PurposeThis study aims to assess the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on growth in presence of host country characteristics, namely, economic stability, human capital, financial development and trade openness, in the fastest emerging Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) economies, considered to be significant FDI destinations.Design/methodology/approachThe panel data for the variables under study, collected from World Investment Reports published by World Bank, are analyzed using feasible generalized least squares method to examine the relationship between the dependent and explanatory variables over the period 1987–2018. The interaction effect has been studied to examine the growth impact of FDI in presence of host country characteristics.FindingsThe findings revealed that FDI does not exert a significant impact on the economic growth of BRICS individually but has a significant growth impact only in presence of host country characteristics. FDI on interacting with financial development, trade openness and human capital exerts a positive impact on the economic growth of BRICS economies, and on interacting with economic instability (inflation), FDI has a negative impact on growth.Practical implicationsThe study has implications for policy makers of BRICS countries who are suggested to work toward the development of financial markets, trade liberalization and human capital development to realize the positive growth impact of FDI.Originality/valueVery few studies have been conducted to examine the growth effect of FDI in BRICS economies, which are considered to be the fastest-growing economies and dominant players in the global investment landscape. Assessing the interaction of FDI with absorptive capacities/host country characteristics to study its growth impact in BRICS using long data and robust panel data methodology is an original contribution of this paper toward the existing body of knowledge.

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) economies, which are considered to be the fastest-growing economies and dominant players in the global investment landscape. In order to assess the relationship between the dependent variable (economic growth) and explanatory variables (FDI inflows and other growth determinants), we analyse a 32-year panel data starting from 1987 to 2018 using feasible generalised least squares (FGLS) method. The article found a significant positive FDI impact on economic growth in BRICS. However, exports, human capital and inflation (macroeconomic instability) exert a negative impact on economic growth of BRICS, whereas domestic investments exert a positive impact on growth. JEL Codes: F21, F43, C23, O47

The Gig economy refers to short term jobs, contract or freelance work and flexi timing jobs as opposed to traditional full-time labor, which has witnessed a rapid growth in the last decade across the globe. Digital platforms have largely developed a free market system where independent workers connect with the buyers of the services. The Platform or Gig economy has grown at a much faster pace than ever before from the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. Since the COVID-19 lockdown, the labor market has been affected in a drastic way and a trend towards short-term and temporary jobs has become commonplace. The Economic Survey, 2020-21 highlights the growing importance of Gig economy in India amid the pandemic-induced lockdown which has led to an immense growth in the online retail business. The employers began layoffs and instead engaged freelancers or flexi staff to bring down their overhead costs. Many studies have been conducted now on assessing the impact of the ongoing pandemic on the economy and stock markets, however, very few studies focus on the influence the pandemic had on the Gig economy. The present study attempts to fill this gap by evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on the Gig economy by assessing whether the increase in new COVID-19 cases lead to an increase in the number of gig workers in the Indian economy, or in other words, exerts a significant impact on the Indian gig economy or not.

The case study is focused on the financial statement analysis of Apar Industries, one of the leading corporations working in electrical and metallurgical engineering at home and in foreign markets. This is a teaching case that aims to teach early-stage business and commerce students how to assess a real company’s performance and financial condition through ratio analysis using published secondary data. The interpretation strategy uses both internal and external (industry comparison) methods in order to assess the financial health of Apar Industries in a better and more holistic manner.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has gained prominence in international economics over the past three decades. Primarily, the belief that FDI influences economic growth of the host country, set the stage for the empirical research focused on the FDI–growth nexus. The growth literature, however, reveals mixed evidence regarding the role of FDI in promoting growth. Despite the conflicting evidence, developed and developing economies have attached immense economic and political importance to FDI. It is noteworthy that BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) economies are representative developing economies and have emerged as significant FDI destinations, having witnessed an immense surge in inward FDI over the past few decades. It is against this backdrop that the present study attempts to assess the impact of FDI inflows and select macroeconomic variables, namely macroeconomic stability, human capital, financial development and trade openness (TO), on the economic growth of developing BRICS economies. The study examines both short-run and long-run relationships between FDI inflows, select macroeconomic variables and economic growth by employing the dynamic panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, unlike most of the previous studies. For this study, secondary data covering a reference period of 32 years (1987–2018) were used. The data on GDP growth (GDPG), FDI inflows, inflation (INF), human capital, private sector bank credit (proxy for financial development) and TO have been collected from the World Investment Reports published annually by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and World Bank (World Development Indicators). The findings revealed a long-run cointegration among FDI, host country characteristics (TO, human capital, financial development and macroeconomic stability) and economic growth in BRICS.