Working papers:


  1. Debt Contract Enforcement and Product Innovation: Evidence from a Legal Reform in India (with Rahul Singh and Chetan Subramanian) Oxford Business Law Blog, Ideas for India. Submitted

Abstract: Due to a legal challenge, there was a staggered introduction of fast track debt recovery tribunals (DRTs) across the states of India in the 1990s. Exploiting this plausibly exogenous variation in the efficiency of debt contract enforcement and using detailed information on product lines produced by the manufacturing firms, we study the causal effect of debt contract enforcement on product growth. We find that DRTs account for over 15% of the observed increase in firms’ product scope during our sample period. Firms enter into new product lines in industries outside of their current scope of operation suggesting bolder innovation moves in response to DRTs. This increase in product scope is driven by firms in the top quartile of tangible asset distribution. These firms increase their borrowings and investments in R&D, plant and machinery, and selling & distribution expenses. There is also a significant improvement in their performance as measured by sales and profitability. In contrast, low tangible asset firms experience a decline in their sales and profitability. DRTs also increase the firm level Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and improve the allocative efficiency within industries

Keywords: Debt recovery tribunals, Debt contract enforcement, Product innovation, TFP

SSRN Link: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3942828


  1. Effectiveness of R&D tax Incentive Schemes: Evidence from India (with Rahul Singh)


  1. The Cost of Receivables for Small Firms: Evidence from India


Conference Presentations:


  1. 2022: European Economics Association 2022 (Bocconi), 100 Years of Economic Development Cornell University Conference (Cornell) , American Finance Association (poster session), IIMB Management Review Doctoral Conference, 3rd Annual Economics Conference Ahmedabad University, CAFRAL India, European Financial Management Association 2022 (Rome)


  1. 2021: 17th Comparative Analysis of Enterprise Data Conference, India Finance Conference, Winter school jointly organized by DSE and The Econometric Society, 12th Emerging Markets Conference, ACEGD Indian Statistical Institute Conference, Society for Economics Research in India (SERI) Doctoral Conference