Centre For Monitoring Indian Economy Research Articles

Promoters’ equity pledging, policy uncertainty and firm-level cash holding: evidence from an emerging market

Purpose This paper aims to explore the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and promoters’ share pledging activity for real estate and construction firms in India. The author further divides the sample into financially sound and financially constrained firms and re-examines the relationship between EPU and promoters’ share pledging activity for them. Additionally, the author investigates the moderating effect of EPU on firm-level cash holding for pledged firms. Design/methodology/approach The author conducts multiple regression to examine the effect of EPU on the share-pledging activity of a firm on sample data of Indian construction and real estate firms. The financial and pledging data was collected for all listed firms from March 2009 to March 2020 from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. The EPU data was re-estimated using the three-period moving average method. All data used in the study was collected from secondary sources. Findings The author finds that EPU influences pledging activity, and the association between them is opposite for financially constrained and financially sound firms. Also, the author reports that an increase in EPU increases firm-level cash holding for pledged firms, and the interaction between EPU and share pledging is significantly associated with firm-level cash holding. Practical implications The managerial implications of this study are manifold. Managers of financially constrained firms should pay attention to the promoters pledging activity so that in a rising EPU environment, issues of managerial entrenchment can be avoided. Moreover, any further promoters’ share pledging activity under rising EPU conditions may force managers to hoard higher cash and thus reducing investment and profitability. Originality/value This paper presents evidence of relationship between EPU, share pledging activity and firm-level cash holding in an emerging economy. The study also compares the response of financially constrained and financially sound firms for EPU on equity pledging activity and that of equity pledging on firm-level cash holdings.

Intellectual capital efficiency and competitive advantage of firms: an empirical analysis

This paper empirically tests the strategic importance of intellectual capital for firms and assesses its impact on their market returns. The study builds on the premise that intellectual capital provides a firm competitive advantage over other firms, which then translates into superior market returns. The sampling frame for the study constitutes of Indian firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange’s index for medium-sized companies (BSE Midcap). Accordingly, seven-year data is drawn from authentic sources such as the Prowess-IQ database of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) and the company annual financial statements. For ascertaining the extent of the intellectual capital efficiency of firms, the Value-Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) model, first proposed and conceptualized by Ante Pulic has been adopted in this study. The excess rate of return that a firm earns above the average rate of return prevalent in the market, alpha (α), is used as an indicator of the firm’s competitive advantage and a measure of superior performance in the market. Results of the analysis provide irrefutable evidence in support of the fundamental premises and affirm that intellectual capital is the root of competitive advantage, which bestows a firm with higher-than-normal returns on investments.

Impact of COVID-19 Induced Economic Hardships on Women Participation in MGNREGA Works During the Financial Year 2020–2021

Impact of COVID-19 induced lockdown has been massive for the Indian economy; it witnessed a contraction in gross domestic product and massive employment loss. India being a poor country and a huge population having insignificant to no social security, a large number of those workers who lost employment were not having option to remain unemployed. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) which is a job-guarantee programme launched a decade earlier and that has been instrumental in providing employment opportunities to rural women casual workers witnessed a huge increase in demand as both men and women flocked to it. For the financial year 2020–2021 the share of women in the person-days worked under MGNREGA fell. The article using data from MGNREGA public data portal and the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy seeks to explain the reasons behind this fall and suggest that MGNREGA needs to be expanded and modified in favour of women casual workers till the recovery on the employment front does not happen. JEL Codes: H53, I38, J08, J16, J23, J30, J48, J71, J78

Period products during the pandemic: The impact of lockdown on period products usage

ABSTRACT This paper estimates the impact of the government-mandated intensity of the lockdown across various zones on the period product consumption for menstruating women in India. We have used the national-level panel data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)’s Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) database across 510 districts of India, along with the lockdown zones data. Our study uses a robust strategy to exploit the temporal (non-lockdown vs. during lockdown) and spatial (across red, orange, and green zones) variation by using difference-in-difference estimates by exploring the impact of lockdown policy on period product expenditure over households from January 2020 to December 2020. Our results show a reduction of 16% in period products consumption in red zone districts compared to the green zone districts. When restricting attention to rural districts only, this reduction was 25%. Travel restrictions on consumers combined with restrictions on movements of goods led to severe shortages in period products. There is a strong need to start interventions to improve the period products usage and create robust infrastructure to ensure deliveries, especially during emergencies.

Market Concentration and Competitiveness in Indian Telecom Industry

The importance of telecommunication services is increasingly growing as an integral part of the infrastructural base for socio-economic development of an economy. In order to efficiently provide communication services with improved quality at the lowest price, it demanded a shift of market structure from a government monopoly to a more competitive structure. We are analyzing the changes in the market structure and competition of telecom service industry in India. The major data source of this study is Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) Prowess firm level data, from which the telecommunication service data of firms are taken. The major methodology which followed to measure competition in a market, the concentration ratios is computed, due to their ability to capture structural features of the market. It is found that almost all the concentration indices exhibit the same trend in the concentration level of the market. Concentration level is decreasing year by year and thus, competition is increasing. Even though there are many players in the market, the Indian telecom industry is controlled by a few. Through accuracy measures of index, it is found that the GRS index is the ideal index which indicates a moderate level of competition compared to other indices. As far as telecom industry is concerned, moderate level of competition exists with the oligopoly market structure

Need for living wages in India: Case studies of agricultural workers in rural Madhya Pradesh

AbstractThe present study discusses the current wage situation in India and the need for living wages as workers and employees grapple with the cost of living crisis. A case study of two districts of Madhya Pradesh (MP) state is presented to demonstrate how the living wage benchmarks based on the Anker Methodology compare with existing minimum wage fixations and other development indicators. The living wage benchmarking is based on field surveys conducted in Ratlam and Chhindwara districts in October–December 2021, and a rigorous analysis of nationally representative consumption and expenditure surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation and the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. Our living wage estimates are 1.8 times the minimum wages for agricultural labourers and 43% more than those earned by non-agricultural unskilled labourers. Moreover, the actual wages reported are less than half of the estimated living wages, indicating that the current incomes and wages for workers and farmers of rural MP are far from adequate to lead a decent life.

CONTRIBUTION AND STATUS OF INDIAN TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN POST MFA PERIOD

With the advent of economic reforms and phase out of Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA), it was expected that the textile industry contribution and status will improve. The present paper has analysed the contribution and status of textile industry in post MFA period. For the analysis Economic Outlook of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), database have been used. The paper found improving contribution and status of textile industry in manufacturing and industrial GDP. While as percentage of GDP it is declining. The increase in high value segment of factories in comparison to traditional textile sector has limited the contribution and status in Indian economy. The absolute decline of factories in footwear sector should be reversed.

Does mandatory corporate social responsibility expenditure affect the financial performance of food and agribusiness firms? Evidence from India

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the effect of mandatory corporate social responsibility expenditure (CSRE) on the performance of food and agribusiness firms in India.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on the firm-level data collected from the Prowess database of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy in the year 2019. The data on key characteristics, business performance and CSRE has been compiled from 362 food and agribusiness firms. The descriptive statistics, t-test for equality of means and Spearman correlation analysis have been undertaken to understand the relationship between mandatory CSRE and firm performance across food and agribusiness sectors.FindingsOut of 362 food and agribusiness firms, 52.2% have reported expenditure in the implementation of social initiatives under their corporate social responsibility. The results show a significant difference in the firm’s characteristics vis-à-vis with and without CSRE. Further, the findings highlight a positive and significant correlation and causal impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on return on sales, return on assets and profit after tax.Practical implicationsThe study provides insights for implementing strategic CSR in food and agribusiness firms and gives an adequate justification for incurring CSRE.Originality/valueThis paper increases the understanding of CSR in the food and agribusiness sector. Besides, provisioning mandatory CSR seems to be a beneficial proposition for enhancing a firm’s performance.

DIGITAL LITERACY TRAINING FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN THE DIRECTION OF ATMANIRBHARTA- A CASE OF KAROLIA VILLAGE

The impact of any global crisis is rarely ever gender neutral, and Covid-19 is not an exception. Countless women across diverse geographies have experienced an increase in their domestic workload, alongside the shrinking or complete loss of their livelihoods. While the entire world is facing unprecedented challenges, women are largely bearing the brunt of the economic and social fallout of Covid-19. Women from marginalized communities, employed in the informal sector in semi-urban and rural areas, are especially susceptible to loss of avenues of income, and added hours of unpaid labour with day-care and schools shutting down. The scenario in India is no different. Here, the struggle for women employed in the informal sector, or in running small business enterprises is even more pronounced. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, unemployment levels in the country have moved into double digits. In fact, recent study under the UdyamStree campaign had 57 percent of women entrepreneurs cite a deterioration in their business enterprises during the pandemic owing to factors like diminishing customer base, loss of supply chains and avenues of funding shutting down. In the face of such adversity, the key to survival lies in the quick adoption of new business models that cater to what has now become the ‘new normal’. Business models that were primarily dependent on offline production or delivery models, experienced a far greater decline than those reliant on digital channels. Digital technology can act as the game changer for women entrepreneurs, particularly in rural areas. It can make a greater impact in the lives of women who run different kinds of micro small and medium businesses in rural and semi-urban areas. The penetration of mobile phones in rural areas could be leveraged wisely to bring these women closer to the stakeholders in their business ecosystems. The women in Karolia are skilled and have initiated their business several times but the initiative is not sustainable due their inability to get finance registrar their business and get business digitally. Thus, a project was to train women entrepreneur on digital literacy. 15 rural women undergone the training. They have learnt all the key principles of online platforms. Women were able to share their experiences and were amazed to realise their constant practices after their session. The evaluation was done by questionnaire method in which it covered all the content from start. The group at the end has been digitally active to do their business and has started managing their business digitally.

Labour Market Dynamics and Worker Flows in India: Impact of Covid-19.

Tracking and analyzing the labour market dynamics at regular, frequent intervals is critical. However, this was not possible for India, a large emerging economy with a significant population undergoing demographic transition, due to a paucity of data. We use the new dataset Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE)-Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) and use a panel to create Labour Flow Charts and Transition Matrices for India from January 2019 to December 2021. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time these were created for India. We then use that to look at the impact of Covid-19 on the Indian labour market. We not only look at transitions between employment, unemployment and out of labour force, but also across types of employment-full-time and part-time. The rich data also allows us to consider heterogeneity in the labour market and look at the differential impact of the pandemic across different education groups and gender. From the labour flow charts and transition probabilities, we find that while all groups have been impacted, the magnitude of the impact is different across groups. The recovery is also uneven, and the extent depends on education levels. Further, we do an event study analysis to examine the likelihood of getting a full-time job across different educational and gender groups. Men, on average, enjoy a higher likelihood of getting a full-time job than women. The likelihood coefficients also go up with increasing educational qualifications. Looking at skill heterogeneity, while the likelihood of getting a full-time job either goes down for most groups during the pandemic or the change is minuscule, strikingly it goes up for those with no education, for both men and women. The likelihood coefficients remain elevated for men even after the restrictions are removed, and that for women reverts to the level seen before the pandemic. Finally, this paper provides a way to continuously monitor the dynamics of the labour market as data is released in the regular intervals in the future, which would be of great value for researchers and policymakers alike.

The Influence of a Firm’s Attributes on Human Resource Disclosure Level: Evidence from India

The aim of the present study is to examine the effect of a firm’s different attributes on human resources (HR) disclosure level of the Indian listed companies’. The study has been conducted on 126 companies listed on National Stock Exchange (NSE)-200 index for the time period of 7 years (F.Y. 2012–2013 to 2018–2019). The data were gathered from ‘annual reports and Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) ProwessIQ Database. For analysis, descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation matrix and Two-way Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) regression model’ have been used. The results of the study depicted that on an average, companies disclose 43.86% of HR information in their annual reports. Further, the results of the two-way LSDV regression model shows that there is a significant positive effect of net sales, market capitalization, pages of an annual report and significant negative of debt to equity ratio, promoter’s holding, profit after tax and listing status on HR disclosure level of the selected Indian listed companies. Overall, it can be said that The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and other regulatory bodies should set standardized guidelines for enhancing the HR disclosure practices of the Indian companies, and in the near future, they should come up with different HR disclosure sheet.

How Does Efficient Working Capital Management Impact a Firm’s Fundamentals? Evidence from India

This article aims to empirically examine the influence of working capital management (WCM) efficiency on the fundamentals of Indian listed firms. The fixed-effects logit regression model is employed to explore the impact of WCM efficiency on the fundamental strength of the sample firms. The fixed-effects regression model is used to investigate the influence of WCM efficiency on the select individual fundamental measures. We have extracted data from 538 Indian listed firms from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) database from 2012 to 2020. We find that WCM efficiency positively influences the fundamental strength of the sample firms. We have also validated our results with respect to individual fundamental measures. We observe that an efficient WCM enhances the overall profitability, operational effectiveness, asset utilization efficiency and the ability to generate cash from operations, while inefficient management of working capital (WC) pushes firms towards a more long-term debt financing in the Indian context.

How Comparable are India's Labour Market Surveys?

The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIE) Consumer Pyramid Household surveys have emerged as an important source of regular labour market data for India. Given the differences in methods in data collection between the CMIE and official employment sources, it becomes exceedingly important to establish some comparability between the government and the CMIE datasets. With the release of the official Periodic Labour Force Surveys for 2017–18, we now have an overlap between the official datasets and CMIE datasets. In this paper, we examine the extent of comparability of labour force estimates from these two datasets. We find that employment estimates for men are broadly comparable. However, for women, there is a consistent divergence, with CMIE estimates of women’s workforce participation lower than that of NSS-PLFS. We find that irrespective of the reference period used in the PLFS estimation of employment statuses, there is no convergence with the CMIE employment estimate for women’s employment. Moreover, the mismatch in CMIE-PLFS estimates occurs across all types of women’s employment and irrespective of what reference period of employment (in official data) is used.

Corporate governance impact on dividend policy of NIFTY-500 indexed Indian pharmaceutical companies (2014–2019)

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the influence of corporate governance index (CGI), ownership concentration (OC) and other features on the dividends of listed Indian pharmaceutical companies. The other features included are leverage, excess return over cost of equity and stock-market return. This study thus helps to provide more insights on the dividend distribution issues for a shareholder in the challenging and demanding pharma industry, especially when stakes are high.Design/methodology/approachThe data for all 26 pharmaceutical companies which form part of the NSE NIFTY-500 index for six years (2014–2019) is procured using Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s (CMIEs) Prowess database. An eight-pointer scale (unweighted scale) is used to develop the CGI. For OC, this paper considers the proportion of promoters’ shareholding, domestic institutional investors’ shareholding and foreign owners’ shareholding. Both static and dynamic panel data models are used to evaluate the effect of CGI and OC on dividends.FindingsThe panel data analysis depicts that CGI significantly positively influences the dividends of pharmaceutical companies in India. Thus, the authors find support for La Porta et al.’s outcome agency model. The results also reveal that only promoters’ holdings are significantly inversely related to dividends out of the three OC variables used for this study. This discussion implies that family-run pharmaceutical companies in India tend to retain profits instead of distributing dividends.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides two direct insights for policymakers and stakeholders. First, because this study shows that CGI significantly positively influences dividends, corporate governance (CG) is an essential factor for determining dividends. Second, because the results also reveal that OC in the hands of promoters hurts dividends, it implies that the higher the promoter holding, lesser is the dividend distributed by the company. Both these results can be used as a quantitative tool by investors to assess Indian pharmaceutical companies better. However, a similar study could be directed to assess the impact of CGI and OC on dividends of other industries. Moreover, additional variables of CG and OC can also be evaluated in further detail. There is also a need to empirically validate the impact of CG and OC on a company’s performance.Originality/valueThe results are robust and reveal that variation in CGI does impact dividend policy. This aids in confirming that CG is a crucial aspect influencing dividends. The findings also add to the increasing studies across the globe evaluating the influence of CG and OC on dividends.

Foreign Institutional Ownership and Its Impact on Investment Efficiency in Manufacturing Firms: Evidence from Indian Capital Market

This article explores the impact of foreign institutional investor’s (FII) ownership on the investment efficiency of Indian manufacturing firms. In this article, unbalanced panel data is used, in total, 21,214 firm-year observations of 1,205 companies listed in Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) COSPI (CMIE Overall Share Price Index) are taken into account. The data range is from 2001 to 2019. This research article considers investment-investment opportunities sensitivity as the proxy for investment efficiency, where investment opportunities are measured Tobin’s Q. As per our findings FII’s ownership impacts investment efficiency in a negative way. It is further found that this inverse relationship between FII’s ownership and investment efficiency is more pronounced in resource abundant firms, compared to the resource constrained firms. In this study both fixed as well as random effect models are developed incorporating robust standard error, additionally system generalized method of moments (GMM) model as well as two step Heckman model are also used to check the robustness of the findings. This study adds to the existing literature as a pioneering study on impact of FII’s ownership on firm’s investment efficiency in the context of India, a large emerging market economy.

Performance evaluation of treasury bills traded in the money market

The financial market is combined with many instruments, which supports to function the market without any deviation and helps to develop the economy. The present paper aims to investigate the various types of treasury bills traded in the money markets and its performance and growth from the year 2011-12 to 2020-21. The secondary data were collected from various websites of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The collected data were analysed by applying simple percentage analysis, Annual Growth Rate (AGR), and Compound Annual Growth Rate to assess the performance of Treasury bill (T-Bills).

Do ownership structures and governance attributes matter for corporate sustainability reporting? An examination in the Indian context

PurposeBased on the essence of the legitimacy and agency theories, this study empirically investigates the influence of corporate governance attributes and ownership structures on sustainability reporting of companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), India.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on panel data regression analysis of sustainability reporting practices of 53 environmentally sensitive companies drawn from NIFTY100 Index at NSE. All data pertaining to sustainability information disclosure, ownership structure and corporate governance characteristics were sourced from sustainability report, business responsibility report, annual report and Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) database for the years 2015–2019.FindingsThe empirical result reveals that sustainability reporting scenario has been consistently improving in India. This study documents that government ownership and frequency of board meetings are the two most important factors significantly influencing the extent of sustainability information disclosure of companies. However, the present study failed to find any significant impact of board size and big4 auditing on sustainability reporting practices. Unexpectedly, a higher number of independent directors does not improve sustainability disclosure of companies in India.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first studies to investigate how the nature of ownership and corporate governance characteristics contribute to or impede sustainability reporting practices of companies in India. This study offers important insights to regulators, practitioners and investors to analyze whether sustainability disclosure of companies is influenced by corporate governance attributes. It also provides a perspective for regulators and corporate strategists to assess the impact of recent corporate governance reforms in India and consider how corporate governance mechanism can be used to improve sustainability reporting practices.

The determinants of export behaviour: a study of food processing industry in India

The study examines the factors that determine the export behaviour of food processing firms operating in India based on data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) Prowess Database for 2011-2016. It examines the effect of three technological variables on the export behaviour of firms: information and communication technology (ICT) investment, in-house research and development (R&D), and the import of embodied technologies. Further, it tries to understand if the technological activities of affiliated firms have any effect on their export performance. Using the Heckman two-step sample selection analysis, it reveals that technology investments are important determinants for the export behaviour of firms. Other control variables like firm size, firm age, and the capital-labour ratio were also found to be important in determining the export behaviour of food processing firms. The study gives policy suggestions for improving the global competitiveness of firms in this industry.

A Critical Analysis of Impact on Employment During and After Covid-19 Lockdown on India

This article aims to analyze the impact on employment during the covid19 lockdown period and after lockdown in India. The analysis was based on the ministry of labour and employment and National Statistical Office surveys undertaken before the outbreak of the Covid-19 and follow-up surveys on the effects of the pandemic, also undertaken by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt. Ltd. and Statista Inc. One of the largest unemployment since the Great Depression has been generated during the Covid-19 pandemic. This seems to be a real threat that during lockdown the crisis will exacerbate poverty and deepen inequality, with long-term consequences. Countries must now do all possible to prevent unemployment from escalating into a social disaster. Investing in the future and succeeding generations by rebuilding a stronger and more sustainable labour market is critical. The Covid-19 epidemic in India has unquestionably had a significant detrimental influence on India’s employment rates.

Wages and Firm Ownership: A Study of the Manufacturing Sector of India

From an ownership viewpoint, we analyse the determinants of significant wage differences for India’s manufacturing sector. We use data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s Prowess database from 2000–2015. Using fixed-effects and Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method, we confirm that foreign firms pay higher wages and salaries than domestic firms. Most importantly, productivity, participation in the export market, firm size, firm age and profit margin explain the inter-firm and intra-firm differences in labour intensity for the manufacturing firms in the Indian economy. The wage gap seems higher for intra-firm than the inter-firm, indicating that demand for labour is higher within the sector. JEL Classifications: E24, G32, L6, C13