Industry reports show that fresh engineering and non-engineering graduates from Indian universities are not readily employable. The Government-owned Andhra Pradesh Information Technology Academy (APITA) seeks to equip graduates from the state’s degree and engineering colleges with industry-relevant skill sets for gainful employment. This study describes the activities of APITA and empirically examines two questions: (1) Do students from colleges affiliated to APITA command higher salaries as compared to students from colleges not affiliated to APITA? (2) Do women graduates receive starting salaries that are lower than those of their male counterparts? Using data from placements conducted by APITA for the state’s students in the year 2017–18, the study finds that the job market signals the higher quality of APITA-trained students by offering them higher salaries than are offered to students from colleges that are not APITA affiliates. The study also shows that there is a wage premium attributable to the female gender insofar as entry level salary levels are concerned. The study highlights the constraints faced by APITA, and its future role in addressing the deficiencies, along with managerial implications.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the process for estimation of efforts for software development and suggests a framework for estimating software development costs and ensuring quality of code in e-Government projects from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. With no established processes for estimation of efforts, the Government relied on open bids from the market to develop these e-Government applications. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts an exploratory case study approach to analyze the e-Government applications in Andhra Pradesh. Using data from the information technology department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the paper evolves a framework to compute costs of software development, based on the software development life cycle. Findings The framework helps in arriving at a hurdle price before the tender process. The study has shown that an e-Government application in AP state would cost Rs. 224,000, or US$2,969.25, for a simple application, and Rs. 33,60,000, or US$44,538.71, for a complex application over a five-year period, depending on the complexity and size of the application. This information would be useful to the Government decision-makers for expanding e-Government. Research limitations/implications Further research may assess the utility of this framework for e-Government support activities like automation of data centers, video conferencing facilities and ushering in financial technologies for encouraging cashless payments. Originality/value The paper provides information that could be of value at a national level (for India) and at the same time providing a guide for other countries that would like to adopt this framework.

Executive Summary This study presents evidence on time discount rate of forest-dependent communities (FDCs) in the backdrop of the joint forest management program launched by the Government of India in 1990. The study uses data from two regions of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh—Rayalaseema (a relatively dry forest region with low income) and the coastal region (relatively fertile forest and with higher income). We also identify socio-economic determinants of their patience levels and factors which distinguish the two regions. To elicit individual discount rates of FDCs members and their determinants, we use the choice task design methodology. Members from both regions were found to be highly impatient using the standard choice task design with the revealed time discount rate averaging 800% per annum. Members of FDCs from Rayalaseema were more impatient than their counterparts from the coastal region, although the statistical evidence is weak. We find no association between the income of members of FDCs and their time discount rate for both regions. Membership to caste categories showed a different response in both the regions, with members from the Scheduled Caste category and Other Backward Classes found to have a lower discount rate than those from the Scheduled Tribes category of Rayalaseema region and vice versa for the coastal region. For the coastal region, those with larger family size and heads of households were found to have a lower discount rate.

No abstract