Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify factors relevant for financial inclusion (FI) and establish a model that shows how these factors lead to economic development (ED) through FI. Design/methodology/approach: Primary data were collected through structured questionnaire. Out of 350, 311 respondents accurately filled the questionnaire. The data were collected from rural areas of Tamil Nadu. Exploratory factor analysis has been applied to evaluate drivers/factors relevant for FI. Confirmatory factor analysis has been applied to establish reliability and validity of the identified factors. A structural model has been proposed and empirically tested for ED through FI. Findings: The main findings of the current paper are as follows: online banking (OB), understanding banking services (UBS) and financial literacy (FL) are the drivers of FI; FI can lead to ED, as the proposed model of ED, through FI, is supported in the paper (χ²/degree of freedom and CMIN/degree of freedom are less than 3; GFI and AGFI are more than 0.90 and 0.85, respectively). Behavior of the people, with respect to mode of financial transactions, has changed due to demonetization. (The χ² test for mode of financial transaction is significant). Research limitations/implications: The geographical reach of the sample should cover the whole India. The sample should also have equal representation from rural and urban areas. Practical implications: The identified factors for FI (OB, UBS and FL) should be more focused to bring about better results for FI in India. These factors can lead to a more effective execution of FI initiatives. In addition to this, policy makers can be confident of relying upon FI as a tool for ED. Originality/value: The identified three drivers for FI have not been explored earlier. In addition to this, ED (through FI) in the form of structural model has also not been tested earlier. Government of India can realign their policies toward FI by using findings of this paper. In addition to increasing the access of formal financial system to masses, more thrust can be given to OB and FL for better results of FI in India.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the general trends in the area of dividend policy which will help to identify fertile research streams in this area with a potential for further investigation. Design/methodology/approach: To conduct a systematic literature review, the authors use a three-step methodology to collect resources and thus evaluate the research work done in the area of dividend policy. First, the necessary data are extracted from the Scopus database using the relevant keywords. The initial search results are then narrowed down to include only English language journal publications which are stored in the file. Finally, this file is used as primary data for data analysis. Data analysis is done using bibliometric and network analysis tools to recognize the trends in dividend policy to help researchers identify emergent areas for future work to be done. Findings: This study reveals that research in the area of dividend policy is rapidly expanding since 2005; affiliation statistics show that majority of the publications are done in the USA and the UK; and many questions linked to dividend decision remain unanswered, especially in respect of emerging markets. Originality/value: There is a need to organize the literature and understand the different areas that have been explored by many researchers. This study attempts to recognize the important research studies, determine the current areas of research attention, provide an understanding for current research interest and provide guidelines for future studies in the area of dividend policy.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities have become essential and viable activities of corporations because of the increase in concern for environmental, social, and governance issues. The motive of this research is to measure the effect of ESG on the financial performance (FP) of healthcare corporations using the market-to-book value (MTB) ratio as a proxy of FP. A sample of 33 pharma companies in India from 2011 to 2020 has been considered. The study relies on the panel data method to assess the association between ESG and FP. The potential moderating role of competition has also been studied to simplify their relationship in this framework. The finding of this study is that there is a significant negative association between ESG and FP, and it is also found that when competition is used as a moderator, it results in a significantly positive impact on the ESG and FP of healthcare companies. This study increases the understanding of the association between ESG and FP and helps corporations to formulate corporate strategies and stakeholders to make investment decisions. The originality of this study is that it addresses the impact of competition on ESG and FP of the healthcare industry and will become foundational literature for future studies.

Purpose: Corporate governance across small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is undergoing unremitting changes, primarily due to the listing of SMEs on SME exchanges. The changing aspects of governance may influence the financial performance of SMEs. This paper examines how corporate governance influences the financial performance of listed SMEs in the context of developing economies like India. Ownership concentration (promoters' holding) and information disclosures measure corporate governance in this examination.Design/methodology/approach: The sample for this study includes 88 listed SMEs from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) SME platform in India. The data are collected for the period between 2018 and 2020. The study employs panel data analysis. The fixed effects model, coupled with the computation of cluster robust standard errors, is used to test the relationship between variables.Findings: The results demonstrate that ownership concentration is not significantly related to financial performance. Further, information disclosures are inversely significant for financial performance. The results show that agency problems and information asymmetry plague the sampled firms. Further, the results of the study are indicative of inefficiencies in the governance structures of SMEs. Thus, it is evident that listed SMEs fail to reap the benefits of corporate governance.Practical implications: The study's findings should enlighten SME owners and managers on the benefits of corporate governance for SMEs. This is a pressing need at current times as the listing of SMEs is shifting the landscape of SME governance. Today, all firms, including SMEs, are expected to adopt and maintain near internationally benchmarked corporate governance standards. Secondly, the study's implications on how the ownership and information disclosures can be used to influence the financial outcomes of SMEs will benefit the overall business ecosystem. The policyholders and academics can use this study to boost the regulations and research in line with each other.Originality/value: Reforming monitoring mechanisms of firm activities and restructuring disclosure practices are essential for SMEs to produce better financial outcomes. The true benefits of corporate governance cannot be realized without attention to financial performance. The study is relevant to practitioners, lawmakers and academics to advance corporate governance for SMEs.

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.