Remittances being a stable inflow of foreign currency, account for a substantial part of India's Balance of Payment account. In several developing countries, remittances exceed the receipts from the export of goods and services, and even capital flows such as Foreign Institutional Investment, Foreign Direct Investment, and Official Development Assistance. Remittances are known for their countercyclical nature during the sharp economic downturns, compared to other financial flows that are typically procyclical. Hence, it is known as a possible financing source for economic evolution in emerging economic systems. It is essential to determine the elements that drive remittances, as it may enable us to channelize this inflow to reap its developmental potential efficiently. Several macroeconomic determinants of remittances are well researched in the literature by researchers around the globe. However, not even a single study has been given to the financial development, determinants of remittances in the Indian setting. Therefore, this survey is a humble effort to bridge this gap. We utilize multiple regression and autoregressive distributed lag approach to cointegration which finds that several financial developments and financial openness variables have a substantial impact on remittances in the short run as well as in the long run. In accession to that, we incorporate each dummy variable for the global financial crisis and the concurrent negative oil price shock and negative output shock in the host nations. Remittances are found to be resilient during the crisis period while being adversely affected by the adverse economic shocks in the host nations.

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The aim of this paper is to analyze whether the worldwide financial crisis integrates the regional markets in Asia more strongly. Secondly, it is also to examine whether the integration of regional markets in Asia necessarily leads to a weak form of market efficiency. To examine this we have considered the different broad based and liquid stock indices such as the Sensex and BSE 100 from the Bombay Stock Exchange; the S&P CNX Nifty from the National Stock Exchange, representing India; the Hang Seng Index from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, representing China; the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLSE), Bursa Malaysia representing Malaysia; the Nikkei 225 from the Tokyo Stock Exchange representing Japan, and the Straits Times Index (STI) from the Singapore Exchange representing Singapore. The study considered the daily data spanning from 4th January 1994 to 2nd May 2012. The full sample period was split into three forms such as the whole sample, the Global financial crisis and the post global financial crisis. The short term interaction was studied by using Toda Yamamoto’s procedure of Granger’s Causality in VAR Block Exogenity form and the long run equilibrium relationship was tested by applying the Johansen Maximum Likelihood procedure. And so the paper explored the possible, integrating relationship at the volatility level among the regional stock indices by applying the ARCH school of models. Finally, the Random Walk Hypothesis was tested by employing the Chow-Denning (1993) and the Lo and Mackinlay (1988) multiple variance ratio test to examine the efficiency of the market. The major findings of the study indicated that the worldwide financial crisis integrates the regional markets in Asia more strongly in the short term from 2007 onwards. There is no long run equilibrium relationship among the regional stock markets. The study also found that the integration of the financial market does not necessarily contribute to market efficiency.

The prime aim of the paper is looming around the doubt whether the economic growth of India is trade openness led? If yes, whether the trade openness led growth could be a short term or a protracted-term phenomenon. To check this, the paper took the annual time series data on the GDP per capita income as a proxy for economic growth, and also the different standards of trade openness like the amount of exports and imports as a percentage of GDP, export and import of products and services as a percentage of GDP, and per cent of World exports and imports. The model is grounded on the extended version of the Cobb-Douglas production function. The short-run and long-term dynamics of the connection between trade openness and economic growth is analyzed by employing Toda Yamamoto's Granger's non-causality test, Johansen's Maximum Likelihood test and Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square model. The findings of the study exposed that the GDP per capita income is positively statistically explained by the trade openness, exports of goods and services as per cent of GDP, imports of goods and services as a percentage of GDP, per cent of total World exports, capital investment, and labour force participation rate. There exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between the economic growth and trade openness indicators considered within the study. The positive impact of trade openness on economic growth suggests that India should give more emphasis on the optimal allocation of domestic resources, technological progress and knowledge spillovers and encourage integration and competition among domestic and international markets.

A conspicuous feature of cities in India is that the basket of revenue sources with municipalities is very narrow. However, the authorities have not exploited the revenue sources already available to them such as property tax, vacant land tax, and other land-based revenue instruments. This is puzzling as land values in Indian cities are increasing exorbitantly, creating windfall benefits to landowners. The economic theory highlights the merits of land as a tax base to finance local public goods on efficiency, ability to pay, equity and benefit principles. Further, internationally, countries have successfully adopted land-based instruments to finance, urban development projects during their urban transition. This article attempts to draw lessons from theory and practice for municipal finance reforms in India. As the context of fiscal federalism differs between countries, obviously not all revenue instruments adopted in other countries can be readily applied in India. Accordingly, we study the initiatives of Hyderabad and Bengaluru cities in using urban land as a resource to identify appropriate instruments for Indian cities. We combine theory with the practices followed by the two pioneering cities to suggest a reform agenda in India for designing land-based tools to finance city infrastructure and services. | INDIA: CHALLENGES OF FINANCING CITIESIndia's urban population, estimated at 410 million in 2014, is projected to rise to 814 million by 2050 (United Nations, 2015). Catering to the housing, infrastructure and civic service needs of such huge numbers in cities and towns is a daunting problem for policy-makers and administrators. McKinsey (2010) projects that India would need to build 38 million affordable homes to plug the current backlog and meet the projected gap in the demand for affordable housing in urban areas. It would require 700-900 million square meters of commercial and residential space each year till 2030. Connecting these spaces will require 2.5 billion square meters of new roads and 7,400 km of new metros and subways, representing 20 times the infrastructural capacity added in India since 1999. While the "growth" needs of urbanisation are huge, the "backlog" and "current" needs are also substantial. According to the 2011 census, only 71% of the urban population had access to individual water connections. Only 44.5% of urban households had access to closed drainage; 37.3% is subjected to open drainage and 18.2% have no drainage at all. Public transportation systems in most cities are grossly deficient. While urban problems are massive, the state of municipal finances required to meet the urban infrastructure and service needs of Urban India is precarious. McKinsey (2010) estimates that India needs to spend Rs.9.74 million crore in its cities by 2030, with Rs.5.31 million crore for capital expenditure. The largest demand for capital funding would come from affordable housingalmost one-third, followed by mass transit. If we exclude affordable housing, the capital expenditure required until 2030 wo...