Income In India Research Articles

Fertility and socio-economic determinants: evidence from co-integration and multivariate Granger casualty tests

Background: The empirical work on fertility determinants widely discusses the role of socio-economic factors like female labour force participation rate, urban population and per capita gross national income in determining fertility rates. The India’s high fertility rate began to decline gradually after late 1950s and continued to fall since then. India achieved almost 31 per cent decline in fertility rate from 1990 to 2012. The objective was to examine the relationship between fertility rate, urbanization, female labour force participation rate and per capita gross national income for India.Methods: This study covers the sample period from 1990-2012. Moreover, the direction of causality between fertility rate, urbanization, female labour force participation rate and per capita gross national income in India using Granger Causality test within the Vector Error-Correction Model (VECM) are examined.Results: As a summary of the empirical results, we found that fertility rate, urbanization, female labour force participation rate and per capita gross national income in India are co-integrated and there is unidirectional Granger Causality between the four variables in long and short-run.Conclusions: The growth in urban population, female labour force participation rate and per capita gross national income are responsible for the decrease in fertility rate in India.

Changing Contours of Income Stratification and Decomposition of Income Inequality: Evidence from Recent Longitudinal Survey in India

The paper, based on India Human Development Survey (IHDS) data, tries to address the question- how unequal is India in terms of income distribution? Accordingly, the paper examines the trends, levels, sources and factors of income inequality in India between 2005 and 2012. Three important results stemmed from our analysis. First, in this paper we use Gini as a measure of inequality and find that income inequality in rural India has increased from 0.50 to 0.54 between 2005 and 2012, whereas, in urban India income inequality has increased from 0.48 to 0.49 during the same period. Next and most importantly, we decompose income inequality by income sources and find that amongst different sources of income inequality; the contribution of farm income in total inequality has decreased from 35 percent in 2005 to 21 percent in 2012 in rural India. On the other hand, the contribution of salaried income in total inequality has plummeted drastically from 65 percent in 2005 to 16 percent in 2012 in urban India. Finally, we use Theil’s T index from the class of Generalized Entropy (GE) inequality measures, while decomposing income by four most important factors; namely, place of residence, social, educational and occupational groups. It is irrespective of these factors; the relative share of within-group inequality is not only much higher than that of between-group inequality, also its share has increased between these two periods. Thus, our paper suggests that these mutually reinforcing inequalities, in the long run, if not addressed effectively, will create a hard-hitting division between the privileged and the rest in Indian society.

Measuring Green GDP of India:A Way Forward to Develop Data Base

Measuring wealth or income in India accounting for the contribution of natural resource stocks using the recently developed methodologies requires the development of a comprehensive database. A top-down approach of developing these accounts may not be feasible in big countries like India. A bottom-up approach in developing these accounts could ensure to take into account region-specific values of environmental changes. Database could be generalized by extending database of ASI accounts, input-output accounts, the cost of cultivation accounts of agriculture and NSS consumer expenditure accounts.

Inter State Disparities in Higher Education: An Empirical Analysis

Human resource development is considered as pre-requisite to investment in physical capital. Education play a crucial role in human capital formation which enlarges people's income earning opportunities and enables them to achieve a better quality of life at a given level of income in India. Different five years plans have emphasized on educational development. The National Policy on Education of 1968 initiated a continuous effort to increase educational opportunities, to improve the quality of education at all stages and to develop the science and technology. Priority has been given for human resource development and social sector programmes and policies related to education, health etc., even in the agenda of second generation reforms. In spite of considerable steps taken by government education development particularly higher education is still lope sided. Interstate variations in terms of access and development of education are serious issue of concern in India. Keeping this issue in mind this research has been undertaken to study the interstate disparities in education development particularly higher education in India during the time period 1999 to 2015.

An Analysis of Trends of National Income in India

National Income has been an important component of story of an economy‘s growth and development. National income is defined in different ways accommodating for subsidies, taxes, depreciation, exports and imports. The study was undertaken in order to analyse the trends of growth of National income from 1950–51 to 2014–15. The study found that national income, measured in terms of GDPMP has grown statistically significant at 5% level of significance. Further, an attempt is also made to present sectoral contribution to total GDP. And it is found that service sector‘s contribution is increasing on one hand and decreasing the shares of both industry and agriculture. Although Indian economy is growing at good economic pace, steps are needed to accelerate income of farm and industry as they constitute sectors of real production

Taxation of Agriculture Income in India: An Overview

Agricultural income, which comes under the jurisdiction of State governments, has largely remained exempt from the purview of income tax law. While various Committees on tax reforms have proposed partial taxation of agricultural income, the States, on their part, have highlighted serious problems in the assessment of agricultural incomes such as widely dispersed potential assessees, fluctuations in production due to uncertain weather conditions, and lack of accounting practices in the agricultural sector. The near absence of direct taxation of the agricultural sector is partly due to the preponderance of big landlords and other vested interests in State legislatures. Moreover, the exclusion of agricultural incomes from the income tax base provides opportunities for tax evasion by camouflaging taxable income and black money as gains from agriculture. Therefore, there is a need to relook the proposal for taxation of agricultural income from various angles such as economic logic, administrative feasibility, and political expediency. If a case for taxation of agricultural income can be worked out, it could lead to a more judicious use of taxation powers allotted to the States.

Regional disparities in per capita income in India: convergence or divergence?

The paper looks at the latest evidence on what has been happening to regional disparities in per capita income (measured as gross state domestic product per capita) in India over the first decade of the twenty-first century (1999/2000 to 2010/2011) by estimating cross-section equations for unconditional and conditional beta (β) convergence and sigma (σ) convergence across thirty-two regions (twenty-eight states and four union territories). There is no evidence of unconditional convergence, but weak evidence of conditional convergence controlling for population growth, credit growth, male literacy, the share of agriculture in state GDP, and state expenditure as a share of state GDP. Sigma divergence has increased continuously, except among the poorest states.

Religion as a Tool of Economic Development: Exploring the Idea of Social Justice Through a Comparative Analysis of Religions in India

The scope of this paper is to widen the conversation on critical, moral and ethical implications of economic deprivation in India. The paper analyses how religion can unify the spiritual with the social and material fulfilment of a human being by advocating social justice through ethical economics. In India, coarse poverty co-exists with the cross currents of various ancient philosophies and cultures. This contradiction betrays the idea of social justice that rests on the liberty of the individual and his right to a fulfilled life through physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual development. Despite fabulous economic growth, 300 million people in India remain poor and half of our children are undernourished. Those who are well off are indifferent to the plight of these hungry and deprived millions. This is borne out of the fact that only 1.7% of the household income in India goes to philanthropy as against 35% for religious donations. The role and relevance of religion in today’s world lie in assuming the values of social capital like trust, honesty, fairness and concern for the less fortunate through concrete social programmes.

Pre-Transplant Consolidation and Cost Effectiveness of RIC Allogeneic SCT in Patients of AML-CR1 in India

▪Management of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in India remains a challenge. A major constraint is the cost of therapy. In a predominantly self paying system the majority of patients will not have the resources to manage a subsequent relapse. Hence, the choice of consolidation therapy has to be carefully considered to balance cost and efficacy. An allogeneic SCT (alloSCT) with a reduced intensity conditioning regimen (RIC) in first remission (CR1) is an attractive option to fulfill these requirements of relatively low cost without compromising efficacy. The need for consolidation chemotherapy prior to offering a RIC alloSCT for AML CR1 remains controversial. To evaluate these aspects we undertook a retrospective analysis of patients with AML CR1 who received a RIC alloSCT from multiple centers in India. Conventional criteria were used for definition of conditioning regimens to be considered RIC (CIBMTR).Data from 8 centers in India was collected between 2005 and 2013. A total of 138 patients fulfilled the criteria of AML CR1 having received an alloSCT with a RIC regimen. The median age was 34 years (range: 2 – 63) and 60% were males. The median time from diagnosis of AML to transplant was 99 days (range: 41 – 504). 123 (89%) were HLA matched related donors, 3 (2.1%) were MUD transplants and the rest were HLA mismatched related donors. The majority by cytogenetics (n=115) were intermediate risk (76%) followed by high risk (23%). 70 (51%) received chemotherapy consolidation prior to transplant, 61 (44%) did not and data was not available in 7 (5%). 68% of those that received consolidation received intermediate or low dose cytosine based regimens. 129 (94%) were CMV serology positive pre-transplant. Fludarabine with melphalan (140mg/m2) (128{93%}) was the most commonly used regimen and cyclosporine with short course low dose methotrexate (126{91%}) the most commonly used GVHD prophylaxis regime. All patients received a PBSC graft with a median CD34 cell dose of 9.1x106/kg (range: 1.3 – 43). With the exception of one, all patients engrafted. The median time to ANC >500/mm3 was 13 days (range: 7 – 22) and platelet count of >20,000/mm3 was 15 days (range: 0-33). Of those that engrafted, 97% achieved complete chimerism at one month post transplant (data not available in 4). Post transplant CMV reactivation was seen in 32% and a fungal infection (possible, probable or definitive) in 13%. Acute GVHD Grade 2-4 was seen in 29% and of patients evaluated 62% had chronic GVHD, the majority of these being limited (61%). The 100 day treatment related mortality (TRM) was 7.5% and the one year TRM was 25.6%. At a median follow up of 24 months the 5 year EFS and OS was 64.0±5.07 (Figure 1A) and 71.1±4.0 respectively. The 5 year cumulative incidence of relapse was 21.8% (Figure 1A). The baseline characteristics as mentioned above were not significantly different between the group that received consolidation and the group that did not. The use of consolidation therapy prior to alloSCT did not have a significant impact on EFS or OS (Figure 1B).On univariate analysis the factors that adversely impacted EFS were mismatched non sibling family donor (RR 8.1; P-value 0.001), CMV reactivation (RR 2.6; P-value 0.001), fungal infection post transplant (RR 6.8; P-value 0.000) and acute GVHD (RR 2.1; P-value 0.02). On a forward stepwise multivariate analysis adjusting for these and other conventional risk factors only CMV reactivation (RR 2.0; 95% CI 1.03-3.87; P-value 0.042) and fungal infection (RR 7.1; 95%CI 3.154-16.12; P-value 0.000) retained their adverse impact. There was no correlation between CMV reactivation and relapse of disease post transplant.The mean costs of induction chemotherapy for these patients was US$ 9239±3596 (n=74), for consolidation chemotherapy it was 5007±3490 (n=21) and for alloSCT it was 18138±13826 (n=118; costing up to 1 year post transplant). Induction chemotherapy followed by HLA matched RIC alloSCT is likely to be a cost effective and affordable treatment option for young adults with AML in CR1in an Indian context. With an average gross net income in India of US$3500/year (http://indiabudget.nic.in) the limitation still remains the cost of treatment and number of centers that can offer this therapy. [Display omitted] DisclosuresSrivastava:Octapharma: Consultancy, Other. Off Label Use: Bortezomib in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Retrospective analysis of spinal trauma in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: a descriptive study in Indian population.

This study aims to understand the demographics, mode of trauma, hospital stay, complications, neurological improvement, mortality and expenditure incurred by Indian patients with spinal trauma and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Retrospective analysis of the patient data admitted to a tertiary referral hospital from 2008 to 2013 with the diagnosis of AS and spinal trauma was carried out. The variables studied were demographics, mode of trauma, neurological status, neurological improvement, involved vertebral level, duration of hospital stay, comorbid factors, expenditure and complications during the stay. Forty-six patients with diagnosis of AS with spine trauma were admitted over the last 5 years with a total of 52 fractures. All were male patients; 58.6% had injury because of trivial trauma and 78.2% patients presented with neurological injury. C5 C6, C6 C7, C7 D1 and D12 were the most common injured level. Fractures through intervertebral disc were most common in cervical spine. Of the patients, 52.7% had shown neurological improvement of at least grade 1(AIS). Mean expenditure of patient admitted with spinal cord injury (SCI) with AS is 7957 USD (United States dollar), which is around five times the per capita income in India (as per year 2013). Males with AS are much more prone to spinal fractures than females and its incidence may be higher than previously reported. Domestic falls are the most common mechanism of spinal trauma in this population. High velocity injuries are associated with complete SCI. The study reinforces the need for development of subsidized spinal care services for SCI management.

Estimating emissions from the Indian transport sector with on-road fleet composition and traffic volume

Urbanization and rising household incomes in India have led to growing transport demand, particularly during 1990–2010. Emissions from transportation have been implicated in air quality and climate effects. In this work, emissions of particulate matter (PM2.5 or mass concentration of particles smaller than 2.5 um diameter), black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC), were estimated from the transport sector in India, using detailed technology divisions and regionally measured emission factors. Modes of transport addressed in this work include road transport, railways, shipping and aviation, but exclude off-road equipment like diesel machinery and tractors. For road transport, a vehicle fleet model was used, with parameters derived from vehicle sales, registration data, and surveyed age-profile. The fraction of extremely high emitting vehicles, or superemitters, which is highly uncertain, was assumed as 20%. Annual vehicle utilization estimates were based on regional surveys and user population. For railways, shipping and aviation, a top-down approach was applied, using nationally reported fuel consumption. Fuel use and emissions from on-road vehicles were disaggregated at the state level, with separate estimates for 30 cities in India. The on-road fleet was dominated by two-wheelers, followed by four-and three-wheelers, with new vehicles comprising the majority of the fleet for each vehicle type. A total of 276 (−156, 270) Gg/y PM2.5, 144 (−99, 207) Gg/y BC, and 95 (−64, 130) Gg/y OC emissions were estimated, with over 97% contribution from on-road transport. Largest emitters were identified as heavy duty diesel vehicles for PM2.5 and BC, but two-stroke vehicles and superemitters for OC. Old vehicles (pre-2005) contributed significantly more (∼70%) emissions, while their share in the vehicle fleet was smaller (∼45%). Emission estimates were sensitive to assumed superemitter fraction. Improvement of emission estimates requires on-road emission factor measurements for all vehicle types and a better understanding of vehicle utilization and superemitter fraction.

Retailing Trends and Opportunities of China’s Products in Indian Market

The aim of this study is to bring to light the scope&behavior of Chinese foods and products in the Indian retailing market. Mostly Asian countries have adopted economic policies which are encouraging rapid growth for making a presence in the international marketplace. In India, FDI permitted in retail sector for foreign groups is up to 51 per cent for 'multi-brand retailers', and 100% for single brand retailers. This decision has led to an increasing presence of international retailers. In this study respondents have been categorized into three groups 1st (managerial, administrative, or professional), 2nd (semi skilled, businessman) and 3rd (teen agers students, coupled with rising incomes). In addition, growth of an economy creates better opportunities for capable people, and affects their lifestyle, shopping behavior and eating habits. So Mostly retailers serve meals which are easy to cook and are delivered fast like pizza, burger, momos, fast foods, cold drinks and Chinese food. A faster inspection of the preferences and lifestyle of Indian consumers during momentous segmentation strategies can serve as basis for successfully competing in India's retail sector. Health-related anxiety, non vegetarians and coupled with rising incomes in India, is without delay to seek&preference to the more hygienic retail conditions.

Aspects of the Political Economy of Crop Incomes in India

This article intends to evaluate at the farm level, the nature of variation of output prices and input costs in agriculture through the lenses of socio-economic class differentiation. Official systems of the calculation of agricultural costs in India have evolved—with respect to their methodological sophistication and complexity—continuously since the early years of India's Independence. At present, there is a three-tiered system of calculation of input costs for crops, ranging from a base calculation of paid-out costs to a calculation that takes into account the shadow prices of family labor and supervision costs as well as other categories of imputed costs. The study uses detailed information from a unique dataset on agricultural outputs, prices and cost of cultivation for paddy and wheat in five villages of three states of India to (1) estimate actual costs of cultivation and the extent to which minimum support price as declared by the Government of India cover these costs and (2) examine costs of cultivation across socio-economic classes of cultivators. Official statistics deal only with averages across states and all classes, thus ignoring the sharp socio-economic differentiation and inequality prevalent in the Indian countryside.

Taxation of Foreign Institutional Investors in India: The Hanging Fire

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have always remained influential players in India's investment market. However, India's tax regime in respect of FIIs has constantly undergone turbulent phases. To start with, the controversy pertained to classification of FII income under the income heads of business income versus capital gains, which classification was critical considering its tax chargeability and tax rate implications under India's direct tax laws. While this debate appears to have been put at rest by the 2008 ruling in LG Asian Plus Ltd. v. ACIT, uncertainties for FIIs in the context of non-resident taxation in India followed. The first limb of this uncertainty is found in the proposed General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) which seeks to implement the 'commercial substance' test if the Indian tax authorities believe that the transaction was undertaken only to avoid taxes or lacked commercial substance. This is proposed to apply notwithstanding that the transaction was routed through a tax friendly jurisdiction, and as per India's tax treaty with such jurisdiction, no tax liability arises in India. While effectuating of GAAR has been pushed back to 2016, the retrospective amendments of 2012 undertaken in India's Income Tax Act, 1961, pursuant to the Vodafone ruling by India's apex court, has brought FII taxation under radar. The amendment, which adopted the 'look through' approach against the 'look at' approach, may expose investors/P-Note Holders behind the FIIs to taxation in India, notwithstanding that the FII may be located in jurisdiction like Mauritius, with whom India has a favourable tax treaty. Also, as no time limit is prescribed for retrospective application of the amendment, the whip will keep hanging on FII investments time immemorial. Expert committees have been set up to scrutinize and settle these tax controversies and to create conducive tax environment for foreign investors in India, which is of utmost significance both, from an investment and economic standpoint. However, with the foregoing retrospective amendment in effect, it is to be seen how Indian authorities pacify FIIs from drawing out their investments from India amidst the tax qualms and mitigate the uncertainties and associated risks. This article discusses India's FII tax regime in light of the foregoing controversies, the prevailing uncertainties and challenges, their impact on FII investments in India, and India's consequent exposure to potential actions under bilateral investment treaties.

Does (better) electricity supply increase household enterprise income in India?

Electricity access is an important driver of economic development. Previous studies treat electrification as a binary outcome. In reality, in developing countries households with access face chronic supply interruptions, which can last up to 12h a day. This is the first study to estimate the income differences in urban and rural non-farm enterprises in Indian households with different levels of electricity supply, using a subset of 8125 households in the India Human and Development Survey, a cross-sectional national sample of 41,554 households. I use multiple econometric approaches, including linear regression with an instrument variable and propensity-score matching with multiple treatment levels to represent supply availability. I find a robust income effect of access, and suggestive evidence of the effect of better supply availability. The aggregate income impact across existing NFEs in India of improving supply to 16 h a day could be on the order of 0.1 percent of GDP.

Assessing Barriers to Trade in Services in India: An Empirical Investigation

International trade in services has become more important in recent years as advances in technology have permitted new means of providing services across borders. Services have emerged as crucial economic activities in India, more prominently over the last decade. Apart from providing the bulk of employment and income in India, the services sector also serves as a vital input for producing other goods and services. While a large part of India’s services sector is untapped and rarely explored by the international market, a growing number of barriers have been impeding India’s international market access in the services sector. In this article, we performed a gravity analysis of the linkages between India’s services trade flow and its probable barriers. The estimated results show that a 1 per cent improvement in services trade facilitation measures would lead to a 2 per cent rise in services exports in India. The paper concludes that improved trade facilitation may help unlock unrealized services trade potential, and, therefore, more effective policy toward an improved services trade infrastructure would be needed to facilitate services exports from India.

Patterns of Causality between Public Expenditure and Growth of Money and National Income in India

We use the argument of Lutkepohl (1982), and Ahsan, Kwan, and Sahni (1992) to model causal relation between public expenditure and national income growth in India during the period 1951-1989. The omitted variable considered is the rate of growth of Ml. It is revealed that the pattern of causality is affected by the inclusion of the omitted variable. Several empirical hypotheses of significance with regard to these macro/fiscal variables are tested. Implications for policy are also drawn.

Convergence dynamics of output: Do stochastic shocks and social polarization matter?

This paper seeks to address two neglected aspects of convergence dynamics of cross-country per capita income. First, we allow evolutionary path of per capita income to contain stochastic shocks which may not converge fast enough to the long-run mean. Under this condition, we show that the conventional inference on σ convergence can be enlarged with more predictive power if one assumes, along with the necessary condition of β convergence, that the stochastic shocks are covariance stationary. Second, we argue that for economies to (conditionally) converge, they need to be sufficiently cohesive so that the growth of stochastic shocks is not sustained through complex socio-economic interactions. Empirical examination is carried out by analyzing time series properties of state per capita income in India and performing convergence analysis by conditioning a constructed social cohesion index based on indicators collected from the National Sample Survey. It is demonstrated that when the economy faces monotonic social segmentation, persistence of stochastic shocks considerably affects speed of per capita output convergence.

Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements

The concept of double taxation has been the subject matter engaging the attention of the courts in India and abroad from time to time. The Supreme Court in Laxmipat Singhnia v. CIT has made it clear – “it is a basic rule of the law of taxation that unless otherwise expressly provided income cannot be taxed twice. Again it is not open to the Income Tax Officer, if the income has accrued to the assessee and is liable to be included in the total income of a particular year, to ignore the accrual and thereafter to tax it as the income of another year on the basis of receipt.” This principle enunciated by the Supreme Court has also been given statutory recognition in the Income Tax Act through Explanation 2 to Section 5 of the Income Tax Act. A separate branch in the law of taxation has been developed in India after a number of DTAAs (Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements) entered into by India with several foreign countries. The reason for these Agreements coming into play was in cases where a person having source of income in India was the resident of another country. For the purpose of DTAA, the income is considered as sourced in a country if the tax-payer is based there. Both the countries would like to tax the income of a person arising from the same transaction, because the desire of a country for taxation can never be satisfied. That’s where the DTAA comes into play. It may vest right to tax a particular type of income in one of the contesting States. A right to tax a particular income under the DTAA may depend on certain conditions. For example, business income is generally taxable in the source state if the enterprise has a permanent establishment therein. (By source state is meant the state where the income arises or the state the residents of which make payment to the residents of the other contracting state.)

Public Expenditure and Emerging Fiscal Policy Scenario in India

Pattnaik, Bose, Bhattacharyya and Chander analyse the role of public expenditure in India as a key fiscal policy instrument to achieve the goals of growth, equity and stability and, at the same time, to ensure the sustainability of public finances. The paper documents the development of fiscal policy and, in particular, of public expenditure in India since the beginning of the Eighties. After a period of mounting fiscal deficits (from 7.5 percent of GDP in 1980-81 to 9.4 in 1990-91), mainly driven by an increase in interest payments, in the early Nineties the government implemented a strategy of fiscal consolidation, which primarily focused on expenditure compression. In particular, the decline in capital outlays (from 3.0 percent in 1986-87 to 1.0 in 1996-97) enabled a reduction in fiscal deficit to 6.4 percent of GDP in 1996-97. In view of the evidence of a stable long-run relationship between public sector expenditure and national income in India, the Authors argue that such a trend needs to be reversed in the future and conclude that the bulk of fiscal adjustments has to rely on a greater mobilization of revenue receipts rather than on curtailing developmental expenditure.