observed positive relationship between servicification and manufacturing exports implies that the integration of competitiveness in the field of services with hi-tech manufacturing sectors can enhance India’s exports on the one hand and deepen firm-level global value chains participation on the other hand. JEL Codes: C23, F12, F14, F23, L25, L80