IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v14y2021i9p413-d627362.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Elimination of Dividend Distribution Tax on Indian Corporate Firms Amid COVID Disruptions

Author

Listed:
  • Anshu Agrawal

    (Indian Institute of Management Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh, Sirmaur 173025, India)

Abstract

Economic fallouts from COVID-19 have been unprecedented across all industries, with a handful of exceptions. The present study attempts to capture the impact of dividend distribution tax elimination, introduced through the Indian Finance Act 2020, on corporate dividend behavior in India. It explores the determinants of dividend payouts, changing payout decisions, dividend behavior of regular payers, and the prevalence of factors associated with changing payouts. Out of the top 1000 firms, based on their market capitalization at the Bombay Stock Exchange, 509 non-financial firms pursuing consistent dividend payments from 2015 to 2019 are analyzed. The study also examines the dividend behavior of regular payers exhibiting a stable or step-up payout from 2015 to 2019. COVID’s impact on the firm’s financial performance and sentiments seems to dominate, suppressing investors’ expectations of enhanced payouts associated with dividend distribution tax advantages, with considerable reductions in payouts and omissions shown by regular and irregular payers in 2020 and 2021 vis-à-vis the preceding years. The findings signify that the dividend payouts of sample firms are positively associated with the firms’ size, MBV ratio, and past dividends, and negatively allied with free cash flows and the EBITDA margin. Regular payers are observed to be more sensitive to past dividends. The study lends credence to the conservatism and prevalence of signaling and catering theories in the dividend behavior of Indian corporate firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Anshu Agrawal, 2021. "Impact of Elimination of Dividend Distribution Tax on Indian Corporate Firms Amid COVID Disruptions," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-38, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:14:y:2021:i:9:p:413-:d:627362
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/14/9/413/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/14/9/413/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malcolm Baker & Brock Mendel & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2016. "Dividends as Reference Points: A Behavioral Signaling Approach," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(3), pages 697-738.
    2. Pornsit Jiraporn & Pandej Chintrakarn, 2009. "Staggered Boards, Managerial Entrenchment, and Dividend Policy," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 36(1), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Saurabh Chadha & Anil K. Sharma, 2015. "Determinants of capital structure: an empirical evaluation from India," Journal of Advances in Management Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(1), pages 3-14, May.
    4. Rihanat Idowu Abdulkadir & Nur Adiana Hiau Abdullah & Woei-Chyuan Wong, 2016. "Dividend Payment Behaviour and its Determinants: The Nigerian Evidence," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 53-63, March.
    5. Ranajee Ranajee & Rajesh Pathak & Akanksha Saxena, 2018. "To pay or not to pay: what matters the most for dividend payments?," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(2), pages 230-244, January.
    6. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    7. Lahiri, Poulomi & Chakraborty, Indrani, 2014. "Explaining dividend gap between R&D and non-R&D Indian companies in the post-reform period," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 268-283.
    8. Rakesh Kumar Sharma, 2021. "Factors influencing dividend decisions of Indian construction, housing and real estate companies: An empirical panel data analysis," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(4), pages 5666-5683, October.
    9. Thi Thai Ha Le & Xuan Hung Nguyen & Manh Dung Tran, 2019. "Determinants of Dividend Payout Policy in Emerging Markets: Evidence from the ASEAN Region," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(4), pages 531-546, April.
    10. Franklin Allen & Antonio E. Bernardo & Ivo Welch, 2000. "A Theory of Dividends Based on Tax Clienteles," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2499-2536, December.
    11. Sakthi Mahenthiran & David Cademartori & Tom Gjerde, 2020. "Mandatory Dividend Policy, Growth, Liquidity and Corporate Governance: Evidence from Chile," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(03), pages 1-35, September.
    12. Abhinav Kumar Rajverma & Rakesh Arrawatia & Arun Kumar Misra & Abhijeet Chandra, 2019. "Ownership structure influencing the joint determination of dividend, leverage, and cost of capital," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1600462-160, January.
    13. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Stulz, Rene M., 2006. "Dividend policy and the earned/contributed capital mix: a test of the life-cycle theory," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 227-254, August.
    14. Afrin Rifat & Anika Bushra & Nabila Nisha, 2020. "Factors that drive dividend payout decisions: an investigation in the context of Bangladesh," Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(3), pages 380-408.
    15. Thi Thai Ha Le & Xuan Hung Nguyen & Manh Dung Tran, 2019. "Determinants of Dividend Payout Policy in Emerging Markets: Evidence from the ASEAN Region," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(4), pages 531-546.
    16. Jiang, Wei & Stark, Andrew W., 2013. "Dividends, research and development expenditures, and the value relevance of book value for UK loss-making firms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 112-124.
    17. MacKie-Mason, Jeffrey K, 1990. "Do Taxes Affect Corporate Financing Decisions?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(5), pages 1471-1493, December.
    18. James Juichia Lin & Cheng-Few Lee, 0. "Does managerial reluctance of dividend cuts signal future earnings?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-26.
    19. Rój Justyna, 2019. "The Determinants of Corporate Dividend Policy in Poland," Ekonomika (Economics), Sciendo, vol. 98(1), pages 96-110, June.
    20. Jensen, Gerald R. & Lundstrum, Leonard L. & Miller, Robert E., 2010. "What do dividend reductions signal?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 736-747, December.
    21. Cejnek, Georg & Randl, Otto & Zechner, Josef, 2021. "The COVID-19 Pandemic and Corporate Dividend Policy," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(7), pages 2389-2410, November.
    22. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:3:p:1125-1165 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Moon, Joonho & Lee, Won Seok & Dattilo, John, 2015. "Determinants of the payout decision in the airline industry," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 282-288.
    24. Chaleeda & Md. Aminul Islam & Tunku Salha Tunku Ahmad & Anas Najeeb Mosa Ghazalat, 2019. "The Effects of Corporate Financing Decisions on Firm Value in Bursa Malaysia," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(3), pages 127-135, March.
    25. James Juichia Lin & Cheng-Few Lee, 2021. "Does managerial reluctance of dividend cuts signal future earnings?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 453-478, February.
    26. Malcolm Baker & Richard S. Ruback & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2004. "Behavioral Corporate Finance: A Survey," NBER Working Papers 10863, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    27. Michael S. Rozeff, 1982. "Growth, Beta And Agency Costs As Determinants Of Dividend Payout Ratios," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 5(3), pages 249-259, September.
    28. James E. Walter, 1963. "Dividend Policy: Its Influence On The Value Of The Enterprise," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 18(2), pages 280-291, May.
    29. Hananeh Shahteimoori Ardestani & Siti Zaleha Abdul Rasid & Rohaida Basiruddin & Mohammadghorban Mehri, 2013. "Dividend Payout Policy, Investment Opportunity Set and Corporate Financing in the Industrial Products Sector of Malaysia," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 3(1), pages 1-8.
    30. James E. Walter, 1956. "Dividend Policies And Common Stock Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 11(1), pages 29-41, March.
    31. Higgins, Robert C., 1972. "The Corporate Dividend-Saving Decision," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 1527-1541, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sudatta Bharati Mohapatra & Nirmal Chandra Kar, 2022. "Revisiting the Long-Run Dynamic Linkage between Dividends and Share Price with Advanced Panel Econometrics Techniques," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, October.
    2. Aleksandra Pieloch-Babiarz, 2022. "Catering to investor sentiment for dividends: contestability or collusion of the largest shareholders?," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 17(2), pages 435-457, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nor Anis Shafai & Annuar Md. Nassir & Fakarudin Kamarudin & Norhuda Abdul Rahim & Nor Hayati Ahmad, 2019. "Dynamic Panel Model of Dividend Policies: Malaysian Perspective," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 13(3), September.
    2. Kartal Demirg ne, 2015. "Determinants of Target Dividend Payout Ratio: A Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag Analysis," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 5(2), pages 418-426.
    3. Hui Liang James & Hongxia Wang, 2021. "Independent director tenure and dividends," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(5-6), pages 1057-1091, May.
    4. Smith, Deborah Drummond & Pennathur, Anita K. & Marciniak, Marek R., 2017. "Why do CEOs agree to the discipline of dividends?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 38-48.
    5. Hussein Abedi Shamsabadi & Byung-Seong Min & Richard Chung, 2016. "Corporate governance and dividend strategy: lessons from Australia," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(5), pages 583-610, October.
    6. Kathryn E. Easterday & Pradyot K. Sen, 2023. "Another look at the dividend-price relationship in the accounting valuation framework," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 879-925, October.
    7. Jabbouri, Imad, 2016. "Determinants of corporate dividend policy in emerging markets: Evidence from MENA stock markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 283-298.
    8. Imen Ghadhab, 2023. "Bonding, signaling theory and dividend policy: Evidence from multinational firms," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(1), pages 69-83, February.
    9. James, Hui & Benson, Bradley W. & Wu, Chen (Ken), 2017. "Does CEO ownership affect payout policy? Evidence from using CEO scaled wealth-performance sensitivity," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 328-345.
    10. Adra, Samer & Gao, Yang & Huang, Jin & Yuan, Jiayi, 2023. "Geopolitical risk and corporate payout policy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    11. Wang, Jiaxin & Cheng, Ruonan & Huang, Yong & Yan, Chao, 2023. "The pre-IPO dividend and IPO underpricing: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    12. He, Wen & Ng, Lilian & Zaiats, Nataliya & Zhang, Bohui, 2017. "Dividend policy and earnings management across countries," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 267-286.
    13. Ouyang, Puman & Zhong, Ligang, 2023. "Asset redeployability and dividend payout policy," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 91-105.
    14. Muhammad Nurul Houqe & Reza M. Monem & Tony van Zijl, 2023. "Business strategy, cash holdings, and dividend payouts," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(4), pages 3999-4035, December.
    15. Fairchild, Richard & Guney, Yilmaz & Thanatawee, Yordying, 2014. "Corporate dividend policy in Thailand: Theory and evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 129-151.
    16. Noha Said Mohamed Gabr & Rawan Hamed Abd Elkhaliq Mohamed, 2024. "Retained Earnings and Dividends in Real Estate Sector in Egypt," International Real Estate Review, Global Social Science Institute, vol. 27(2), pages 249-274.
    17. Mahboubeh Bahreini & Cahit Adaoglu, 2018. "Dividend payouts of travel and leisure companies in Western Europe," Tourism Economics, , vol. 24(7), pages 801-820, November.
    18. Liang Shao & Chuck C.Y. Kwok & Omrane Guedhami, 2013. "Dividend Policy: Balancing Shareholders' And Creditors' Interests," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 36(1), pages 43-66, January.
    19. Basharat Khan & Qiujun Zhao & Amjad Iqbal & Irfan Ullah & Shahab Aziz, 2022. "Internal Dynamics of Dividend Policy in East-Asia: A Comparative Study of Japan and South Korea," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    20. Seyed Alireza Athari, 2021. "The effects of institutional settings and risks on bank dividend policy in an emerging market: Evidence from Tobit model," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 4493-4515, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:14:y:2021:i:9:p:413-:d:627362. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.