This issue deals with topics such as mutual fund portfolio creation using industry concentration, Malmquist Indices of productivity change in the Indian general insurance sector, prospects and perils of India's leapfrogging steps from bricks-and-mortar to virtual banking, Small-Scale Industries (SSIs) of Punjab, and the impact of mushrooming growth on the quality of management educational institutions in Haryana.

Mutual funds are innovative and provide value-addition in personal finance. Problems occur when a choice has to be made from the large number of mutual funds. Much of the research effort has focused on studying the mutual fund selection on the basis of performance and persistence. However, very little research has been undertaken on the construction of mutual fund portfolio. In their paper, "Mutual Fund Portfolio Creation Using Industry Concentration", Mohit Gupta and Navdeep Aggarwal use the cluster method, taking industry concentration as a variable to construct the portfolio. The performance of two types of portfolios has been compared with selected benchmarks, selected according to the prevalent modes of mutual fund purchase. Results are found to be encouraging, as far as risk mitigation is concerned. This study is also expected to help in the construction of funds.

The Indian insurance industry was under state control till the late 1990s. The Malhotra Committee on reforms in the Indian insurance sector, in its report in 1994, recommended the liberalization of the sector. The sector was finally liberalized in December 1999, with the passing of the Insurance Regulation and Development Act, which brought about changes in the insurance sector. Mahesh Chand Garg and Deepti, in their research paper, "Malmquist Indices of Productivity Change in Indian General Insurance Sector", examine the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) of 12 general insurers in India through the Malmquist Total Factor Productivity Index, using the output maximization model. The Malmquist Index measures the productive change and decomposes the TFP into two components, namely, efficiency change and technical change. The efficiency change is further decomposed into pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency index. The authors' analysis of TFP reveal that United Insurance is the only company that exhibited a decline in productivity growth. Average Factor Productivity (AFP) scores reveal that both public and private insurers reported a growth in productivity, though private insurers seem to be more productive.

Indian economy is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The government of India has been pushing for achieving economic growth and development in all the sectors. SSIs have been one of the major planks of India's economic development strategy since independence. Raj Kumar Gautam and Raghbir Singh, in their research paper, "Small-Scale Industries in Punjab: An Overview", focus on the performance of the small-scale sector of Punjab. SSIs are significantly contributing to the economy of the state. The authors also give an outline of the year-wise growth trends in SSIs, in terms of the number of units, employment generation, fixed investment, production and exports. The new SSI units' registration trends and district-wise distribution of units have also been highlighted here.

In recent years, the banking industry has undergone rapid technological changes and developments. Information Technology (IT) has introduced new business standards and is increasingly playing a significant role in changing the face of the banking industry. The future holds wide vistas in terms of what technology can do for banks. However, the banks must take caution, as every technological tool such as the Internet, has its own shortcomings, which can have major consequences. There are many areas of banking business, such as customer relations, which cannot be delegated entirely to technology. Dhiraj Sharma, in his research paper, "India's Leapfrogging Steps from Bricks-and-Mortar to Virtual Banking: Prospects and Perils", discusses and highlights the prospects and perils associated with the banking technology in India. The author investigates, using document analysis, the problems and prospects of the banking-technology interface in India. An endeavor has been made to judge how the banking business and practices have changed with the introduction of electronic channels. Also, from the viewpoint of technology adoption, the history and trends of e-banking, in both public and private sector banks, have been examined.

The world of management is changing dramatically due to global competition, the country's ever-developing economic profile, innovations and advancements in technology. This has greatly impacted not only the market, but also the education sector. Sunayna Khurana, in her paper, "The Mushrooming Growth of Management Educational Institutions and Its Impact on Quality: A Study of Haryana", attempts to ascertain the reasons for the mushrooming growth of these institutions in Haryana, and to analyze its impact on quality. The author focuses on analyzing the main reasons for the increase in the number of such educational institutions; on examining the interrelationship between the increase in the number of management educational institutions, and the quality initiative adhered to by these institutes, as per the guidelines of statutory bodies like AICTE, UGC, NBA, etc.; and to study the experiential knowledge of mushrooming growth and its practical implications.

-- K Rajanath
Consulting Editor