In the Indian context, financial planning for salaried individuals has gained increased importance due to economic fluctuations, rising living costs, and the need for robust retirement planning. Despite its importance, there is limited research on the specific factors that influence financial decision-making among salaried employees in India. Understanding these determinants is essential for developing effective strategies to enhance financial well-being among employees. This study explores the key factors influencing financial decision-making among employees, including financial goals, emergency savings, retirement planning, budgeting, financial confidence and literacy, financial stress, use of tax-saving instruments, income level, risk tolerance, and debt levels. A sample of 549 employees from diverse sectors in Uttar Pradesh participated in this research, highlighting the critical aspects of personal financial management that impact financial well-being. The study used a questionnaire-based survey to gather data on factors affecting financial decision-making. Descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analyses were employed to identify significant predictors. The results reveal that financial literacy, access to resources, attitudes toward retirement planning, and cultural norms significantly influence financial decisions. Additionally, income level, job stability, and social support are crucial in shaping employees’ financial planning. The study recommends enhancing employees’ financial decision-making by offering financial education programs, budgeting tools, retirement planning assistance, debt management programs, tax planning workshops, financial counselling services, and employer match programs for retirement savings. These initiatives aim to boost financial literacy and confidence, enabling employees to make informed financial decisions and improve their financial well-being.

With the declaration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the importance of localisation principles and, consequently, the local-level institutions in implementing development policies came to the forefront. India adopted a thematic approach by condensing the seventeen goals into nine themes, to be worked upon by the local administrative units, furthering that each Village Panchayat (constitutionally known as Grama Panchayats) should select a theme in a plan year and strive towards attaining it. For the South Indian state of Kerala, with its good trajectory of decentralised governance, this localisation process of SDGs was rather smooth. In this article, we discuss the case of the best-performing Grama Panchayat (GP) in Kerala, which has identified ‘Village with Self-Sufficient Infrastructure’ as the development theme. Through qualitative research methodology, we examine how the Panchayat included projects specific to this theme in the development plans and how the implementation helped produce effects on multidimensional aspects of SDGs using the SDG Impact Assessment Tool. The case studies of different infrastructure-based projects endorse that with proper planning and implementation of such projects, the lowest tier of administration can significantly contribute to the improvement of development goals. We have delineated full fund utilisation through convergence schemes, community participation, and strong monitoring mechanisms as the factors leading the selected Panchayat to be the champion of the cause. The accomplishment exhibited by the Panchayat by integrating SDGs into the Village Development Plan through the projects on the theme of self-sufficient infrastructure can be well emulated by other local bodies across the world.

The rapid advancement of financial technology (Fintech) has revolutionized the way financial transactions are conducted, with E-payment services becoming increasingly integral to daily commerce. This paper examines consumer perceptions and attitudes towards E-payment services offered by Fintech companies, identifying key factors that influence their acceptance and usage. Employing a quantitative approach, the research integrates quantitative data from surveys and applied SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) through AMOS. Out of 450, 420 respondents have given their views on perceptual preferences and attitudes with the help of SPSS. KMO and Bartlett’s Test are executed to understand and to check the factors for implementing factor analysis further through extractions. Anticipated findings are expected to reveal a spectrum of consumer attitudes shaped by factors such as trust, security, convenience, and technological familiarity. It contributes to the existing literature by providing updated insights into consumer behaviour in the Fintech sector and suggesting actionable strategies for service providers to enhance user engagement and satisfaction. It holds the potential to inform both theoretical frameworks in technology acceptance and practical marketing strategies for Fintech companies aiming to optimize E-payment services for diverse consumer bases.

The global economic recession has caused pessimism in terms of prospects of sales recovering in the future. The present study is an attempt to investigate the cost stickiness behavior by focusing on specific characteristics of companies. The research was done through documentary analysis and access to quantitative data, with the use of statistical methods for analysis as panel data. The statistical population of the actual study included all companies listed on the India stock exchange from 2017 to 2021. They were selected after screening 128 listed companies. The regression method was used to examine the relationship between variables and to present a forecast model. The results of testing the first hypothesis showed that companies’ costs are sticky and according to the results of this hypothesis, an increase in costs when the level of activity increases is greater than the level of reduction in costs when the volumes of the activities are decreased. The results of the second hypothesis showed a remarkable relationship between the cost stickiness and specific characteristics of companies (size, number of employees, long-term assets, financial leverage, and accuracy of profits forecast). Based on the third hypothesis, there is a notable difference between cost stickiness at different levels of specific characteristics of companies. Therefore, the results show that environmental uncertainty such as COVID-19, increases cost stickiness.

The article aims to evaluate the participation of below-poverty-line local community in tourism-related business activity in Himalayan state of Uttarakhand. Further, this article addressed for those who work in the tourism sector. The study employs a mix of methods, including survey data from 500 respondents with a random sampling approach, using Analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical tools for analysis, other methods were interviews and observations at six tourism sites in Garhwal and four sites in Kumaun. Our findings showed that there has declined in community participation in tourism development, due to the lack of economic benefits obtained in the tourism sector, many believe that the tourism sector does not provide much income growth for them and does not make a significant contribution to the development of their region. Moreover, lack of understanding is considered the basis for community’s inability to play an active role, and lack of stakeholders’ involvement in encouraging them to improve their economy and culture through the tourism sector. Ultimately, this research also underlines the existence of some efforts by tourism travel to encourage public trust, which can help reduce poverty and increase community trust in tourism development in their region.

India has experienced notable advancements in trade liberalization, innovation tactics, urbanization, financial expansion, and sophisticated economic development. Researchers are focusing more on how much energy consumption of both renewable and non-renewable accounts for overall system energy consumption in light of these dynamics. In order to gain an understanding of this important and contentious issue, we aim to examine the impact of trade openness, inventions, urbanization, financial expansion, economic development, and carbon emissions affected the usage of renewable and non-renewable energy (REU and N-REU) in India between 1980 and 2020. We apply the econometric approach involving unit root tests, FE-OLS, D-OLS, and FM-OLS, and a new Quantile Regression approach (QR). The empirical results demonstrate that trade openness, urbanization and CO₂ emissions are statistically significant and negatively linked with renewable energy utilization. In contrast, technological innovations, financial development, and economic development in India have become a source of increase in renewable energy utilization. Technological innovations were considered negatively and statistically significant in connection with non-renewable energy utilization, whereas the trade, urbanization, financial growth, economic growth, and carbon emissions have been established that positively and statistically significant influence non-renewable energy utilization. The empirical results of this study offer some policy recommendations. For instance, as financial markets are the primary drivers of economic growth and the renewable energy sector in India, they should be supported in order to reduce CO₂ emissions.