Is there any equivalent to the "global.asa" file that's available for ASP developers in JSP?

There isn't an equivalent global.asa file in JSP. I believe Sun has a reason for that. However there is a workaround you can perform. For example if you need to store and access variables with application scope, you can always create a javabean, and include it in pages that need these variables.

<jsp:useBean id="globals" scope="application" class="com.xxx.GlobalBean"/>