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The investment behavior of senior citizens is largely shaped by their perception of risk and the need for assured income during retirement. Unlike younger investors, senior citizens prioritize capital preservation, financial stability, and regular income over high returns. This article examines how risk perception influences investment decisions among senior citizens and highlights the importance of income security in shaping their financial choices. It explores the preference for low-risk instruments such as fixed deposits, government-backed savings schemes, pension plans, and post office savings, which offer safety and predictable returns. The study also discusses key factors affecting these decisions, including health concerns, longevity risk, inflation, financial literacy, and dependency on retirement income. By analyzing the behavioral and economic aspects of senior citizens’ investment patterns, the article emphasizes the need for tailored financial products and advisory services that address their unique requirements. The findings underline that a well-balanced investment approach—combining safety, liquidity, and moderate growth—is essential to ensure financial independence and peace of mind in old age. This research contributes to a better understanding of retirement-oriented investment strategies and provides insights for policymakers, financial institutions, and advisors in designing inclusive and secure financial solutions for the aging population.

The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India marked a significant milestone in the country’s tax reform journey. The subsequent amendments, including GST 2, have further refined the tax structure, aiming to ease compliance and reduce tax burdens. This paper examines the impact of GST 2 reforms on the automobile industry, a sector that has witnessed significant changes in tax structures over the years. Automobile is the fastest growing and promising industry all set to make India grow further. India’s automotive industry is a powerhouse, contributing around 7.1% to the country’s GDP and a whopping 49% to its manufacturing GDP. This sector is a massive employment generator, supporting millions of jobs directly and indirectly, and has strong links to other key industries like steel, electronics, and IT. It’s also driving innovation, particularly in green mobility, and playing a crucial role in shaping India’s economic landscape. The GST 2 reforms have brought about several changes, including revised tax rates, altered input tax credit (ITC) structures, and streamlined compliance procedures. This paper analyses the effects of these changes on the automobile industry, focusing on passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and two-wheelers. We examine the impact on vehicle pricing, industry growth, and the overall competitiveness of the sector. This study assesses the pre- and post-GST 2 scenarios, drawing insights from industry data, government reports, and expert opinions. The paper also explores the challenges faced by the industry, including the transition to new tax structures, compliance issues, and the impact on consumer behaviour. This study reveals that the GST 2 reforms have had a mixed impact on the automobile industry. While the reduced tax rates have led to increased demand and growth in certain segments, the industry still grapples with compliance complexities and ITC-related issues. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on tax reforms and their impact on key industries, providing valuable insights for informed decision-making and strategic planning. By examining the GST 2 reforms’ effects on the automobile industry, this paper sheds light on the complexities of tax policy and its far-reaching implications.

This study looks at how Punjab National Bank (PNB) handles credit risk, using information from its annual reports and financial statements. It explores how well PNB manages financial risks and remains profitable by carefully reviewing loan applications, managing bad loans, and adhering to banking rules. To understand how these methods affect the bank’s financial health, the study uses key numbers like the Loan-to-Deposit Ratio and Profit to Assets Ratio. The results show that good credit risk management helps reduce loan defaults and improve the quality of the bank’s assets. However, challenges like economic ups and downs and unreliable borrowers still make things difficult. This highlights the need for flexible and strong risk management practices. Overall, the study provides valuable insights into PNB’s credit risk practices and their implications for maintaining financial soundness and operational efficiency.

This study examines the relationship between non-performing assets (NPAs) and financial stability in the Indian banking sector from 2018 to 2024. Using panel data from scheduled commercial banks (SCBs), the research analyzes trends in gross non-performing assets (GNPA), net non-performing assets (NNPA), and key financial stability indicators including capital adequacy ratio (CAR), return on assets (ROA), and return on equity (ROE). The findings reveal a significant improvement in asset quality, with GNPA ratio declining from 11.2% in March 2018 to 2.6% in September 2024, marking a twelve-year low. Public sector banks demonstrated the most substantial improvement, reducing GNPA from 14.58% to 3.09% during this period. Correlation analysis indicates a strong negative relationship between NPA ratios and profitability metrics (r = -0.87, p < 0.01), suggesting that reduced NPAs significantly enhance bank performance. Regression analysis confirms that capital adequacy ratio, provision coverage ratio, and credit growth significantly influence NPA levels. The study concludes that effective NPA management through regulatory reforms, improved recovery mechanisms, and stringent provisioning norms has substantially strengthened financial stability in the Indian banking system. These findings have important implications for banking policy and risk management strategies in emerging economies.

This paper looks at the design, deployment, and impact of augmented reality (AR) virtual try-on systems in online eyewear retail, focusing on Lenskart. Lenskart is an Indian omnichannel eyewear retailer that has integrated AR and AI into its shopping experience, particularly through a “3D Try On” feature and facial analysis tools. This approach aims to reduce uncertainty in online purchases while improving conversion rates, customer satisfaction, and personalization. Using secondary data from company pages, product and blog posts, app descriptions, as well as industry and academic literature, this study reviews existing research on AR in e-commerce, details Lenskart’s AR capabilities, evaluates the benefits and limitations, and offers recommendations for further research and practical use. Key findings show that AR increases experiential value, reduces perceived risk, and enhances online adoption for visually evaluative products like eyewear. However, issues with technical accuracy, user experience design, accessibility, and privacy management continue to pose significant challenges.

The accounting processes and the role of the profession is undergoing radical transformation with the fast-paced development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data Analytics (BDA) especially in the Industry 6.0. The paper focuses on the effects of AI and BDA in accounting in five key areas such as automation and accounting process efficiency, accounting professional role and skill demands, professional judgment and decision making, ethical, governance, and data security implications, and value creation driven by strategies and sustainability. The study is in the form of the survey data of 574 accounting and finance professionals where the proposed connections are tested on the basis of the reliability analysis, correlation analysis and multiple regression methods. The results indicate that AI and BDA can play a very important role in the accounting outcome and BDA can somewhat more effectively predict the accounting outcome than AI. The most relevant of the two models is generation of strategic and sustainability-oriented values and the decision-making and professional judgement improvement is second. The findings reveal that the ethical governing and data security is required even though the operation is becoming more efficient, the responsible use of technology, which is embraced by use of automation, is required. The current research could be used to supplement the existing literature in the accounting and information systems field by offering empirical evidence of the possible impact that smart technologies have on influencing the professional functions and value creation within the Industry 6.0 environment. The results can provide practical lessons to policymakers, educators, and practitioners who are striving to bridge the gap between accounting competencies, governance system, and sustainability goals and the current digital transformation.

India’s fast shift to digital banking has brought both possibilities and problems, especially in states like Tamil Nadu where differences between cities and rural areas still exist. This research looks at how people in urban and rural areas of Tamil Nadu use digital banking, how satisfied they are with it, and what problems they face when trying to set it up. Using a quantitative study method with stratified random sampling, organized surveys were sent to 400 people (200 from cities and 200 from rural areas) to collect data. The study looks at a lot of different aspects, such as how aware people are, how often they use digital banking, what kinds of services they use, what benefits they think they get, what technology problems they face, and how demographics affect uptake trends. Using chi-square tests, independent t-tests, ANOVA, and association analysis, researchers have found big differences between people in cities and those in rural areas when it comes to how much they use digital banking, how satisfied they are with it, and the problems they face. Urban respondents report higher usage rates, a wider range of services, and better digital skills. In contrast, rural users say that infrastructure problems, trust issues, and a lack of understanding are the main things that keep them from using technology. The results show that while mobile banking is very popular in cities, it is not as popular in rural areas when it comes to internet banking and other advanced digital financial services. Age, school level, and income become important factors in deciding who uses digital banking. The study helps us understand the digital gap in financial services and gives lawmakers, banks, and tech companies useful suggestions on how to make digital banking environments more open to everyone. To close the digital banking gap between cities and rural areas, plans are made to improve digital infrastructure, run tailored financial literacy programs, and create digital solutions that work well in different situations.

The quick penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) into organizational workplaces is changing the nature of job design, the work processes, and the way employees are managed in a fundamental manner. Although AI-driven systems make the systems more efficient, flexible, and more adaptable in decision making, they also pose questions on employee wellbeing and work life balance. This paper explores how AI-based working conditions are changing employee work-life balance, bringing out new managerial issues in the AI age. The study follows the mixed-method research design and is premised on primary data that will be gathered among 450 employees who work in AI-enabled companies. The use of a structured questionnaire and descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, Chi-square test and multiple regression analysis were used to collect quantitative data and to test the patterns, group-wise differences, associations and causal relationships. Besides, semi-structured interviews were performed to gather qualitative data and analyzed by means of manual coding and NVivo-aided thematic analysis to represent in-depth experiences of employees. The results have shown that flexible work schedules and automation with AI positively affect the work-life balance of employees significantly, but digital monitoring systems have a negative impact on stress and work pressure. The results of regression indicate that the factors of the AI-driven work environment can account for a significant share of the variation in the work-life balance of employees. The Chi-square and t-tests also suggest that there exist significant changes and relationships between the demographic and occupational variables. The qualitative data supports the quantitative data, as it identifies such themes as efficiency in the work, stress caused by surveillance, autonomy, and intelligent management of tasks. The study comes to the conclusion that although AI-centered workplaces have more benefits in terms of flexibility and productivity, managerial regulation and ethical AI governance are necessary to protect the welfare of employees. The results have strong implications on managers and policymakers who wish to reconcile technological innovation and sustainable work-life practices in the dynamic digital work place.

Quality of work-life plays a critical role in shaping employee satisfaction, productivity, and the overall effectiveness of higher educational institutions. Female staff in these settings encounter distinct challenges arising from the need to balance demanding professional roles with personal and family responsibilities. The present study was undertaken to examine and compare the quality of work-life experienced by female teaching and administrative staff working in higher educational institutions across Sivagangai District, Tamil Nadu, India. A cross-sectional survey approach was adopted to gather data from 250 female staff members, comprising 150 from the teaching category and 100 from the administrative category, drawn from 15 institutions in the district. A structured questionnaire was used to measure eight dimensions of work-life quality, including work environment, compensation, work-life balance, job security, professional development, organizational culture, autonomy, and health and safety. Findings revealed that teaching staff scored notably higher in professional development and autonomy compared to their administrative counterparts, and the differences were found to be statistically significant. On the other hand, administrative staff reported comparatively better work-life balance than teaching staff. When taken as a whole, both groups registered moderate levels of overall quality of work-life, though teaching staff maintained a marginally higher score

This study investigates how financial literacy and behavioural biases influence investment decision-making among academicians, with an emphasis on the personal, social, and institutional factors shaping their investment behaviour. Primary data were collected from 430 academicians using a structured sampling design. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was employed to identify the latent dimensions underlying investment decisions. The suitability of the dataset for factor analysis was confirmed by a Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) value of 0.724 and a significant Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity (χ² = 1242.428, p < 0.001). Principal Component Analysis extracted key factors influencing investment behaviour, namely financial stress and debt-related pressures, socio-economic and institutional influences, financial knowledge and information processing, and structural and policy support for financial education. The results indicate that academicians’ investment choices are substantially shaped by financial pressures, limited financial knowledge, social and environmental influences, and inadequate access to structured financial education. These constraints often result in risk-averse or inefficient investment decisions. The study underscores the need for targeted financial literacy interventions, improved access to reliable financial information, supportive institutional policies, and the incorporation of investment education into professional development programmes. By providing empirical evidence on the multidimensional determinants of investment behaviour within the academic community, this research contributes to the literature on financial decision-making and offers practical implications for policy and institutional reform.