Rahul Kumar

This paper aims to examine the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on Indian firms listed on the NSE and analyze its impact on various sectors. In addition, a sub-sample analysis based on market capitalization was performed to understand the effect of size during extreme events. The sample consisted of 1,335 firms listed on the NSE India. A standard event study outlined by Brown and Warner (1985) was employed to analyze the price impact on the COVID-19 outbreak. The event windows from -10 days to +10 days were selected. The estimation window is 250 days. The Nifty 50 has been chosen as a proxy for market return. The sample firms witnessed a negative impact of the COVID-19 outbreak with a negative CAAR in different event windows. In addition, various sectors are classified according their responsiveness towards the COVID-19 outbreak into three groups: highly negatively affected, moderately negatively affected, and slightly negatively affected. The paper also points out that the pandemic substantially affects the above-median market capitalized firms than the below-median market capitalized firms, which contradicts the size effect phenomenon. The results assist shareholders in managing their portfolios and mitigate the systematic risk of their investments during extreme events such as a pandemic, wars, and others. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on different sectors in India. It is also the first study to investigate the size effect anomalies during extreme events.

This study delves into the dynamic interplay between economic value added (EVA) and dividend payout among listed firms in India. Leveraging data spanning from 2013 to 2019 for 564 Indian-listed companies, the study employs a fixed effect panel regression model to meticulously examine the intricate relationship between EVA and dividend payout. The findings decisively indicate a significant and positive correlation between the two, underscoring that an augmented EVA is associated with an elevated dividend payout ratio. Notably, a compelling insight emerges, revealing that a 100 percent surge in EVA corresponds to a noteworthy 5 percent upswing in firms’ dividend payouts. To fortify the robustness of these findings, the study employs the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) methodology, corroborating the initial results. In essence, this paper solidifies the notion that heightened economic value added translates to increased dividend payments, providing valuable insights for both practitioners and researchers in the realm of corporate finance.