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2750 items in total found

Working Papers | 2022

Impact of COVID-19 disruptions on the Supply Chain:Insights from India

Apurva Shrey, Avi Dutt, and Debjit Roy

Supply Chains play very important role in driving the economy of the country. COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have disrupted the supply chains of various firms. It has been estimated that the total cost of supply chain disruption due to COVID-19 and geopolitical tensions is around $4 Trillion for US and European firms (Total Cost of Supply Chain Disruption, n.d.). This cost highlights the need to study the impact of COVID-19 on the supply chain function of companies and explore the efforts made by the firms to mitigate the same. The objective of the paper is to examine the disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic in value chains of different sectors. It further aims to bridge the gap between the approach taken by the industry practitioners to mitigate the challenges faced by the COVID-19 pandemic and research work carried out by the academicians. The study examines the challenges faced by the industry and suggest opportunity areas where research can support efforts in industry to improve supply chain resilience.

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Working Papers | 2022

Exploring the Role of IoT in Worker Safety and Productivity

Tarini Goyal and Debjit Roy

This paper analyses the role of the Internet of Things in increasing worker safety and productivity as well as improving performance appraisal methods in the factory setup. Analysis of productivity levels has been carried out for workers in a steel plant on the basis of data collected from IoT tags. The study depicts how IoT can allow workers to perform tasks smoothly in their respective areas of expertise, along with a robust system of communication. By preventing accidents and boosting productivity, a win-win situation is created for workers and their families, as well as for factory owners and their clients.

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Working Papers | 2022

Gai Aadharit Unnati (GAU)*: Modernizing Cow based Economy through Application of Advanced Technology

Gaurav Kumar Kedia, Amit Garg, Pradeep Kumar Mishra, Nishant Krishna, and Aprajita Mishra

The cow, in the Indian context, has been the backbone of our agricultural economy since the early age of human civilization. Our agriculture-based economy thrived alongside cow welfare; thanks to a bounty of natural gifts such as dairy products, manure, crops, vegetables, fruits, and medicinal and natural products derived from cow dung and urine. Mahatma Gandhi even talked about the importance of cow by saying Mother cow is in many ways better than the mother who gave us birth. Unfortunately, due to several economic constraints, cow owners are bound to leave the non-milching cows when they become non-productive. Such stray cattle are forced to survive on the garbage and suffer from fatal health problems. The recent ban on illegal slaughterhouses by the government (although rightly so), while beneficial for the cattle, has further complicated the situation. These stray cattle cause crop damage in villages and become victims of several injuries and casualties via accidents. There are already five million stray cattle officially on the streets of India, and with the ban on slaughterhouses, the numbers are only going to go further up. This is an alarming stage to analyse and tackle this problem in a systematic manner. In order to conquer this problem, it has been observed that Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based model incorporation can provide a solution by integrating stray cows in a circular economy. Donors could provide support to cows through a sustainable AI-based business model that is created in this paper. It provides donors to track their donations in real-time while also caring for cows (Gau Seva). Economical optimization of stray cow by-products: cow dung derivatives like cakes, compost, briquettes, incense sticks, etc., and cow dung as such along with urine can be sold to the biogas bio fertiliser generation plants for further economic benefits. The real-world application of the model also demonstrates how a community biogas plant can help sustainable energy transitions for our villages and even the cities to become self-reliant and lower their dependency on LPG, which can save millions of dollars per year for the government through lower oil imports for LPG generation. In the long run, the proposed model relies more on internal revenue generation and phasing out the donation part to enable the GAU-based sustainability model for an economy.

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Working Papers | 2022

Bilevel Optimization: Applications, Models and Solution Approaches

Sachin Jayaswal and Ankur Sinha

Bilevel optimization is a difficult class of optimization problems, which contain an inner optimization problem as a constraint to an outer optimization problem. Such optimization problems are commonly referred to as Stackelberg games in the area of game theory, where a hierarchical interaction between a leader and a follower is modeled. This chapter presents several examples of bilevel optimization problems arising in various contexts, e.g., the product line selection problem and the shortest path interdiction problem. Depending on the context of the problem, the leader and the follower may have the same objective function but with conflicting objectives (max-min in the shortest path interdiction), or may have different objective functions (as in the product line selection problem). Under this hierarchical setting, the leader tries to optimize its own decision by taking into account the rational response of the follower. A bilevel optimization problem is NP-hard even in the simplest case in which the problems of the leader and the follower are both simple linear programs. This chapter discuses classical solution approaches that are based on the reformulation of the bilevel problem into a single level. It also discusses several alternate single-level reformulations for the application problems considered in this chapter.

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Working Papers | 2022

Mutation of the trademark doctrine: Analysing actionable use to reconcile brand identities with constitutional safeguards (Revised version as on 23.05.2022)

M.P. Ram Mohan and Aditya Gupta

Trademarks serve as a storehouse of information, assuring consumers about the quality of a product by ensuring that products bearing the trademark originate from a consistent source. The trademark doctrine has accommodated this position as its underlying thesis for several decades, and consumer confusion has served as a touchstone for trademark liability. However, given the configurations of the modern marketplace, trademarks transcend their role as source-identifiers and are framed in the language of relationships rather than transactions. With continuous and consistent use, trademarks can come to signify opulence, luxury, dependability and become cultural icons. The modern trademark doctrine must accommodate these realities of the marketplace while, at the same time, accommodating the flourishing exchange of expressive uses through unauthorized use of trademarks. This push-and-pull has resulted in complete obliteration of what were already obscure boundaries between the expressive and marketing spheres of trademark law. Drawing from the American, English, and European trademark jurisprudence, the present study examines the normative foundations of the modern trademark doctrine. These foundations are then extrapolated to Indian trademark law to create a workable limitation of mutating trademark doctrine through the actionable use requirement.

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Working Papers | 2022

State-owned banks and credit allocation in India: Evidence from an asset quality review

Abhiman Das, Sanket Mohapatra, and Akshita Nigania

This paper examines the role of state-owned banks' presence in allocation of credit to different sectors in India using the central banks Asset Quality Review (AQR) as a quasi-natural experiment. The AQR resulted in a larger increase in non-performing loans of state-owned banks as compared to other banks. We exploit the heterogeneity in the presence of state-owned and other banks across districts to identify the supply side channels for bank credit reallocation. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we find that the top-third of districts based on presence of state-owned banks branches experienced a higher fall in the share of credit to the industrial sector in the post-AQR period compared to other districts. Such districts also experienced a greater increase in retail loans, which are considered less risky compared to industrial loans. Further, an analysis using a panel vector autoregression finds that the AQR, through an increase in non-performing loans of state-owned banks, led to a decrease in economic growth at the district-level. The results of this study suggest that central bank policy reforms can influence bank credit allocation at the sub national level and have real economy effects.

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Working Papers | 2022

Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on Innovation: Evidence from a Panel of Indian Pharmaceutical Firms

Rakesh Basant and Neha Jaiswal

Based on the literature, the paper identifies processes that get initiated post an M&A event and affect the acquiring firm's innovation efforts. We apply panel fixed effects estimation techniques to analyze the individual impact of mergers and acquisitions on R&D intensity of acquiring firms using data for 217 publically listed Indian pharmaceutical firms (both acquirers and non-acquirers) during 1999-2018. The study finds that acquisitions rather than mergers provide impetus to R&D in the acquiring firms. This suggests that these two combinations-mergers and acquisitions - do not unleash the same type of innovation activity related processes in the acquiring firm. Results also show that when mergers or acquisitions are combined with purchase of assets, they have a positive impact on R&D intensity. Purchase of assets when combined with M&A seem to provide access to relevant complementary assets that makes R&D activity profitable for the acquirer post the merger or acquisition event. Possibly, firms view purchase of assets as a strategy that is complementary to M&A strategies for enhancing innovation. The paper shows that impact of M&A on R&D takes time and it is useful to analyze the impact of mergers and acquisitions separately, rather than combining the two together.

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Working Papers | 2021

Insolvency set offs in India: A comparative perspective

M P Ram Mohan & Vishakha Raj

The overarching objective of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) is to foster rescue culture in India and facilitate the reorganization, restoration and resolution of the corporate debtor rather than its liquidation. However, liquidation has been the most prevalent outcome so far for corporate debtors who have entered into the insolvency resolution process. The liquidation process under the IBC entails an orderly distribution of sale proceeds of the liquidation estate or the unsold assets of the corporate debtor where each creditor receives a proportionate amount of their claims based on their place in the distribution hierarchy of the liquidation process. A creditor’s ability to set off a debt by-passes this orderly scheme of distribution and allows the creditor exercising the set off to be preferred over others to the extent of the set off value. Despite this manifestation of the right to set off, it is preserved in the insolvency and bankruptcy regimes of the US and the UK, the latter making it mandatory. India recognized set offs under insolvency law prior to the enactment of the IBC. After the IBC’s enactment, an indebted creditor’s right to set off during the insolvency resolution process has become ambiguous. The IBC’s protective moratorium during the insolvency resolution process has been used to deny indebted creditors of their ability to exercise set offs against the corporate debtor. This paper analyses the evolution in the Indian position on insolvency set offs and compares it with the treatment of set offs in the UK and the US. The paper finds that set offs are not inherently antithetical to insolvency law and that they can be embraced by the IBC.

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Working Papers | 2021

Exploring Gender Perceptions of Nuclear Energy in India

Mini Govindan and M.P. Ram Mohan

There are numerous studies that have examined the role of gender on differential perceptions on various aspects of energy, including those related to nuclear plants. Yet, few studies have explored the role of changing perceptions and the interaction of conditional factors in shaping the gendered effects, especially from a developing country. This enquiry is critical for the administrative state to understand targeted policy prescriptions. This paper examines the differences in perceptions and related reactions of both men and women living in the vicinity of Kakrapar Atomic Power Station in the Indian state of Gujarat. Although women's disproportionate sensitivity to and lower tolerance of risks is embedded in the broad cultural milieu, the presence of the nuclear plant in their vicinity was not perceived as a larger risk than the possible flooding from the nearby dam or losing livelihood opportunities due to dwindling returns from agriculture. This study challenges the gendered binary thinking in nuclear energy domain in terms of engagement and administration of nuclear energy projects.

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Working Papers | 2021

Intellectual Property licenses in cross-border insolvency: Lessons from In Re Qimonda

M.P. Ram Mohan and Aditya Gupta

Introduced in 2016, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code overhauled the Indian insolvency regime. Five years young, the work in progress Code is now in the process of adopting the Cross-Border insolvency, which was omitted from its original mandate. In 2018, a legislatively appointed committee suggested that the Code should adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross Border Insolvency. However, the Committee overlooked a crucial jurisprudential guideline, which coloured the interpretation of the Model Law, which was delivered in a cross-border insolvency dispute between American and German regimes. An American bankruptcy court subjected the German administration of American Intellectual Property assets to a protection exclusively available within the American Bankruptcy Code. This paper studies the American judicial decisions in the Samsung v. Jaffe dispute to identify and underline the importance of its directive. The study reveals that there is virtually no guidance on how an intellectual property license is treated within the Indian insolvency regime. The authors underline the importance of such guidance considering the proposed adoption of the Model Law and suggest legislative inquiry in the issue.

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