Oil price volatility and changes in corporate debt: An empirical study in the Indian landscape

Abstract

Changes in crude oil prices affect corporate debt position. This study investigates the association between changes in debt and crude oil price volatility in nonfinancial, BG, and SA firms in India. We use financial variables, crude oil prices, and macroeconomics data from 2004 to 2020 for 16,452 firm-years and this study employs unbalanced panel data and utilizes different empirical methodologies, including the generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator, to test the stated hypotheses. The results reveal that the debt position and the crude oil price volatility significantly have different effects on business group (BG) and stand-alone (SA) firms. Crude oil price volatility is positively related to changes in the debt position. The effects of the financial variables also significantly differ for the BG and SA firms. Finally, firms change their debt position in the positive or negative direction based on the fluctuations in crude oil prices. Policy implications have also been provided.