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Crises are an intrinsic feature of the market–oriented credit and financial system. Business cycles showing periods of boom and bust will continue to occur, only the intensity shall matter. An unprecedented crisis that erupted in five Asian economies: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillipines, the Republic of Korea and Thailand, in mid 1997-1998 raised concern about the stability of the "Global Financial Architecture." The clear evidence emerged of a rapid and unsustainable buildup of investment in fixed assets financed by excessive borrowing. This investment-spending spree resulted in poor profitability, reflected in low and declining returns on equity and on capital employed. The severity of the crisis in the Asian region was so great that some other countries in the world – Brazil and Russia, in particular also got affected by the contagion.

AbstractRecently, the thought processes of consumers are evolving universally, making them reflective of the detrimental ecological footprints owing to excessive fashion consumption at a personal level. Consequently, they are increasingly thinking about accessing alternative, sustainable modes of consuming fashion. Furthermore, this transition is being witnessed across the generations and is not confined to any one generation. The current study pertains to the recent shift of "Generation X" towards fashion rentals. However, Gen X is considered less experimental, more conservative, and therefore less lucrative. To this end, the current study explores the barriers to Gen X's adoption of fashion rental and suggests motivations to promote it. It employs an interpretive qualitative research paradigm, obtains data from 32 Gen X fashion consumers via semi‐structured interviews, analyses the data using thematic analysis, and uses the theory of psychological ownership and the Hofstede cultural dimensions as an underpinning framework. Results indicate the emergence of six themes representing barriers, including loss of efficacy and effectance, loss of self‐identity and extended self, temporariness, environmental unsustainability, personal hygiene behaviour, and lifestyle. Similarly, motivations included three themes: long‐term subscriptions; transparency and assurances; and personalisation and storytelling. This implies that fashion rental firms need to embrace transparency and empower consumers through co‐creation, long‐term rental subscriptions, and the possibilities of possession. Further, the paper contributes to the identification of new dimensions, including a lack of nostalgia, risk avoidance, personal hygiene, an absence of personalisation, a dearth of education, emotional detachment, and voluntary simplicity in lifestyle. It also suggests future research.

Klaus Schwab has observed that, "The Fourth Industrial Revolution, finally, will change not only what we do but also who we are. It will affect our identity and all the issues associated with it: our sense of privacy, our notions of ownership, our consumption patterns, the time we devote to work and leisure, and how we develop our careers, cultivate our skills, meet people, and nurture relationships." Advances in Artificial intelligence have transformed our world. John McCarthy from the Computer Science Department of Stanford University coined the termand defined it as, the science and engineering of making intelligent machines. Artificial intelligence is where a machine possesses the intelligence as that of a human being. Such machines with artificial intelligence, like anyother human being can react to and contemplate the environment it is in and react accordingly. It collects information around it and has the ability to take decisions accordingly. This system of artificial intelligence though sounds helpful on prima facie understanding; it has been a threat to the privacy of an individual. These artificial intelligence mechanisms are controlled by softwares which are developed by human entities. Such owners have a control over the action and reaction of the artificial intelligence mechanism. In today's digitalised world every individual in one or the other way is subject to the use of technology. Enormous amount of personal data is stored as digital data, which the artificial intelligence mechanism is making use of, in view of the betterment of standard of living. On the flip side, all personal data including our finger prints, travel details, frequent interaction with a particular persons, medical reports are collected, stored, processed, profiled with the help of Artificial Intelligence. This invades a person's privacy. In this background, the paper tries to analyze the invasion of privacy by Artificial Intelligence and the ill-effects of the same. In the guise of public good even the government has adopted AI mechanisms which lead to questioning the governmental action. Likewise, there is hardly any legislation that regulates these aspects either on the national or on the international platform. The paper focuses on India and lack of any legislation till date to protect an individual's Privacy. Since the Supreme Court of India has upheld that right to privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, though not an absolute right, it is high time a comprehensive Privacy legislation is enacted in India.

Tax policy and tax administration are inextricably linked. The success of any tax policy depends to a large extent on efficient tax administration which would necessitate minimising arrears of assessment and collection, pendency of appeals, tax avoidance and tax evasion and improve taxpayers' compliance. Despite increased collections, the prevailing system of direct taxes is beset with problem of increasing arrears of assessments and collections, pendency of appeals, delays in refunds and mounting tax evasion. Collection of every tax involves some money cost for the government and compliance cost (both in money and in real terms) for the taxpayers. It is desirable that these costs should be minimised. However, minimising the cost of collection does not mean that administrative staff should be kept at minimum. On the contrary, it is desirable that administrative strength of the Department should be considerably increased. Stress should be laid on effective and efficient administration.