http://dspace.dtu.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/repository/16282 2026-08-12T11:47:32Z http://dspace.dtu.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/repository/23065 Title: ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF PRIVATE EQUITY IN MODERN BUSINESS FINANCE Authors: GARG, ANUBHI; Malviya, Rakesh (SUPERVISOR) Abstract: Exclusive equity features surfaced as being a force that is transformative modern-day company financing, reshaping how businesses protected funding, grow, and develop value. This market, along with its diverse expense techniques, have developed notably from its historic origins in capital raising and leveraged buyouts. Investment capital fuels innovation by giving funding that is early-stage startups with high growth potential, exemplified by achievements stories like Twitter and Google. Progress equity bridges the gap between early-stage and buyout financing, allowing set up enterprises to grow and scale while keeping freedom. Leveraged buyouts (LBOs) continue to be a center part of private assets, relating to the exchange of agencies, often making use of debt that is substantial aided by the purpose of optimizing their unique overall performance and selling all of them in a revenue. Distressed personal debt investments, having said that, involves obtaining troubled organization personal debt and profit that is seeking restructuring or recuperation. Mezzanine funding offers a blend that is flexible of and assets to support different corporate activities. Private assets companies were actively mixed up in management of their unique portfolio providers, adding market expertise and guidance that is strategic. This hands-on approach distinguishes them from passive public equity investors and it has influenced corporate governance and performance in public organizations. The exclusive assets business keeps lured substantial investment from institutional buyers, pension funds, and high-net-worth individuals looking for greater returns than traditional asset classes promote. It has also facilitated economic development and entrepreneurship in rising areas. But, private equity faces criticism, mainly connected with short term profit focus plus the possibility of excessive personal debt burdens in portfolio organizations. Openness, accountability, and honest concerns persist, with ongoing arguments concerning taxation, taken interest, and ESG factors. In recent times, ESG principles have attained prominence, persuasive private money businesses to consider accountable and renewable expense tactics. Because the business will ix continue to evolve, the impact on companies, buyers, and community continues to be a topic of interest and debate. In essence, private assets has turned into a vibrant and influential motorist of economic growth and creativity, while simultaneously grappling with all the difficulties of liable control and moral investing for the business landscape that is modern. 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.dtu.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/repository/23064 Title: EFFECTS OF DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS ON BEHAVIOUR BIAS IN INVESTORS Authors: ISHIKA; Seema (SUPERVISOR) Abstract: In this regard, the current research paper, entitled "Impact of Demographic Factors on Behavioural Biases Among Investors," has been carried out to identify the effect of demographics on the behaviourial biases among investors. In this regard, there are four major behavioral biases including Confirmation Bias, Loss Aversion Bias, Herding Bias, and Anchoring Bias which will be studied with the aid of various demographic factors such as Gender, Age, Educational Qualifications, and Investment Experience. Behavioral finance is one of the emerging branches of finance nowadays as the conventional financial theories consider investors to be rational in nature. Nevertheless, the behaviorial aspects like heuristics, emotions, and psychology of the investor come into play when the investor makes any decision pertaining to the financial arena. Such behavioral biases have implications in the performance and risk management practices of the investors' portfolio. This research is descriptive, analytical, and quantitative in its approach. Primary data were obtained from 200 respondents through the use of structured questionnaires that were sent through Google Forms. The respondents who participated in the study had previous experience in making investments in financial tools including stocks, mutual funds, SIPs, ETFs, and others. The questionnaire was made up of two parts. The first part of the survey asked questions pertaining to demographics of the respondents such as gender, age, education, and previous experience in making investments. The second part comprised questions that pertained to the four behavioral biases being considered in the research. For gathering behavioral responses, the researcher employed the 5-point Likert Scale. Purposive Sampling technique was employed for this study since it focused on participants who had some form of prior investment knowledge. The data collected was analyzed through statistical means including: • Descriptive Statistics • Cronbach’s Alpha • Chi-Square Test • Spearman’s Rank Correlation • Multiple Linear Regression Analysis Descriptive Statistics was applied to obtain information related to demographics of participants. It was found from the analysis that most respondents were between 21-25 years old and had completed either vi their under-graduation or post-graduation. Moreover, most respondents had investment experience below three years. Cronbach’s Alpha was employed to measure reliability of the questionnaire items. It is important to note that reliability scores received for all behavioural biases were above the threshold score, which suggests that the research tool had high reliability. To investigate associations between behavioral biases and demographic variables, chi-square test was conducted. According to the results, there was a statistically significant association between: • Age and Confirmation Bias • Educational Qualification and Loss Aversion Bias • Age, Educational Qualification, and Investment Experience with Herding Bias • Gender and Anchoring Bias Spearman’s Rank Correlation analysis was performed to find out the strength and direction of associations among demographic factors and behavioral biases. It was found that Educational Qualification had a significant negative correlation with Confirmation Bias, which means that educated people were less prone to exhibit confirmation bias. Similarly, Loss Aversion Bias had significant negative correlations with Age, Educational Qualification, and Investment Experience. It means that educated, older, and experienced individuals had lesser tendency to behave in a loss averse manner. Herding Bias was found to have significant negative correlations with Age and Educational Qualification, which means that older and educated investors had lower herding tendencies. Anchoring Bias did not display significant correlations with other variables in the correlation analysis. Multiple Linear Regression analysis was performed to determine the overall impact of demographic factors on behavioral biases. As per the regression findings, demographic factors accounted for a moderate amount of variation for Loss Aversion Bias and Herding Bias. One of the main demographic factors influencing investor behavior was found to be Educational Qualification. The conclusions drawn from the research findings state that investor behavior is not entirely rational and is largely impacted by psychological and demographic factors. Behavioral biases are likely to affect investor decisions and may have implications for the financial welfare of the investors. Hence, the emphasis must be placed on enhancing financial literacy and investment knowledge among the investors. vii This research adds to the existing body of knowledge on Behavioral Finance through its insights on how demographic factors impact the investor behavior in India. The research findings can prove beneficial for investors, financial advisors, educational institutions, policy makers and financial regulatory authorities in devising methods to increase investor awareness. 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.dtu.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/repository/23063 Title: ANALYSIS ON THE PRESCRIPTIVE PACKAGING FRAMEWORKS IN THE INDIAN DAIRY SECTOR A CLUSTER-BASED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPROACH Authors: CHOUDHARY, ABHINAV; Jain, Apoorva (SUPERVISOR) Abstract: India is the largest dairy producing market, which produces about a quarter of global supply. It contributes nearly 5% to the national economy, directly affecting the farmers and the small dairy owner. This sector is one of the largest women workforce sectors, having nearly 70% of the total workforce contributing to women. The sector assumes a compounded annual growth (CAGR) of about 6.8% a year. The Indian dairy sector is an example of operational efficiency, having milk collected from farmers and rural dairy owners. The industry is largely dominated by the cooperatives, having Amul and Mother Dairy as one of the largest milk processing units in the world. The country produces about 239.30 million tonnes of milk, with production growing year on year. The White Revolution with the introduction of the project “Operation Flood”, an idea of Dr. Verghese Kurien, India transformed itself from milk-deficient nation to the largest milk producing nation in the world The industry faces several problems in its way. The industry faces the problems of low cold storage, which is not effective in keeping the total national produce cold. Milk is a perishable item having 5-7 days with a temperature of 0oC to 4oC. Other dairy products also have similar on-shelf conversion. Due to this, cold-storage becomes a necessity rather than an option. 20-25% of the total produce is estimated to be wasted due to the inefficiency in the cold storage in India. Dairy products are highly susceptible to bacteria and fermentation, with bacteria forming instantly when kept at room temperature. Packaging becomes an important tool in the daily milk and dairy production. It is important to keep dairy products away from the bacteria and away from direct sunlight. Apart from the utility use, the packaging describes the product effectively. It can be used to generate an emotion in the minds of the v. people. With the growing urban population and the emergence of tier-2 cities, packaging holds all the more importance. The Indian dairy segment, due to its bulk nature, contains homogeneous packaging, ignoring the consumer construct in its entirety. The large scale restaurant, preparing thousands of dishes with various dairy products would require a different packaging than a normal consumer. The large scale nature of the industry ignores the end packaging. This is why this research has been done to ensure that the packaging remains in parallel with the efficient operational machinery of the industry, with recommendation and the implementation of the packaging segmentation based on the previous studies done on the packaging materials. The Wang, Wang & Cho (2022) is taken as the base of the research. The study concluded the utility behaviours of the users on the basis of packaging in the Chinese industry. The study looked at various features which concluded to the emotional and tasteful factors in addition to the product. Four features to doubt during the conjoint analysis were- shape (39.017 percent relative importance), graphics (31.330 percent), label text (15.495 percent) and colour (14.157 percent). During our study, we used elbow analysis to get the optimum number of clusters for which we would have to segment the total database. The database used was taken from the Kaggle community, named Dairy Good Sales dataset. Various clusters were formed using K Means clustering. Four behaviourally distinct consumer-transaction clusters were identified. Cluster C0, the Everyday Mainstream segment, accounted for 38.2 percent of transactions and was characterised by mid-range volume, low unit prices and a balanced channel mix dominated by Mother Dairy and Amul. Cluster C1, the Institutional and Bulk segment, accounted for 19.0 percent of transactions and was characterised by vi. very high quantities sold, the highest average revenue per transaction, and a tilt toward retail and wholesale channels. Cluster C2, the Premium Fresh Urban segment, accounted for 31.5 percent of transactions and was characterised by the highest average unit price, low to medium volumes and short shelf life. Cluster C3, the Shelf-Stable Specialty segment, accounted for 11.2 percent of transactions and was dominated by ghee and cheese, with mean shelf life approaching one hundred days. Perspective analysis done on the basis of earlier studies mentioned in the research to conclude the packaging type used along various clusters. The urban premium sector could use a gabblet of box with a preference in the shape as stated in the previous research having minimalist labels with bold content, optimised for quick commerce like Zepto and Blinkit. The traditional consumers could buy traditional pouches which are efficient in stackability and cost efficiency with warm colour such as Red and gold having concrete graphics, JBL top boxes could respond at a high cost which would be ineffective for the traditional everyday use consumers. Bulk buyers use squared shift containers which would be very useful for stacking up and bulk purchases. Lastly the products with high shelf life can be contained in tin boxes with warm tone graphics to ensure authenticity and richness. The GABDO model (Goals, Analysis, Build or Buy, Deploy, Optimise) and the TCPR readiness model (Time, Cost, Performance, Requirements) were applied to effectively provide a complete plan for the industry to roll out to end consumers. The study bridges the gap of descriptive and predictive contribution of the packaging material in the large Indian Dairy organisation. The limitation of the study remains that the previous study was done on a Chinese consumer sample; although Indian context adjustments were added in the study to give more accurate results. 2026-05-01T00:00:00Z http://dspace.dtu.ac.in:8080/jspui/handle/repository/23062 Title: INVESTIGATION OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND CONTINUED INTENTION OF USING FOOD ORDERING APPS Authors: SINGH, HARDIK; Ahalawat, Meenakshi (SUPERVISOR) Abstract: The research attempts to explore the factors affecting customer satisfaction and their effects on the intentions of customers to continue using food ordering apps in India, especially in relation to Zomato and Swiggy – the two major apps which together control more than 90 percent of the organized food delivery market in India. In 2025, the Indian food delivery app market reached around USD 7.5 billion with a growth rate of 18–20%, reaching USD 15–20 billion in 2028 (RedSeer Consulting, 2025). The rapid development and fierce competition in this sector have made customer retention, instead of customer acquisition, the main focus of businesses for sustainable success. This study attempts to fill a gap in the current literature in India by providing empirical evidence on the quantitative relationship between Satisfaction and continued usage intention among Indians. Research Objectives The objectives of the study were threefold: (1) to find out if demographic factors – gender, age, and location – affect customers' preferences for Zomato and Swiggy; (2) to identify the effects of age and location on the level of consumer satisfaction; (3) to empirically test and quantify the relationship between Satisfaction and continued usage intention. Research Methodology A descriptive research design was used for the study. Primary data was collected from a sample size of 131 valid respondents located in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh via the use of an online questionnaire created using Google forms, based on the principle of non-probability sampling. Variables collected included demographic data (age, gender, location), application preference, satisfaction (Q8: 5-point Likert scale) and usage intention (Q9: 5-point Likert scale). Theory for the research framework was drawn from two established theories namely; TAM by Davis (1989) and ECM by Bhattacherjee (2001). IBM SPSS was used to perform statistical calculations. Five tests of independence using Chi-Square test were executed with a significance level of α=0.05. A reliability test done using Cronbach's Alpha (α = 0.836) proved sufficient validity of the measurement instrument. 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z