Demonetization is an act of divesting a currency unit from its legal tender. In a developing country, the act of demonetization will have a direct influence on various sectors. An event study is an empirical analysis to investigate the effect of such unforeseen events. In this study, we investigate the impact of demonetization on the Indian stock market. For the analysis, daily data from the NIFTY 50 Index during demonetization have been analyzed within the observation of different event windows. These event windows are framed as 0–7 days, 0–14 days, and 0–30 days to understand the impact of demonetization during the analysis period 8th November 2016–21st December 2016. The study concludes that the impact of events on the Indian stock market lasted for a short time-period and the market recovered within 1 month. More precisely, in the case of demonetization, though the stock market initially viewed the event as disruptive, Cumulative Abnormal Returns bounce back to indicate that the negative financial impact was not as severe as the industry perceived.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) are one of the beloved passively managed funds that offer both retail and institutional investors an access to highly profitable and wide- range of diversifiable financial assets. The study aims to assess the ability of Indian equity ETF’s in replicating the performance of their benchmark indices using a sample of 27 equity ETF’s traded on the National Stock Exchange of India during the pre-pandemic period from 01/01/2015 to 31/12/2019. Evaluation of the performance of sample ETF’s through risk-return analysis, risk-adjusted performance measures, tracking error analysis and multi-factor regression have revealed that the majority of the sample ETF’s outperformed their tracking indices but with notable tracking errors during the study period. Further, the study also indicates that the returns of the sample ETF’s have a significant and positive relationship with the returns of the index but are inversely related to risk and management fees. The results of this study will have major implications for investors in evaluating the performance of ETF’s and fund managers as well in taking suitable measures to reduce tracking errors that will help in successful replication of the benchmark along with undertaking initiatives that will enable the ETF’s to become price efficient.

Investors have shown increasing interest in Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) in the past few years, especially during the financial crisis caused due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. SRI are evaluated on the basis of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria. ESG information allows investors to assess the risks associated with a particular firm and how the firm manages or intends to manage future risks. Amidst the increasing investor interest in ESG products, we attempt to study the value addition of ESG performance to investors during crisis period. Using a sample of ESG rated firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), we examine the investment performance, trading volumes and return volatility of ESG stocks in an emerging market like India during the COVID-19 crisis. The results of our event study conducted around the important events that have occurred in India during the COVID-19 pandemic provide evidence that investors can use ESG information as a signal of future stock performance. Most importantly, ESG performance provides downside protection during crisis times. Our results show that ESG performance does not prove to be detrimental to investment performance during normal times. Also, ESG performance was found to reduce stock return volatility during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, our study attempts to establish an investment case for ESG stocks in emerging markets in India by providing support to the good management hypothesis.

Companies moving from the Main market of London Stock Exchange to the AIM impair their information environment when entering the AIM; the information environment is measured by the stock’s liquidity and volatility. The primary empirical finding is that movement from the Main Market to the AIM decreases the liquidity and volatility of stocks. After controlling for the effects of factors that are known to affect stock liquidity and for the change in company characteristics after the movement date in the multivariate analysis, it is found that moving to the AIM is associated with a significant increase in Amihud illiquidity and the bid–ask spread and with a decrease in stock return volatility. The documented effects of movement to the AIM are found to be sustained over a long period of time following the movement event. This therefore implies that moving from the Main Market to the AIM is not improving the companies’ liquidity and volatility.

The use of multiple currency based macroprudential tools by Reserve Bank of India, India’s central bank, has helped create resilience in the economy, especially during financial turmoil. However, in a democratic set-up like India, the analysis of capital based macroprudential reforms needs to incorporate the political stability, as there is increasing evidence that macroprudential policy effectiveness is closely linked to political conditions. This study incorporates the role of political stability is understanding the effectiveness of currency based macroprudential policies, by using the years of election as a proxy for political uncertainty. I develop an index of capital based macroprudential policies (CMPP) using the notifications on capital flows and risk management guidelines on foreign exchange exposures from Reserve Bank of India. Using a GARCH model, the impact of CMPP on the net capital inflows is analyzed for the period from January, 1997 to March, 2018. I find that while the presence of CMPP leads to a fall in capital flow volatility, such policies in the years of election are ineffective in curbing capital flow volatility. The paper adds to the increasing evidence coming in recent years of the link between political cycles, interest groups and macroprudential policies.

We examine the investment behavior of Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs), Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), and retail investors based on past returns in the Indian context. Using the quarterly shareholding and return data of Indian firms from 2009 to 2018, this study employs m × n momentum strategy proposed by Jegadeesh and Titman (J Finance 48(1):65–91, 1993). A robust correlation-based comprehensive technique is used to find momentum and contrarian behavior. It is observed that FIIs and DIIs show momentum behavior in the short run in the market whereas retail investors show contrarian behavior. Moreover, Retail investors’ contrarian behavior is found to be stronger in past losing firms. This study also reports that FIIs show the momentum behavior in service-oriented industries while contrarian behavior of retail investor is stronger in firms which require local knowledge. These findings may be useful for policymakers, portfolio managers and academicians in emerging markets economies.