ajay.karanjia95@gmail.com

This study investigates the impact of consumer mood on impulse buying behavior in organized retail stores in Varanasi, considering factors such as promotions, store layout, and perceived cash availability. Data were collected from 160 shoppers across major retail outlets including Jiomart, Spencers, Zudio, Vishal Mega Mart, and V2Kart, of which 140 valid responses were analyzed using IBM SPSS 26 and SmartPLS 4. The findings reveal that the store environment significantly influences consumer emotions, which subsequently affect shopping experience and perceived cash availability. However, promotions and discounts were found to have no significant impact on consumer mood, indicating that while they attract customers, they do not necessarily enhance emotional states during shopping. Importantly, consumer mood acts as a key moderator of impulse buying behavior, with positive moods increasing the likelihood of impulsive purchases. The study suggests that retailers can improve sales by designing favorable store environments that positively influence shoppers’ emotional experiences.

Mutual funds are pooled investment vehicles that offer diversification, professional management, and accessibility to investors. This study evaluates the performance of selected equity mutual funds in India using Sharpe Ratio, Treynor Ratio, and Jensen’s Alpha over a five-year period from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2025. The study is based on secondary data. The analysis covers small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap schemes from leading Asset Management Companies. Results indicate that Nippon Life India Mutual Fund consistently achieves superior risk-adjusted returns across categories. The study underscores the importance of evaluating both return and risk in mutual fund selection for informed investment decisions. The findings offer practical insights for investors, fund managers, and policymakers by identifying high-performing funds and promoting systematic performance evaluation. This research contributes to the literature on mutual fund analysis in emerging markets, particularly within the Indian financial landscape.

State Bank of India plays a vital role in the global economy, and its employees are the best source of providing services to customers. Excellent services are offered by employees who create an optimistic perception and enduring image in the eyes of the bank’s customers. The motivation of a bank employee plays a key role in realizing high-level satisfaction among its customers. The banking industry, viewed from the staff’s angle, has its peculiarities. It is a labour-intensive industry, and the excellence of employees has an impact on the quality of services offered. Though the management of employees should have gained better significance but unfortunately, employees happened to be the neglected aspect of bank management. The typical working of banks is such that employees do not require any professional training, and it is strongly believed that everyone can do all the work of the bank. This aspect is further accentuated by the fact that banks operate in a sellers’ market with a total absence of an element of competition. Banks, though, operate in a protected environment controlled by RBI, the need for professionalization of bank management was never felt because the workforce happened to be managed by a non-expert regarding management. With the implementation of the recommendations of the Pillai Committee, a controversy was raging among bankers whether or not Personnel Management is a specialized function. Hence, the present study focuses on employee excellence in the State Bank of India with reference to Perambalur district, and the study is based on both Primary and Secondary sources of data collection.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a key component of corporate governance and stakeholder engagement, especially in India, where CSR spending became mandatory under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013. The present study examines the relationship between CSR expenditure and stock prices of the top ten companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) based on market capitalisation. The study is based on secondary data collected from annual reports, CSR disclosures, and NSE stock price records for a ten-year period. Statistical tools such as correlation and simple linear regression were employed to analyse the relationship between CSR spending (independent variable) and stock price performance (dependent variable). The findings reveal a weak and statistically insignificant relationship between CSR expenditure and stock prices. The overall correlation coefficient was 0.0855, indicating minimal association between the variables. Similarly, the regression results demonstrated a low R-square value of 0.008, suggesting that CSR spending explains less than 1% of the variation in stock prices. The regression coefficient for CSR was positive but not statistically significant (p = 0.345), leading to the acceptance of the null hypothesis that CSR expenditure does not significantly impact stock prices of selected NSE- listed firms.
The study concludes that CSR spending, although essential for compliance and ethical positioning, may not yet be perceived by investors as a direct determinant of stock market performance in the Indian context. The results imply that the financial market may value CSR benefits as long-term and intangible rather than short-term monetary gains. The study suggests incorporating more variables, such as ESG ratings, profitability measures, and event-based analysis, in future research to better understand investor perception and market behaviour toward socially responsible corporate actions. Overall, the findings suggest that the impact of CSR on stock market performance is not uniform across companies but depends on sectoral dynamics, investor sentiment, perceived CSR effectiveness, and the strategic integration of CSR within corporate operations.

The article is dedicated to the analysis of internal organizational mechanisms that shape consumer loyalty in highly competitive service markets. The relevance of the study stems from the persistent gap between high customer satisfaction indicators and ongoing loyalty erosion observed across service industries. The novelty of the work lies in shifting analytical attention from external loyalty instruments toward the internal architecture of service organizations, where workflows, employee conditions, and technological mediation interact. The work describes how standardization, customization, internal service quality, role stress, service recovery practices, and algorithmic management jointly influence the stability or fragility of loyalty. Special attention is paid to the tension between efficiency-oriented organizational control and the need for authenticity and autonomy in frontline service encounters. The study sets itself the task of identifying configurations of organizational mechanisms that enable loyalty to emerge as a relational outcome rather than a transactional residue. Conceptual analysis, comparative synthesis, and structured interpretation of existing empirical findings are used to solve this task. The conclusion demonstrates that loyalty functions as an emergent property of organizational integrity rather than a directly engineered asset. The article will be useful for researchers and practitioners in service management, organizational design, and customer engagement strategy.

The study looks at how important borrowing money from banks is for the fishing business in Tamil Nadu to grow. A lot of people in the state make their living from fishing, which is a big part of the business. Banks that are run by the government help sailors and fish farmers by lending them money for short-term needs, to buy things, and to learn how to use new technology. This study asks 384 people in coastal Tamil Nadu how easy it is to get credit, what they do with it, and how that affects income and output growth. We can see that bank credit has helped with growth efforts. Not enough people know about the business, there is too much paperwork, and loans are too small to make it grow. Getting a loan is strongly connected to several things that promote growth. Number-based tests like chi-square, ANOVA, and regression models can show this. Credit is given in a very bad way right now. The study suggests rules changes that will help more people in the fishing line get credit. This study gave us more information about the connection between the government credit systems of coastal countries and the long-term growth of fishing. The fishing business in Tamil Nadu, financial inclusion, seaside growth, country banks, getting more done with less, and loans are some of the things that this piece talks about.

The launch of the BVMAC in 2009 was seen as a milestone for the financial sector in Central African zone to provide more financing choices for domestic companies. However, for over a decade, BVMAC remained among the smallest stock markets globally. This study examines why companies refrain from listing in the BVMAC. Through an exploratory study, critical insights into the challenges hindering the adoption of initial public offerings (IPOs) on BVMAC are revealed. Information was collected using semi-structured interviews with five (5) CEO/founders of companies. These CEO/founders were sampled using purposive and convenience sampling techniques. Based on the content analysis of wordings from the responses of the interviews, it is deduced that several reasons related to market liquidity and development, the preference of other options of financing, lack of sufficient information pertaining to listing process and benefits, high costs of listing, complex and complicated listing process, fear of losing control, privacy concern, pressure and scrutiny from shareholders, investors and media, stringent regulatory framework and administrative compliance, lack of investors’ interests on activities of some sectors and to invest in stock exchange markets, high volatility of some activities depending on external factors making revenues to be instable and unpredictable were potential impediments to listing of companies on BVMAC. Basically, it is fundamental for BVMAC to revisit its listing cost structure or fees, procedures and regulatory scrutiny. On the other hand, innovative listing mechanisms or alternative financing options should be implemented offering a greater degree of freedom, discretion, control and privacy to listed companies.

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) serve as vital conduits for financial inclusion among low-income populations, particularly in emerging economies like India, where they extend credit, savings, and insurance to millions excluded from formal banking. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) play a crucial role in promoting financial inclusion, particularly for low-income borrowers in emerging economies like India. This study examines the antecedents of borrower self-sufficiency—such as access to credit, social capital, loan monitoring, income diversification, regulatory compliance, and digital financial services adoption—and their impact on MFI sustainability, measured by financial indicators like return on assets (ROA), loan loss rate, and portfolio at risk. The long-term viability of these institutions increasingly depends on fostering borrower self-sufficiency, defined as the capacity of clients to generate sustainable livelihoods, repay loans without external aid, and transition out of dependency cycles. This study delves into the antecedents of borrower self-sufficiency such as financial literacy, access to training, entrepreneurial skills, and group lending dynamics and rigorously examines their cascading impact on key MFI sustainability metrics, including operational self-sufficiency (OSS) and financial self-sufficiency (FSS). Employing a mixed-methods framework with primary data from 400 borrowers across 10 MFIs in Tamil Nadu, structural equation modeling (SEM) uncovers robust relationships: financial literacy emerges as the strongest predictor with a standardized beta of 0.42 (p < 0.01), correlating with a 25% reduction in default rates and an 18% uplift in OSS. Training programs and entrepreneurial skills follow closely, while group dynamics reinforce repayment discipline through social collateral (beta = 0.22, p < 0.05). A novel contribution is the development of a “borrower self-sufficiency index,” integrating income stability, repayment autonomy, and skill proficiency, which offers MFIs a practical diagnostic tool absent in prior literature. These findings not only bridge theoretical gaps by linking micro-level borrower behaviours to macro-institutional outcomes but also provide actionable policy recommendations for regulators and practitioners aiming to scale sustainable microfinance amid digital disruptions and regulatory scrutiny.

Smart City initiatives aim to foster sustainable urban development by integrating technology, infrastructure, and governance to improve the socio-economic conditions of urban residents. In Tamil Nadu, several urban centers have implemented Smart City projects focusing on employment generation, infrastructure development, digital inclusion, and improved quality of life. This study examines the socio-economic upliftment outcomes of Smart City initiatives in selected urban areas of Tamil Nadu from the perspective of citizens. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaires administered to urban residents. The findings indicate that Smart City initiatives have positively influenced employment opportunities, access to public services, income levels, and living standards. However, issues such as unequal distribution of benefits, digital divide, and rising urban costs persist. The study provides insights for policymakers to enhance inclusivity and maximize socio-economic benefits of Smart City programs.

Occupational stress has become a serious concern in higher education institutions, particularly among engineering faculty who are required to manage multiple responsibilities such as teaching, research, student mentoring, accreditation work, and administrative duties. When professional demands exceed coping capacity, stress develops and adversely affects both individual well-being and institutional performance. This study examines the major causes of occupational stress among engineering faculty in Tamil Nadu and analyzes how stress influences teaching effectiveness, research productivity, job satisfaction, and psychological well-being. Using a descriptive research design and survey method, data were collected from 150 faculty members across various engineering colleges. The study reveals a significant negative relationship between occupational stress and faculty performance. The paper concludes with institutional and individual strategies to manage stress and enhance academic performance.