Price Behaviour Around Dividend Announcements in the Indian Equity Market in the Existence of Corporate Dividend Tax

This article empirically examines the price behaviour around cash dividend announcements of the firms listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) in order to understand whether dividend announcements really influence stock returns in the market and carry meaningful information to the investors in the existence of corporate dividend tax. The article uses standard ‘event study’ methodology based on market model on a sample of 210 dividend announcements. Subsample analysis is employed for further analysis of firms of different categories. The study finds that cash dividend announcements do not necessarily generate abnormal stock returns in an emerging market, such as India. The whole sample is further divided into various subsamples on the basis of firm size and the size of payout ratio. The study finds that large payout firms experience greater stock returns compared to the smaller payout firms just after the dividend announcements. However, stock returns following dividend announcements do not vary across firm size. This article provides evidence to the managers about the non-linkage between cash dividend announcements and stock returns in an emerging market like India. This finding is contrary to the findings of many other studies that are based on the data of the developed economies.