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The small scale industrial units should be encouraged to replace their outmoded
equipment with that incorporating an up-to-date technology, and facilities and
incentives should be provided wherever required. Up-dating the methods and
techniques of production of quality goods conforming to standards. The role of the
Government in this respect is quite significant. Standardisation of certain products
should be ensured, the quality of products should be guaranteed, and malpractices
like adulteration, misrepresentation, etc., need to be curbed drastically.
(iv) Define privatization.
Privatization has also been used to describe two unrelated transactions. The first is
the buying of all outstanding shares of a publicly traded company by a single entity,
making the company privately owned. This is often described as private equity. The
second is a demutualization of a mutual organization or cooperative to form a joint-
stock company.
under which the government uses its expenditure and revenue programmes to
produce desirable effect & avoid undesirable effect on national income, production
and unemployment. It emphasizes the effect of government expenditure and
revenue upon total economy and argues that they should be used deliberately and
consciously as a balancing factor to secure economic stabilization. “Gerhard Colm
defines fiscal policy as “the conduct of government expenditure, revenues and debt
management in such a way as to take fully into account the effect of these
operations in the allocation of resources and the flow of funds and thereby their
influence on the level of income prices employment and production.”
Note: Answer any two questions. Each question carries 5 marks (Word limits
500)
Q. 2. What is technology? Explain the impact of technology on business.
Ans:
Q. 3. Explain Monetary policy & its effect on business.
Ans: Monetary Policy:-
Monetary policy is the term used by economists to
describe ways of managing the supply of money in an economy. Monetary policy is
the process by which the monetary authority of a country controls the supply of
money, often targeting a rate of interest for the purpose of
promoting economic growth and stability. The official goals usually include
relatively stable prices and low unemployment. Monetary economics provides
insight into how to craft optimal monetary policy.
Monetary policy is referred to as either being expansionary or contractionary, where
an expansionary policy increases the total supply of money in the economy more
rapidly than usual, and contractionary policy expands the money supply more
Name: Nivedita Kushwah Enrollment Number: JNU-jpr/de/15/02/01/07274
slowly than usual or even shrinks it. Expansionary policy is traditionally used to try
to combat unemployment in a recession by lowering interest rates in the hope that
easy credit will entice businesses into expanding. Contractionary policy is intended
to slow inflation in order to avoid the resulting distortions and deterioration of asset
values.
Effect on business:-
The effect of an expansionary monetary policy is to lower the exchange rate,
weaken the financial account and strengthen the current account. A restrictive
monetary policy would be expected to result in the opposite: a higher exchange rate,
a stronger financial account and a weaker current account (a more negative, or a
less positive balance of trade).
current account balance), they will ultimately need to invest that currency in the
assets of the domestic country. This explains why countries such
as China and Japan invest large sums in assets such as U.S. Treasuries. The holders
of the U.S. currency must put it to work somewhere! Note that foreign investors are
often getting better rates of return than what might be readily apparent because the
value of the domestic currency is falling relative to their own currency.
added function: it is the economic process by which a product finds its market, in
which specific risks are to be borne by the trader.
Reforms related to foreign trade:-
In recent years, the government’s stand on trade and investment policy has
displayed a marked shift from protecting ‘producers’ to benefiting ‘consumers’.
This is reflected in its Foreign Trade Policy for 2004/09 which states that, "For
India to become a major player in world trade ...we have also to facilitate those
imports which are required to stimulate our economy."
India is now aggressively pushing for a more liberal global trade regime, especially
in services. It has assumed a leadership role among developing nations in global
trade negotiations, and played a critical part in the Doha negotiations.
India has recently signed trade agreements with its neighbors and is seeking new
ones with the East Asian countries and the United States. Its regional and bilateral
trade agreements - or variants of them - are at different stages of development:
India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement,
Trade Agreements with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, China, and South
Korea.
India-Nepal Trade Treaty,
Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with Singapore.
Framework Agreements with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
Thailand and Chile.
Preferential Trade Agreements with Afghanista, Chile, and Mercosur (the latter is a
trading zone between Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay).
Name: Nivedita Kushwah Enrollment Number: JNU-jpr/de/15/02/01/07274
The term globalization has been increasingly used since the mid-1980s and
especially since the mid-1990s. In 2000, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
identified four basic aspects of globalization
trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement
of people, and the dissemination of knowledge. Further, environmental challenges
such as climate change, cross-Boundary water and air pollution, and over-fishing of
the ocean are linked with globalization. Globalizing processes affect and are
affected by business and work organization, economics, socio-cultural resources,
and the natural environment.
Note: Answer any two questions. Each question carries 5 marks (Word limits
500)
Q. 2. Explain various challenges to disinvestment programme.
Ans: The various challenges to disinvestment programme are as under :-
But proponents of reform think that such criticism should not deter the Government
from reviving its disinvestment policy, and they think the time is ripe to do so.
For, the forthcoming Budget will perhaps be the last opportunity for the UPA
Government to prove its credibility with some significant reforms. The next two
years may well go in managing the political economy ahead of the next general
elections. Second, for the past four years, the economy has turned in a consistently
robust performance and this now needs to be leveraged by bold policy initiatives.
Third, the nagging worries over the poor physical and social infrastructure such as
power, irrigation, rural connectivity, education, and health. Apart from policy and
institutional support, these functional areas call for massive financing support from
the government. Indeed, the sustainability of high economic growth will be
circumscribed by how effectively the government deals with these challenges.
Economic resurgence
It is essential that the Government sends a powerful message of its ability to push
through some challenging reforms such as disinvestment and/or strategic sale of
PSUs. At this stage, such efforts make sense for a variety of reasons: First, the
Centre has the major responsibility of improving the budgetary health on a
sustained basis, not just in response to the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget
Management Act targets, but also to keep on a tight leash its internal indebtedness.
India's debt-GDP ratio (excluding contingent liabilities) continues to be very high at
about 68 per cent, and annual debt servicing at Rs.381,929 croreknocks off over 38
per cent of total revenue receipts of the Central Budget. Withdrawal of budgetary
support to sick PSUs will reduce the pressure on budgetary resources immediately,
Name: Nivedita Kushwah Enrollment Number: JNU-jpr/de/15/02/01/07274
while the subsequent strategic sale will unlock significant resources. A part of this
can be used to repay the governments' high-cost debt. Second, a number of PSUs
that are partly divested have been seeing unprecedented valuations, thanks to their
improved performance. The opportunities afforded by the excellent valuations,
based on the performance of many profit-making PSUs, must be leveraged.
Capital raising activities of the private corporate sector are on the rise and in the
coming yearmajor companies together are expected to raise a
whopping Rs. 100,000 crorefrom the capital market. Why should profit-making
PSUs shy away or be denied the opportunity of raising new equity and in the
process also divest a part of the existing equity capital is a moot question.
Third, and related to the previous observation, is the issue of expanding the equity
base of the economy on a continuous basis, given that now there is a robust capital
market infrastructure and the need to make available an increased quantity of
quality equity to investors. In fact, a reactivated disinvestment programme will
provide a powerful thrust to spread the equity culture and strengthen the capital
market.
Q. 3. Explain Fiscal policy & its effect on business.
Ans: Government spending policies that influence macroeconomic conditions.
Through fiscal policy, regulators attempt to improve unemployment rates, control
inflation, stabilize business cycles and influence interest rates in an effort to control
the economy. Fiscal policy is largely based on the ideas of British economist John
Name: Nivedita Kushwah Enrollment Number: JNU-jpr/de/15/02/01/07274
Changes in income taxes affect the incentive to work. Consider the impact of
a rise in income tax.
This has the effect of reducing the post-tax income of those in work because
for each hour of work taken the total net income is now lower.
This might encourage the individual to work more hours to maintain his/her
target income.
Conversely, the effect might be less work since the return from each hour
worked is less.
Changes to the tax and benefit system seek to reduce the risk of the ‘poverty
trap’ – where households on low incomes see little financial benefit from
supplying extra hours of their labour
Changes to indirect taxes can alter the pattern of demand for goods and
services
For example, the rising value of duty on cigarettes and alcohol is designed to
cause a substitution effect and reduce the demand for what are perceived
as “de-merit goods”.
Name: Nivedita Kushwah Enrollment Number: JNU-jpr/de/15/02/01/07274
The use of indirect taxation and subsidies is often justified on the grounds of
instances of market failure. But there might also be a justification based on
achieving a more equitable allocation of resources – e.g. providing basic
state health care free at the point of use.
Some economists argue that taxes can have a significant effect on the
intensity with which people work and productivity. But there is little strong
empirical evidence to support this view. Many factors contribute to
improving productivity – tax changes can play a role - but isolating the
impact of tax cuts on productivity is extremely difficult.
Many countries introduced a fiscal stimulus during the years 2008-2010 to boost
confidence and demand and prevent a deflationary slump. But how effective is
fiscal policy in the aftermath of a huge global demand shock? What are some of the
consequences of a big rise in government borrowing?