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.

The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) holds significant importance in providing insights to policymakers and economic forecasters regarding the present and future state of the economic. These indices wield a unique influence on shaping both governmental and business decisions. The consumer confidence index serves as a barometer of the optimism consumers feel about the state of the economy, as evidenced by their saving and spending patterns, which in turn contribute to the growth of the national economy. This study relied on secondary data obtained from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) website. The data encompassed rounds 67 to 69, covering the time period of July, September, and November 2022. The research employed various analytical techniques, including frequency analysis, chi-square analysis, and ANOVA analysis in this study. The variables such as Educational qualification, Occupation, monthly income, Economic conditions compared to last one year and Household income of the respondent are used to achieve the objective. From this study, it is found that there is an association between the respondent monthly income & their educational qualification and monthly income & their number of members in the family. But Anova analysis show that there no difference between the respondent's perception on their economic condition and household income. It indicates that all the respondents in this study perceived same that there is no much improvement in their economic conditions and household income.

The paper examines the impact of a firm’s financial leverage on its investment decisions in the period 2011–2019, which occurred between two financial crises (2008–2010 and 2020–2022) and was globally marked by low interest rates and high leverage. The study focuses on non-financial listed firms in world’s top 13 largest economies consisting of 11 OECD+ countries and two emerging nations. The analysis explores the relationship between firm leverage and investment decisions, considering the growth opportunities and corporate risks of the firms, as well as the type of economy they operate in. The findings indicate that, overall, there is a negative relationship between leverage and investment. In developed nations, such as the OECD+ countries, this negative effect is more pronounced for firms with limited growth opportunities. Contrary to the existing literature, emerging economies exhibit a positive relationship between firm leverage and investment. Specifically, in China and India, firms with low growth opportunities display a stronger positive correlation between leverage and investment. These results suggest that in developed countries, debt continues to have a disciplining effect on firm investment, even in a high liquidity environment. However, in high-growth emerging economies, both firm management and lending institutions show less concern regarding leverage. Lastly, the study finds that firm risk has an adverse impact on investment decisions. These empirical findings highlight the non-uniform nature of the relationship between firm leverage and investment, which depends on the type of economy and the growth opportunities of the firms. AcknowledgmentsThe infrastructural support provided by Management Development Institute, Murshidabad, India and FORE School of Management, New Delhi, India in completing this paper is gratefully acknowledged.

The present study explores the effectiveness of the credit channel of monetary policy transmission in India from the perspective of magnitude, timing, and composition puzzles. To validate, further investigation of the effectiveness of the balance sheet channel and bank lending channel using the corporate cash flows and interest rate spreads, respectively, has been done. The study employs the structural vector autoregression model using the long-time quarterly series sample period from June 1998 to June 2022. The findings show that the anomalies concerning magnitude, timing, and composition effect do not exhibit a strong presence in the Indian context. The analysis of the weighted average call money rate and coverage ratio suggests a weak presence of the balance sheet channel in India with a weak negative correlation of 0.2943 (p < 0.05). The overall behavior of spread analysis also shows a weak presence of the bank lending channel in India. Although some presence of the bank lending channel is seen on banks’ managed liability side, the effect of external finance premium is not reflected in the lending rates with a correlation of 0.0577 (p > 0.05) between prime lending rate spread and weighted average call money rate spread. From the evidence, the study concludes the weak presence of the credit channel in India. Therefore, the monetary authorities might have to rely on other channels or may devise other unconventional mechanisms like Operation Twist and Long-Term Repo Operations observed during the COVID-19 pandemic to steer the real economy.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the impact of transparency and disclosure (TD) levels on shareholders’ current income (dividends) is moderated by technical efficiency (te) and profitability. The study employs econometrics on panel data from 78 BSE-listed enterprises across the 2016–2020 sample period. This conclusion suggests that when TD grows, dividends tend to drop initially, but above a certain threshold level, growing TD levels lead to increased payouts. Furthermore, dividends are adversely associated with the moderating variable “te” in terms of both constant and variable return to scale. On the other hand, moderation by profitability was shown to have a substantially favourable effect on dividends. According to this study, a company’s dividend policy is influenced by its TD levels, which are controlled by its efficiency and profitability. Developing a TD index provides more information on the efficacy of the corporate governance (CG) system. The study’s distinctiveness lies in examining the relationships between transparency, disclosures, and these aspects as they relate to profitability, efficiency, and dividend distribution choices to ascertain whether the companies’ operating effectiveness and financial success matter in this circumstance. The study’s practical and policy implications relate to societal repercussions, which include encouraging more openness and responsibility in business practices, thereby increasing confidence and accountability in decisions about dividend distribution, regardless of efficiency and profitability. The study’s originality is in examining how profitability, efficiency, and dividend distribution decisions relate to transparency and disclosures to determine if companies’ operating efficiency and financial success matter in this situation.

He main objective of this study is to assess the impact of female directors on firm risk in the G6 countries (all G7 countries except Italy, since data for Italy are not available). A total of 4617 firm-year observations were collected from six countries: the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Canada. The firm risk measures (risk1 and risk2) are calculated as the ratio of a firm profitability to volatility of profitability. These risk measures capture the risk-seeking behavior of the firm. These ratios are a comprehensive measure of risk-seeking behavior since they capture the decisions made by the incumbent management related to the firm’s operations. The results show that the presence of female directors beyond a threshold point reduces firm risk in the total dataset as well as in individual countries. Interestingly, Europe as a continent and all European countries individually have the highest impact of the presence of female directors above the threshold. In the case of Japan, the presence of female directors has the least influence on firm risk