Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) were established with the objective of strengthening rural credit structure and to extend banking services to rural areas. The RRBs have done well in the areas of branch expansion in rural areas and in providing institutional credit to the weaker sections of the society, but their performance in the areas of deposit mobilization, reserves and viability is very much discouraging. The unsatisfactory performance or RRBs is due to huge accumulated losses, poor recovery performance and increasing non-performing assets. There is a feeling that most of the RRBs are becoming non-viable in the country. Therefore, there is a need for a thorough examination of viability position of RRBs. For this purpose efforts should be made to investigate into the reasons for the operational aspects of RRBs and measure should be initiated to make them viable. In this direction, the present study is an attempt to examine the economic viability of RRBs. The book provides the comprehensive coverage of aspects relating to RRBs such as growth of deposits, advances, number of branches, reserves, cost of operation, revenues, economic viability, etc. The study is mainly based on the examination of the economic viability of two selected RRBs in A.P. The conclusions drawn and suggestions made in this study are useful for the policy makers for improving the economic viability of the RRBs and also for strengthening the rural banking system.

The concept of District Industries Centres (DICs) came into being as a brain child of the Industrial Policy Statement of 1977 to facilitate industrial development in the small scale sector for fulfilling the twin purposes of the development of semi-urban as will as rural areas and also the economic and sociological growth of the small entrepreneur. The DICs act as a nodal agency at the pre-investment, investment, post-investment stages and play a vital role in the industrial development at the district level thereby contributing indirectly to the economic development of the state and the nation. They have completed more than a decade of service and the present book is an in depth study of the working of DICs in Andhra Pradesh covering the overall performance and also providing suggestions for improvement and better effectiveness.

Decentralised planning is a system through which planning process is brought close to the people who are ultimate target for the development. It is a multi-level planning system in which planning is attempted at different political, administrative and executive levels, so that there is greater integration between the development needs and priorities of smaller areas (micro-region) and different socio-economic classes with the regional, state and district level. The present work is an empirical study on decentralised planning in India. The major chapters are: Introduction; Decentralised planning in Karnataka; Decentralised Planning in Operation: Case of Karnataka; Decentralised Aspects of Decentralisation and Planning in Kerla; The Comparison; Synthesis, Findings and Recent Developments; etc. Besides the academic value this book will prove of utmost use for policy planners and administrators.

The Indian capital market has witnessed major transformation and structural change during the past one decade as a result of on going economic reforms initiated by the Government of India since 1991. These reforms have been aimed at improving market efficiency, enhancing transparency, checking unfair trade practices and bringing the Indian capital market up to international standards. The reforms have brought about changes in institutional character of the market; regulatory environment in which it functions; investors' profile and technology of the market. This volume has brought together empirical researches carried out on various aspects of the Indian Capital Market during the past decade. It includes, inter- alia research studies relating to

. IPOs
. Corporate Governance
. E-Marketplaces for Financial Products
. Market efficiency and Anomalies
. Market Micro Structure
. Mutual Funds Performance
. Financial Derivatives


The papers have been contributed by well-known persons from both academia and industry. The book will be useful of research scholars, students pursuing professional courses such as M.B.A., M.F.C., M.B.E., M.I.B. and other related programmes, practitioners and policy makers.