Publications


Book chapters:


Journal articles:


Abstract- We examine the impact of innovation effort on exports of resource constrained emerging market firms (EMFs), and boundary conditions imposed by complementary tangible and intangible resources on this relationship, using the lens of the Knowledge Based View (KBV). Using a firm-level data from 19,057 Indian firms over the period of 2009-2017, the baseline impact of innovation effort on exports is found to be a concave inverted U-shape, exhibiting decreasing returns. Availability of complementary resources significantly impacts the nature of this relationship by weakening it for more resource constrained firms. Faced with relatively greater scale-related constraints, the impact of innovation effort on exports disappears. Greater process-related constraints weaken the relationship as well. Theoretically, these findings shed light on a nuanced relationship between a firm’s search for knowledge assets and access to foreign markets within resource constrained emerging market contexts. The limitations in the use and applicability of the KBV for EMFs’ internationalization success is highlighted, with suggested directions of future research.


Abstract- Using a unique proprietary dataset of daily mutual fund trading records and the COVID-19 pandemic-triggered lockdown in Wuhan (China) as a natural experiment, we find that individual mutual fund investors in Wuhan significantly reduced their daily trading frequency, total investment of their portfolios, and risk level of their invested funds during the lockdown period as compared to investors in other cities. The results suggest that the elimination of face-to-face interaction among individual investors during the lockdown reduced their information sharing, which led to more conservatism in their financial trading. We rule out alternative explanations of salience bias due to limited investor attention and temporary changes in personal circumstances such as depression and/or income reduction, during the lockdown period. Finally, consistent with the theory of naïve investor trading, we also find that investors received higher trading returns during the lockdown as they reduced trading aggressively in the absence of face-to-face interactions.


Abstract- Gender bias in leadership and decision-making is a well-documented and pervasive topic that continues to garner significant attention in academic research and business literature. In this paper, exploiting a unique proprietary dataset of 550 mid-corporate loan applications managed by a major European bank, we explore how the use of soft information influences lending decisions of female loan officers as compared to their male counterparts. We find that use of soft information reduces information asymmetry which helps female officers in making diligent lending decisions resulting in increased granted credit with a lower default probability. We also investigate gender affinity within the banking organisation and find that female loan approvers are more likely to be supportive of their subordinate female loan officers by approving more credit to the loan applications handled by female loan officers. Finally, we examine the possible mechanisms that can explain these results, and find that female loan officers are able to better collect and use soft information as they cultivate and maintain deeper firm-bank relationships with their clients due to higher threat of losing or being penalized in their jobs for any possible errors. We also rule out any other possible explanations such as differences in workload, work experience, loan officers’ optimism, managerial ability, and screening capabilities between female and male loan officers. Our findings carry important implications reflected in optimal allocation of capital in the economy, and reduction of gender-related exclusion which is vital in creating an equitable society, and fostering a more ethical and inclusive workplace.


Abstract- Recent evidence has shown that hybrid models for credit ratings are important when assessing the risk of firms. Within this stream of literature, we aim to provide novel evidence on how hard (quantitative), soft (qualitative), and market information predict corporate defaults for unlisted firms by implementing the Cox proportional hazard model. We address this research question by exploiting a unique proprietary dataset comprising of detailed information on internal credit ratings of European unlisted mid-sized firms and compute their Merton's distance-to-default (DD) measure of credit risk with market data collected on comparable publicly listed companies. Our results show that the bank's use of hard, soft, and market information when assessing the credit ratings of borrowers has a significant influence on the prediction of their defaults. Further, we investigate the significant influence of soft information in predicting corporate defaults by drawing on two separate processes through which loan officers can inject soft information in credit scoring, that is, ‘codified’ and ‘uncodified’ discretion. Finally, when we distinguish between the loan officer's discretion to upgrade or downgrade an applicant's credit score, we find that it is the upgrade that is likely to predict a lower probability of a firm defaulting. This study contributes to the policy debate on safeguarding the banking sector's continuity by positing that integrating market information into banks' hybrid methods of credit rating helps to improve the accuracy in predicting unlisted firms' credit risk that is useful to policy makers for the design of future forward-looking financial risk management frameworks.


Abstract- Employing a dataset of 1,160 Indian firms, we study the impact of global financing conditions on firms’ borrowings abroad across different phases of global credit. While the abundant credit in the post global financial crisis period allowed firms to take advantage of relatively cheap financing abroad, we show that firms’ access to external finance has declined since 2013. We find that since 2013, lenders are differentiating across borrowers and it is specifically the less risky and more profitable firms that are increasing their foreign borrowings even at the times of higher global risk. We do not find evidence of regional and domestic credit offsetting this global effect. Furthermore, we find that the reduced access to external finance in the post-2013 period is associated with a decline in firms’ real investment activities, highlighting the real effects of global credit dynamics.


Abstract- Growing financial failure at firm-level can have serious consequences for banks in terms of rising non-performing assets, in the absence of a strong bankruptcy system. Such a scenario in India made its dysfunctional insolvency system to be reformed, introducing the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in 2016. Using a panel of 33,845 Indian firms over the period of 2008–2019 and by employing a difference-in-differences approach, we investigate how the IBC has supported financially distressed firms in mitigating their intrinsic vulnerability during the post-IBC period, compared to their non-distressed counterparts. We find that through an expanded credit availability and a lower cost of debt financing during the post-IBC period, distressed firms are able to improve their performance relative to non-distressed firms. Furthermore, we provide evidence that the benefits stemming from the implementation of the IBC policy are more prominent for those financially distressed firms that are larger, younger and more collateralized. Our results are robust to a battery of tests and identification strategies. Our conclusions are relevant in contributing to the current academic and policy debates on safeguarding and preserving business performance and continuity under stressed scenarios.


Abstract- This paper fills a gap in the literature on gender bias in accessing financial assets and income generation activities by analyzing the influence of media and social networks on the financial returns of female-headed households. Empirical evidence suggests that media and social networks are effective tools for diminishing connectivity constraints, raising awareness, and influencing behaviors. Using the India Human Development Survey of female-headed households for the period 2011 to 2012, we find that media and social networks positively impact the financial returns of households. We also find that information networks have positive and significant impacts on the net income from financial investments in urban areas and net income from agricultural activities in rural areas. Following this, we explore the mediating role of financial expertise among households and confirm its importance in understanding and using the information provided by media and social networks to make relevant financial decisions. 


Abstract- The literature shows that rigid capital control policies adversely influence international trade, leading to external financial reforms in terms of greater cross-border access to financing, which, in turn, can stimulate aggregate productivity. However, the literature overlooks the relationships among access to external financing, firm-level productivity, and exporting performance. We fill this research gap by using a rich dataset of 11,612 Indian firms over the period 1988–2014 and study how a unique financial policy intervention affects firm performance. We establish a significant effect of capital-account liberalization through an export-oriented policy initiative on firms' productivity and, consequently, on their exporting activity. Finally, we find that the benefits of the policy reform are more pronounced for financially vulnerable firms characterized by either high debt or low liquidity. 


Abstract- This paper analyses the impact of policy initiatives co-ordinated by Asian national governments on firms' composition of external finance. Using a unique firm-level database of eight Asian countries- Hong Kong SAR, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand over the period of 1996–2012 and a difference-in-differences approach, the results show a significant response of the debt composition to the policy change. We find that firms increased their uptake of long-term debt, while decreased their short-term debt. We also document that less risky and more profitable firms are more significantly affected by the policy change than riskier and less profitable firms. Finally, we show that the improved access to external finance after the policy initiative helped firms to raise their investment spending.


Abstract- Using a panel of 38 economies, over the period 2001–2010, we analyse the link between different facets of education and diversification in international portfolios. We find that university education, mathematical numeracy, in addition to financial skill, play an important role in reducing home bias. After separating countries according to their level of financial development, we find that less developed economies with more university graduates, or with higher level of mathematical numeracy, have lower level of local equity bias compared to more developed countries. We also find that the beneficial effect of education is more pronounced during the most recent financial crisis, especially for economies with less developed financial markets.