Kishor Goswami

The Evolution of Offshore Outsourcing in India

Outsourcing is an age-old practice whereas offshore outsourcing is relatively new. Issues related to offshore outsourcing came into centre stage along with the process of globalization. Offshore outsourcing of services is the result of economic and technological developments across countries. This became popular in India after the economic liberalization process. The present article makes an attempt to lay an integrative ground work for understanding outsourcing, including its evolution, theoretical developments and future trends. The article presents a comprehensive framework of critical dimensions of outsourcing as well as offshore outsourcing in India along with the comparative advantages and disadvantages of offshore outsourcing in today‘s time.

Determinants of occupational choice of workers in the handloom industry in Assam

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the determinants of occupational choice of workers in the handloom industry in Assam and to examine the variables that influence the occupational choice of the workers. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data were collected from nine handloom concentrated districts in Assam. Multinomial and binary logistic regression models are used to analyse the data of three mutually exclusive occupations of workers namely owners, weavers, and reelers. Findings – The results from the tested empirical model show that annual income, education, access to modern technology, and family size are the significant variables that help in transforming the reelers to owners. Similarly, annual income, education, and access to formal credit are the important variables that help in transforming the reelers to weavers. Access to modern technology appears as the most important factor in the occupational shift from weavers to handloom owners. Research limitations/implications – Present study has some limitations. It considers only a few variables related to economic and socio-demographic issues. There is further scope of research incorporating more variables such as personal savings, healthcare facilities, availability of hank yarn, marketing facilities, etc. Limitation of data in the worker category helper is another finding constraint. Practical implications – Such studies in the handloom sector in Assam are limited and thus the present study greatly extends the understanding of the occupational choice of the workers in Assams handloom industry. Originality/value – Previous studies on handloom industry concentrated predominantly on the economic condition of the workers using mostly multiple regression technique. The present study deviates from normal research by using multinomial and binomial logistic regressions, which analyse the likelihood of occupational shift of the workers. The findings can be generalized to other handicraft-based small industry.

Do home-based micro-entrepreneurial earnings empower rural women? Evidence from the handloom sector in Assam

Access to income through home-based activities is important for empowering disadvantaged groups of society, especially women. The present paper seeks to analyze the extent of empowerment of women engaged in the handloom sector in Assam in North Eastern India. Our study refines five empowerment indicators of economic, social, and cultural relevance, such as decision-making ability, freedom of movement, ownership of assets and income, male preference, and domestic violence. This is based on primary survey data collected from 328 married women from six districts of Assam to examine how engagement in handloom activities empowers them. Results indicate the existence of spatial variations as well as gaps in women’s empowerment. The parsimonious regression results show that age, educational attainment, income from handloom activities, and government support have had positive influences. Engagement in the handloom activities improves intra-household power relations significantly in favor of women and thereby reduces preference for males and domestic violence. The study urges that there should be better policies to facilitate women in accessing productive resources, especially financial ones. Micro-finance institutions can be encouraged to promote women’s active participation in home-based activities, which in turn should improve the overall empowerment of women.

Do different determinants affect differently across gender and location in handloom entrepreneurship development

Based on the primary data collected from 471 respondents, this paper analyses the determinants of entrepreneurship developments in the handloom industry in Assam separately for male versus female, and rural versus urban respondents. Work experience has a positive influence in the female entrepreneurship development while distance to the nearest business center has a negative influence. The gender effect is nullified in both the rural and urban entrepreneurship development. Work experience and education play a crucial role in entrepreneurship development in the rural areas compared to that in the urban areas. The study suggests for the development of rural handloom markets which will further develop the handloom micro-entrepreneurship.

Rural Non-Farm Micro-Entrepreneurship or Not: Gender Issue in Decision Making

The expansion of female intensive sectors due to globalization and trade liberalization engenders ample employment and income opportunities for female and thus female entrepreneurship. Despite an increase in the female entrepreneurship in recent decade, females are still outnumbered in entrepreneurial activities by the male. The determinants that influence the decision to become an entrepreneur substantially differ across gender. Present study provides empirical evidences towards individuals’ entry into rural non-farm micro-entrepreneurship focusing on gender issue. Based on primary data collected in Assam, the study found that the probability of becoming a micro-entrepreneur is more for being a female in the female intensive industry. The results reveal the existence gender differences with respect to magnitude and direction in the determinants of micro-entrepreneurship development. The influence of educational attainment is not found significant for female’s probability to become a handloom micro-entrepreneur. Financial inclusion of rural people coupled with proper utilization of credit accessed is crucial in handloom micro-enterprise development.

Micro-entrepreneurship Development in the Handloom Industry: An Empirical Analysis Among the Tribal Women in Assam

Women entrepreneurship is gaining importance all over the world for addressing the development issues of women. Since the inception of the five-year plans, the Government of India has been giving attention towards mitigating the development issues of women such as labour force participation, empowerment, education and gender inequality. Women-owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are contributing significantly towards the economic development of the nation through employment and income generation, poverty eradication, and by bringing entrepreneurial diversity in the economic activities. The handloom industry offers an appropriate setting to analyse the significance of the rural women-owned micro-enterprises towards local economic development. With archaic hand-operated looms, the production mechanism takes place mostly in the rural areas. The present article analyses the factors that affect tribal women to own a handloom micro-enterprise. It is based on primary data collected at firm level from two major tribes in Assam, namely Bodo and Mising. The data were collected from five different districts in Assam where tribal communities are operating handloom businesses. Within the framework of random utility model of economic choice, the findings of the probit model show that age, knowing other handloom micro-entrepreneurs, past history of family business, access to borrowing and risk-taking behaviour have significant and positive influences on the decision of a woman in becoming a handloom micro-entrepreneur. The study suggests for an all-inclusive policy approach for the overall development of handloom industry in the tribal areas.

Who Adopts Biogas in Rural India? Evidence from a Nationwide Survey

Biogas is a viable alternative for supplying clean and sustainable energy. Despite all manner of policy measures introduced by the Government of India, biogas is not widely used in India. This article tries to identify factors that influence the decision to adopt biogas at household level. We examine a conceptual framework empirically in which a household wants to maximize utility from biogas by using the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) I, which is a nationally representative, multi-topic survey. By applying both maximum likelihood and penalized likelihood methods (Firthlogit) of logistic regression on a sample size of almost 10,384 households, it has been found that wealthy people are more likely to adopt biogas compared to the marginalized section of the society. We recommend more inclusive policy measures for the weaker section of the society to create an enabling environment to make it a self-promoting technology.

Biomass Resources for Biofuel Production in Northeast India

India’s overwhelming economic growth rate of 8 % on an average creates a huge demand for energy inputs. The swelling energy consumption has resulted in growing dependence on fossil fuels, which has in turn raised a gamut of concerns like energy security, environmental degradation, and pressure on national exchequer. Energy conservation and clean and C-neutral fuels in this regard offer the greatest opportunities. Biomass-based renewable energy has the proven potential in this direction. Since India has an agricultural-based economy, therefore, biomass– including wood, agricultural residues, animal dung, etc. – is available in enormous quantities. In India, about 40 % of the total energy requirement comes from burning of biomass, and more than 70 % of the population depends on it for energy requirements. The northeast region of India where traditional biomass is a predominant source of energy is no exception to this. However, burning of biomass has been associated with energy inefficiency and environmental hazards including health problems and deforestation. Therefore, a sustainable approach toward this end is adoption of custom-made technological intervention to use the enormous biomass resource and generate power in an environment-friendly and cost-effective scheme. Biomass-based energy and power production can provide distributed power for rural applications and could effectively make up for the absence of grid electricity supply in many remote areas. Besides, tail-end grid-connected power projects are also currently highly encouraged to support the Renewable Energy Purchase Obligation and its compliance under the Electricity Act, 2003. This chapter reviews the biomass availability, conversion technologies, and its biofuel production potential in the northeastern region of India which is known for its high biological biodiversity with numerous tropical rainforests, revering grasslands, bamboo, orchards and wetland ecosystems.

Predictability of sugar futures: evidence from the Indian commodity market

Purpose - – The forecasting power of commodity futures is a matter of intensive research as evidenced by a number of related publications. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how advanced forecasting techniques improve the predictability of sugar futures in the Indian commodity market. Design/methodology/approach - – The forward premium is estimated using ordinary least square regression technique. Different linear and nonlinear models are used to forecast the sugar future spot prices from the futures prices. The forecasting accuracy of each pair of models is then compared by estimating the corresponding Diebold-Mariano test statistics. Findings - – From the estimated forward premiums, it is found that there is more volatility toward the date of maturity for a three-month horizon compared to six-month, and 12-month horizons. It is established that the futures prices of sugar, when used in a model, are able to generate better forecasts for the future spot prices. Moreover, the forecasting accuracy is found to be better for a shorter futures horizon. Research limitations/implications - – The present study is restricted only to sugar. If sufficient data are available, the same study could be extended to other commodities as well. The findings imply that technical traders would benefit by using advanced forecasting techniques along with futures prices of sugar to determine the expected future spot prices. Practical implications - – The findings in this paper suggest that though simple statistical models may be adopted to relate future spot prices to futures prices, more accurate prediction of the price behavior is possible with advanced forecasting methods like the artificial neural network. Social implications - – The findings will help market participants such as traders to be better informed about the future spot prices and hence get a better deal. Originality/value - – This is one of the first investigations to assess the predictability of commodity futures by employing advanced forecasting techniques.