IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/revmar/v10y2018i3p228-252.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information Asymmetry and Debt–Equity Choice: Evidence from an Emerging Market, India

Author

Listed:
  • Bipin Sony
  • Saumitra Bhaduri

Abstract

We examine the role of information asymmetry in the debt–equity choice decisions of firms from an important emerging market, India. Information problems are more severe in the emerging markets and we find strong evidence in favour of information asymmetry playing a key role in the capital structure decisions of Indian firms. Consistent with the pecking order model, we find that equity issues are lesser in number and firms facing fewer information problems issue equity. We use novel variables such as analyst coverage, analyst forecast surprise and dispersion to capture information asymmetry in the Indian market. JEL: G32

Suggested Citation

  • Bipin Sony & Saumitra Bhaduri, 2018. "Information Asymmetry and Debt–Equity Choice: Evidence from an Emerging Market, India," Review of Market Integration, India Development Foundation, vol. 10(3), pages 228-252, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:revmar:v:10:y:2018:i:3:p:228-252
    DOI: 10.1177/0974929218803151
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0974929218803151
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0974929218803151?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hovakimian, Armen & Opler, Tim & Titman, Sheridan, 2001. "The Debt-Equity Choice," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(1), pages 1-24, March.
    2. Harrison Hong & Terence Lim & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage, and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 265-295, February.
    3. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    5. Lemmon, Michael L. & Zender, Jaime F., 2010. "Debt Capacity and Tests of Capital Structure Theories," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(5), pages 1161-1187, October.
    6. Marianne Bertrand & Paras Mehta & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2002. "Ferreting out Tunneling: An Application to Indian Business Groups," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 121-148.
    7. Jayati Sarkar & Subrata Sarkar & Kaustav Sen, 2012. "A Corporate governance index for large listed companies in India," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2012-009, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    8. Xin Chang & Sudipto Dasgupta & Gilles Hilary, 2006. "Analyst Coverage and Financing Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(6), pages 3009-3048, December.
    9. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    10. Eugene F. Fama, 2002. "Testing Trade-Off and Pecking Order Predictions About Dividends and Debt," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-33, March.
    11. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    12. Saumitra Bhaduri, 2002. "Determinants of capital structure choice: a study of the Indian corporate sector," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(9), pages 655-665.
    13. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2005. "Financing decisions: who issues stock?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 549-582, June.
    14. Gomes, Armando & Phillips, Gordon, 2012. "Why do public firms issue private and public securities?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 619-658.
    15. Autore, Don M. & Kovacs, Tunde, 2010. "Equity issues and temporal variation in information asymmetry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 12-23, January.
    16. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    17. Frank, Murray Z. & Goyal, Vidhan K., 2003. "Testing the pecking order theory of capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 217-248, February.
    18. Laurence Booth & Varouj Aivazian & Asli Demirguc‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2001. "Capital Structures in Developing Countries," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 87-130, February.
    19. Saumitra Bhaduri, 2015. "Why do Firms Issue Equity?," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 14(1), pages 59-85, April.
    20. Merton, Robert C, 1987. "A Simple Model of Capital Market Equilibrium with Incomplete Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(3), pages 483-510, July.
    21. Robert M. Bowen & Xia Chen & Qiang Cheng, 2008. "Analyst Coverage and the Cost of Raising Equity Capital: Evidence from Underpricing of Seasoned Equity Offerings," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(3), pages 657-700, September.
    22. Titman, Sheridan & Wessels, Roberto, 1988. " The Determinants of Capital Structure Choice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(1), pages 1-19, March.
    23. Balasubramanian, N. & Black, Bernard S. & Khanna, Vikramaditya, 2010. "The relation between firm-level corporate governance and market value: A case study of India," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 319-340, December.
    24. Chen, Tao & Harford, Jarrad & Lin, Chen, 2015. "Do analysts matter for governance? Evidence from natural experiments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 383-410.
    25. Chakraborty, Indrani, 2010. "Capital structure in an emerging stock market: The case of India," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 295-314, September.
    26. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2002. "Market Timing and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 1-32, February.
    27. Kraus, Alan & Litzenberger, Robert H, 1973. "A State-Preference Model of Optimal Financial Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 911-922, September.
    28. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    29. Delcoure, Natalya, 2007. "The determinants of capital structure in transitional economies," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 400-415.
    30. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    31. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    32. J. Scott Long & Jeremy Freese, 2006. "Regression Models for Categorical Dependent Variables using Stata, 2nd Edition," Stata Press books, StataCorp LP, edition 2, number long2, March.
    33. Surenderrao Komera & Jijo Lukose P.J., 2015. "Capital structure choice, information asymmetry, and debt capacity: evidence from India," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 39(4), pages 807-823, October.
    34. Hovakimian, Armen & Hovakimian, Gayane & Tehranian, Hassan, 2004. "Determinants of target capital structure: The case of dual debt and equity issues," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 517-540, 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. Bipin Sony & Saumitra Bhadurib, 2020. "Information asymmetry and the choice between rights issue and private placement of equity," BASE University Working Papers 01/2020, BASE University, Bengaluru, India.
    2. Sony, Bipin & Bhaduri, Saumitra, 2021. "Information asymmetry and financing choice between debt, equity and dual issues by Indian firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 90-101.

    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. Sony, Bipin & Bhaduri, Saumitra, 2021. "Information asymmetry and financing choice between debt, equity and dual issues by Indian firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 90-101.
    2. Tung Lam Dang & Thi Hong Hanh Huynh & Manh Toan Nguyen & Thi Minh Hue Nguyen, 2017. "The firm information environment and capital structure: international evidence," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(44), pages 4482-4500, September.
    3. Allini, Alessandra & Rakha, Soliman & McMillan, David G. & Caldarelli, Adele, 2018. "Pecking order and market timing theory in emerging markets: The case of Egyptian firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 297-308.
    4. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    5. Attaullah Shah & Jasir Ilyas, 2014. "Is Negative Profitability-Leverage Relation the only Support for the Pecking Order Theory in Case of Pakistani Firms?," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 53(1), pages 33-55.
    6. Yildirim, Ramazan & Masih, Mansur & Bacha, Obiyathulla Ismath, 2018. "Determinants of capital structure: evidence from Shari'ah compliant and non-compliant firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 198-219.
    7. Pinnuck, Matt & Shekhar, Chander, 2013. "The profit versus loss heuristic and firm financing decisions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 420-439.
    8. Elena Alexandra Nenu & Georgeta Vintilă & Ştefan Cristian Gherghina, 2018. "The Impact of Capital Structure on Risk and Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence for the Bucharest Stock Exchange Listed Companies," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-29, April.
    9. Surenderrao Komera & Jijo Lukose P.J., 2015. "Capital structure choice, information asymmetry, and debt capacity: evidence from India," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 39(4), pages 807-823, October.
    10. Shoaib Ali & Attiya Yasmin Javid, 2015. "Relationship between Credit Rating, Capital Structure and Earning Management Behaviour: Evidence from Pakistani Listed Firms," PIDE-Working Papers 2015:121, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    11. Ebrahim, M. Shahid & Girma, Sourafel & Shah, M. Eskandar & Williams, Jonathan, 2014. "Dynamic capital structure and political patronage: The case of Malaysia," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 117-128.
    12. Viet Anh Dang, 2013. "Testing capital structure theories using error correction models: evidence from the UK, France and Germany," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 171-190, January.
    13. Khawaja, Mohsin & Bhatti, M. Ishaq & Ashraf, Dawood, 2019. "Ownership and control in a double decision framework for raising capital," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    14. Mohamed, Hisham Hanifa & Masih, Mansur & Bacha, Obiyathulla I., 2015. "Why do issuers issue Sukuk or conventional bond? Evidence from Malaysian listed firms using partial adjustment models," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 233-252.
    15. Li, Larry & Islam, Silvia Z., 2019. "Firm and industry specific determinants of capital structure: Evidence from the Australian market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 425-437.
    16. Leary, Mark T. & Roberts, Michael R., 2010. "The pecking order, debt capacity, and information asymmetry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 332-355, March.
    17. Zhang, Dongyang & Liu, Deqiang, 2017. "Determinants of the capital structure of Chinese non-listed enterprises: Is TFP efficient?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 179-202.
    18. Kanwal Iqbal Khan & Faisal Qadeer & Mário Nuno Mata & José Chavaglia Neto & Qurat ul An Sabir & Jéssica Nunes Martins & José António Filipe, 2021. "Core Predictors of Debt Specialization: A New Insight to Optimal Capital Structure," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-25, April.
    19. Quratulain Zafar & Winai Wongsurawat & David Camino, 2019. "The determinants of leverage decisions: Evidence from Asian emerging markets," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1598836-159, January.
    20. Temimi, Akram & Zeitun, Rami & Mimouni, Karim, 2016. "How does the tax status of a country impact capital structure? Evidence from the GCC region," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 71-89.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital structure; information asymmetry; pecking order; financing decisions; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sae:revmar:v:10:y:2018:i:3:p:228-252. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.idfresearch.org .

    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.