School of Commerce

SYLLABUS FOR Ph.D. ENTRANCE EXAMINATION

Subject: Commerce Marks 50

Unit 1

Business Environment and International Business • Concepts and elements of business environment:
Economic environment- Economic systems, Economic policies(Monetary and fiscal policies); Political
environment Role of government in business; Legal environment- Consumer Protection Act, FEMA; Socio-
cultural factors and their influence on business; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) • Scope and
importance of international business; Globalization and its drivers; Modes of entry into international
business • Theories of international trade; Government intervention in international trade; Tariff and non-
tariff barriers; India’s foreign trade policy 2 • Foreign direct investment (FDI) and Foreign portfolio
investment (FPI); Types of FDI, Costs and benefits of FDI to home and host countries; Trends in FDI; India’s
FDI policy • Balance of payments (BOP): Importance and components of BOP • Regional Economic
Integration: Levels of Regional Economic Integration; Trade creation and diversion effects; Regional Trade
Agreements: European Union (EU), ASEAN, SAARC, NAFTA • International Economic institutions: IMF,
World Bank, UNCTAD • World Trade Organisation (WTO): Functions and objectives of WTO; Agriculture
Agreement; GATS; TRIPS; TRIMS

Unit 2

Accounting and Auditing • Basic accounting principles; concepts and postulates • Partnership Accounts:
Admission, Retirement, Death, Dissolution and Insolvency of partnership firms • Corporate Accounting:
Issue, forfeiture and reissue of shares; Liquidation of companies; Acquisition, merger, amalgamation and
reconstruction of companies • Holding company accounts • Cost and Management Accounting: Marginal
costing and Break-even analysis; Standard costing; Budgetary control; Process costing; Activity Based
Costing (ABC); Costing for decision-making; Life cycle costing, Target costing, Kaizen costing and JIT •
Financial Statements Analysis: Ratio analysis; Funds flow Analysis; Cash flow analysis • Human Resources
Accounting; Inflation Accounting; Environmental Accounting • Indian Accounting Standards and IFRS •
Auditing: Independent financial audit; Vouching; Verification ad valuation of assets and liabilities; Audit
of financial statements and audit report; Cost audit • Recent Trends in Auditing: Management audit;
Energy audit; Environment audit; Systems audit; Safety audit

Unit 3

Business Economics • Meaning and scope of business economics • Objectives of business firms • Demand
analysis: Law of demand; Elasticity of demand and its measurement; Relationship between AR and MR •
Consumer behavior: Utility analysis; Indifference curve analysis • Law of Variable Proportions: Law of
Returns to Scale 3 • Theory of cost: Short-run and long-run cost curves • Price determination under
different market forms: Perfect competition; Monopolistic competition; Oligopoly- Price leadership
model; Monopoly; Price discrimination • Pricing strategies: Price skimming; Price penetration; Peak load
pricing

Unit 4

Business Finance • Scope and sources of finance; Lease financing • Cost of capital and time value of money
• Capital structure • Capital budgeting decisions: Conventional and scientific techniques of capital
budgeting analysis • Working capital management; Dividend decision: Theories and policies • Risk and
return analysis; Asset securitization • International monetary system • Foreign exchange market;
Exchange rate risk and hedging techniques • International financial markets and instruments: Euro
currency; GDRs; ADRs • International arbitrage; Multinational capital budgeting

Unit 5

Business Statistics and Research Methods • Measures of central tendency • Measures of dispersion •
Measures of skewness • Correlation and regression of two variables • Probability: Approaches to
probability; Bayes’ theorem • Probability distributions: Binomial, poisson and normal distributions •
Research: Concept and types; Research designs • Data: Collection and classification of data • Sampling
and estimation: Concepts; Methods of sampling - probability and nonprobability methods; Sampling
distribution; Central limit theorem; Standard error; Statistical estimation • Hypothesis testing: z-test; t-
test; ANOVA; Chi–square test; Mann-Whitney test (Utest); Kruskal-Wallis test (H-test); Rank correlation
test • Report writing

Unit 6

Business Management and Human Resource Management • Principles and functions of management 4 •
Organization structure: Formal and informal organizations; Span of control • Responsibility and authority:
Delegation of authority and decentralization • Motivation and leadership: Concept and theories •
Corporate governance and business ethics • Human resource management: Concept, role and functions
of HRM; Human resource planning; Recruitment and selection; Training and development; Succession
planning • Compensation management: Job evaluation; Incentives and fringe benefits • Performance
appraisal including 360 degree performance appraisal • Collective bargaining and workers’ participation
in management • Personality: Perception; Attitudes; Emotions; Group dynamics; Power and politics;
Conflict and negotiation; Stress management • Organizational Culture: Organizational development and
organizational change

Unit 7

Banking and Financial Institutions • Overview of Indian financial system • Types of banks: Commercial
banks; Regional Rural Banks (RRBs); Foreign banks; Cooperative banks • Reserve Bank of India: Functions;
Role and monetary policy management • Banking sector reforms in India: Basel norms; Risk management;
NPA management • Financial markets: Money market; Capital market; Government securities market •
Financial Institutions: Development Finance Institutions (DFIs); Non-Banking Financial Companies
(NBFCs); Mutual Funds; Pension Funds • Financial Regulators in India • Financial sector reforms including
financial inclusion • Digitisation of banking and other financial services: Internet banking; mobile banking;
Digital payments systems • Insurance: Types of insurance- Life and Non-life insurance; Risk classification
and management; Factors limiting the insurability of risk; Re-insurance; Regulatory framework of
insurance- IRDA and its role

Unit 8

Marketing Management • Marketing: Concept and approaches; Marketing channels; Marketing mix;
Strategic marketing planning; Market segmentation, targeting and positioning • Product decisions:
Concept; Product line; Product mix decisions; Product life cycle; New product development • Pricing
decisions: Factors affecting price determination; Pricing policies and strategies 5 • Promotion decisions:
Role of promotion in marketing; Promotion methods - Advertising; Personal selling; Publicity; Sales
promotion tools and techniques; Promotion mix • Distribution decisions: Channels of distribution;
Channel management • Consumer Behaviour; Consumer buying process; factors influencing consumer
buying decisions • Service marketing • Trends in marketing: Social marketing; Online marketing; Green
marketing; Direct marketing; Rural marketing; CRM • Logistics management

Unit 9

Legal Aspects of Business • Indian Contract Act, 1872: Elements of a valid contract; Capacity of parties;
Free consent; Discharge of a contract; Breach of contract and remedies against breach; Quasi contracts;
• Special contracts: Contracts of indemnity and guarantee; contracts of bailment and pledge; Contracts of
agency • Sale of Goods Act, 1930: Sale and agreement to sell; Doctrine of Caveat Emptor; Rights of unpaid
seller and rights of buyer • Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881: Types of negotiable instruments;
Negotiation and assignment; Dishonour and discharge of negotiable instruments • The Companies Act,
2013: Nature and kinds of companies; Company formation; Management, meetings and winding up of a
joint stock company • Limited Liability Partnership: Structure and procedure of formation of LLP in India
• The Competition Act, 2002: Objectives and main provisions • The Information Technology Act, 2000:
Objectives and main provisions; Cyber crimes and penalties • The RTI Act, 2005: Objectives and main
provisions • Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) : Patents, trademarks and copyrights; Emerging issues in
intellectual property • Goods and Services Tax (GST): Objectives and main provisions; Benefits of GST;
Implementation mechanism; Working of dual GST

Unit 10

Income-tax and Corporate Tax Planning • Income-tax: Basic concepts; Residential status and tax
incidence; Exempted incomes; Agricultural income; Computation of taxable income under various heads;
Deductions from Gross total income; Assessment of Individuals; Clubbing of incomes • International
Taxation: Double taxation and its avoidance mechanism; Transfer pricing 6 • Corporate Tax Planning:
Concepts and significance of corporate tax planning; Tax avoidance versus tax evasion; Techniques of
corporate tax planning; Tax considerations in specific business situations: Make or buy decisions; Own or
lease an asset; Retain; Renewal or replacement of asset; Shut down or continue operations • Deduction
and collection of tax at source; Advance payment of tax; E-filing of income-tax returns.
 PART – B

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research and Types of research: Meaning of Research- Objectives of Research- Motivation in Research.
Research methods vs Methodology. Types of research – Descriptive vs. Analytical, Applied vs.
Fundamental, Quantitative vs. Qualitative, Conceptual vs. Empirical. Research Process. Criteria of good
Research.

Research Formulation – Defining and formulating the research problem - Selecting the problem - Necessity
of defining the problem - Importance of literature review in defining a problem – Literature review –
Primary and secondary sources – reviews, treatise, monographspatents – web as a source – searching the
web - Critical literature review – Identifying gap areas from literature review - Development of working
hypothesis.

Data Collection and analysis: Execution of the research - Observation and Collection of data - Methods of
data collection – Modeling, Mathematical Models for research, Sampling Methods- Data processing and
Analysis strategies. Data Analysis with Statistical Packages – Hypothesistesting, Generalization-
andInterpretation.

Interpretation and report writing - Techniques of interpretation - Structure and components of

scientific reports - Different steps in the preparation - Layout, structure and language of the

report - Illustrations and tables - Types of report - Technical reports and thesis.

Reference Books:

1. Garg, B.L., Karadia, R., Agarwal, F. and Agarwal, U.K., 2002. An introduction to Research Methodology,
RBSA Publishers. 2. Kothari, C.R., 1990. Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques. New Age
International. 418p. 3. Sinha, S.C. and Dhiman, A.K., 2002. Research Methodology, Ess Ess Publications.
2 volumes. 4. Anderson, T. W., An Introduction to Multivariate Statistical Analysis, Wiley Eastern Pvt.,
Ltd., New Delhi 5. Sinha, S.C. and Dhiman, A.K., 2002. Research Methodology, Ess Ess Publications. 2
volumes. 6. Trochim, W.M.K., 2005. Research Methods: the concise knowledge base, Atomic Dog
Publishing. 270p. 7. Fink, A., 2009. Conducting Research Literature Reviews: From the Internet to Paper.
Sage Publications