Financial technology is a powerful tool in financial infrastructure, used to strengthen and smooth the delivery of financial services into the broader space. Financial technology involves software, applications, and other technologies designed to improve and automate traditional forms of financial services for businesses established in different areas. The authors aimed to explore the impact of financial technology on the digital literacy rate in India, by utilizing the poverty score as a moderating variable. The panel data analysis (PDA) has been employed in the current study. Data from 29 states and two union territories (UTs) of India were considered for three financial years, i.e., 2017–2018 to 2019–2020. The study’s findings reveal that Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs), both in terms of numbers and amount, are positively associated with the literacy rate. However, ATMs are negatively significant in association with literacy rate. Furthermore, the study’s empirical results show that KCCs and ATMs positively impact literacy when interacting with poverty scores. The study’s findings bring noteworthy implications for the government and other officials to understand the situation at the ground level of Indian states and UTs while forming new rules and policies for society’s betterment, particularly in finance and digital literacy. Additionally, the findings imply that ordinary people living in urban and rural areas of India should take advantage of financial technology and get motivated towards digital literacy.

Purpose: The study intends to determine the environment, social and governance (ESG)'s impact on the firm's value. In addition, how ownership concentration (OC) and transparency and disclosures (TD) influence the impact of firm's ESG on its valuation (firm value).Design/methodology/approach: The relevant panel data with a sample of 78 Indian firms for five years (2016–2020) are gathered. Both linear and nonlinear connections of firm's ESG with its value are tested. In addition, TD and two components of OC (stakes of promoters and institutional investors) are empirically tested as moderators on the connectivity of the firm's ESG with its value.Findings: The linear association of firm's ESG with its value is found insignificant. ESG is found to have a positive and nonlinear (U-shaped) impact on the value of the firms. TD does not moderate the connectivity of firm's ESG with its valuation (firm value). The higher stakes of promoters positively affect the association of firm's ESG with the valuation. However, the high stakes of institutional investors retard the ESG's influence on the firm value.Research limitations/implications: The study is on Indian firms for five years. A sample of more than one nation and a longer duration (10 years) could have helped better determine the associations among the variables. In turn, these limitations can be the present study's future scope. In addition, the authors find a lack of standardisation of the ESG scales, which is a problem in measuring it. Using standardisation scales of ESG for the analysis can also be future scope on the topic.Practical implications: The investors would be wary of the level of ESG to influence the firms' value positively. Managers also need to be careful to have sincere efforts for ESG to reap its rich dividends. Policymakers may take cognisance that despite having board seats (in a few cases), institutional investors negatively (instead of positively as expected) influences the ESG's association with the firm's value. They may bring some guidelines or legislative changes to fix responsibility on the part of the institutional investors.Originality/value: No study reports the linear and nonlinear association of ESG on the firm's value to observe clearer connectivity between the two. Similarly, no study is observed to have promoters and institutional investors as moderators on the association of firm's ESG with the valuation (firm value). Hence, the present study considerably augments the extant literature on the topic and its contribution.

Purpose: Ownership concentration (OC) is an essential element of corporate governance (CG) for a firm's performance. The purpose of the study is to investigate the connectivity of OC (particularly considering promoters' holdings) with the firm's financial distress (FD) of non-financial firms (NFF) listed in India.Design/methodology/approach: The panel data regression analysis (applying quantile regression for the 25th quantile, 50th quantile, and 75th quantile) is employed to inspect the connection between OC (promoters' holdings) and the firm's FD (computed using Altman Z-scores). The data for a cross-section of 78 listed firms (non-financial) in India, considering the time frame of five years (2015–16 to 2019–20), are cumulated for the study. The leverage (leverage ratio), competition (Lerner index), valuation (mcap), sales, and profitability (net profit margin) variables are incorporated as control variables.Findings: The study's findings reveal that OC (promoters' holdings) positively relates to the firm's FD because OC negatively associates with Zscore (as Zscore is inverse to FD). Additionally, the non-linear association also indicates positive connectivity of OC and Zscore (a U shape association), alternatively showing a negative non-linear connection of OC (promoters' holdings) with the firm's FD (inverse U shape association). This result implies that initially, promoters' holdings enhance the firm's FD, and after a maximum threshold, promoters' holdings start reducing FD in non-financial listed firms in India. The findings also show an interesting aspect of OC at different quantiles. The results indicate that a higher OC is powerful when distress is both high and low to achieve stability. Conversely, less OC among promoters is required to achieve such stability when the distress is medium (50th quantile).Research limitations/implications: The scope of the study is limited to NFFs listed in India, which is one of the limitations of the present paper. Hence, this does not provide evidence for financial firms. Only one aspect of OC (promoters' holdings) is considered in the current study. However, OC can also be explored for FD in terms of institutional and retail investors. These limitations can be considered as the present study's future scope.Originality/value: Most of the studies regarding OC have explored the broader aspect of OC. However, the current study has narrowed the OC to promoters' holdings. No other study exclusively examines the association of OC (as promoters' holdings) with the firm's FD. Promoters' holdings have a more significant role in a firm's CG practices because of direct involvement of promoters' holdings in business activities. Thus, the present study's findings have notable implications for managers, policymakers, and investors concerned with the financial health of firms.

The firm’s valuation (FV) is the key element for all stakeholders, particularly the investors, for their investment decisions. The main impetus of this research is to estimate the effects of the debt ratio (DR, i.e., leverage) on the FV (i.e., assets and market capitalisation) of the non-financial firms listed in India. The quantile panel data regression (QPDR) on the secondary data of 76 non-financial BSE-100 listed firms in India is employed. This study also checks the effect of the net profit margin (NPM) as profitability on the association between DR and FV. The QPDR estimates result in multiple quantiles and provide evidence in scenarios. The findings reveal a positive relationship of DR to assets only in higher quantiles, i.e., 90%ile), and a negative association of DR is found with a market capitalisation in all quantiles. Under the interaction effect, profitability (NPM) does not affect the association of DR with assets but negatively affects the association of debt ratio with market capitalisation in the middle (50%) quantile. The findings indicate that leverage (DR) affects a firm’s value. The study’s outcomes are helpful to all stakeholders, particularly investors, to realise the leverage (DR) as a critical indicator of FV before making any investment decisions. Managers should also consider lower debt ratios for better firm value. The present analysis is original and holds novelty in the form of the moderating role of the net profit margin, i.e., the profitability of the firm between DR and FV in the non-financial firm in India. To the best of our knowledge, no such studies have been performed to look for the association of the debt ratio with a firm’s value under the effect of profitability in different quantiles using quantile regression.

Financial inclusion is an emerging economic growth paradigm, especially in developing economies like India. It is an essential barometer for the all-encompassing growth of a country and its economy. However, there is still a debate regarding the effect of Financial Inclusion (FI) on achieving sustainable development. This study aims to determine if FI helps achieve Sustainable Development Growth (SDG) in India and if internet subscribers significantly influence the connection between FI and SDG. Secondary data from 16 states and one UT in India have been collected for 2017–2019. Therefore, the sample data is recent and covers a large country span. The data source is NITI Aayog and PMFBY (“Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana”) reports. The findings of this research are that FI has a positively significant relationship with sustainable development goals (SDG) in India. However, when the internet subscribers are high, the FI’s positive association with SDG gets reduced. PMFBY and SDG have been used for the first time, along with internet subscribers as moderators. The outcome has direct policy implications for improving the nation’s financial inclusion and economic growth.

Financial distress (FD) is a crucial issue that needs to be resolved in time; otherwise, it may adversely influence society’s areas. Therefore, identifying the factors responsible for FD and how these factors affect FD is an exciting area of research. Given this, this paper proposes investigating the effect of competition on the bank’s FD in India. This paper uses the data of 34 banks operating in India for the observation period (2016–2019). Three variants of Altman’s Z-score are used for the assessment of FD. Lerner’s index of the banks is developed for the competition measurement. A panel data analysis is further performed for regression analysis. The current study has an interesting outcome. The findings reveal that high market power or low competition lowers financial distress and adds more financial stability in banks in India. This paper provides fresh evidence on the connection between market power and FD of banks in India. Moreover, no other study has been observed to use all the three variants of Altman’s z-score to provide robustness and reliability in results. Therefore, the study has a significant contribution and a novelty in its approach.