IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/soueco/v22y2021i1p132-154.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Analysis of Trade Credit Behaviour of Indian Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Nitin Kumar
  • Arvind Shrivastava
  • Purnendu Kumar
  • M. Ishaq Bhatti

Abstract

Trade credit transactions are quite common for businesses. The article carries out the trade credit analysis for an emerging economy, namely Indian corporate sector employing rich information dataset covering multiple industries such as manufacturing, services, construction and others, since the period of financial crisis including both firm specific and macro-economic factors. The annual dataset spans 13 years from 2006 to 2018 covering the crisis period. Applying dynamic panel framework, it is found that the inventory management and macro indicators are significant in determining trade credit for Indian firms. While trade payable is chiefly driven by raw material inventory, firms having reasonable stock of raw or finished goods inventory are less likely to offer trade credit. Large-sized firms are found to be both leading consumers and suppliers of the trade credit. The pecking order theory is clearly validated with net profits being preferred over the trade credit that is a more expensive source of finance. Credit from formal financial sources is found to act as a substitute to trade credit borrowing. JEL: G3, G21, E4, C23

Suggested Citation

  • Nitin Kumar & Arvind Shrivastava & Purnendu Kumar & M. Ishaq Bhatti, 2021. "An Analysis of Trade Credit Behaviour of Indian Firms," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 22(1), pages 132-154, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soueco:v:22:y:2021:i:1:p:132-154
    DOI: 10.1177/13915614211009659
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13915614211009659
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/13915614211009659?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. 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.
    2. Casey, Eddie & O'Toole, Conor M., 2014. "Bank lending constraints, trade credit and alternative financing during the financial crisis: Evidence from European SMEs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 173-193.
    3. 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.
    4. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    5. Smith, Janet Kiholm, 1987. "Trade Credit and Informational Asymmetry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(4), pages 863-872, September.
    6. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1997. "Trade Credit: Theories and Evidence," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 661-691.
    7. Inessa Love & Rida Zaidi, 2010. "Trade Credit, Bank Credit and Financial Crisis-super-," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 10(s1), pages 125-147.
    8. Mike Burkart & Tore Ellingsen, 2004. "In-Kind Finance: A Theory of Trade Credit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 569-590, June.
    9. O'Toole, Conor & Casey, Eddie, 2014. "Bank-lending Constraints, Trade Credit and Alternative External Finance since the Financial Crisis: Evidence from European SMEs," Papers RB2014/2/3, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    10. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 1998. "Estimating and Testing Linear Models with Multiple Structural Changes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(1), pages 47-78, January.
    11. Carlos A. Molina & Lorenzo A. Preve, 2009. "Trade Receivables Policy of Distressed Firms and Its Effect on the Costs of Financial Distress," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(3), pages 663-686, September.
    12. Biais, Bruno & Gollier, Christian, 1997. "Trade Credit and Credit Rationing," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 903-937.
    13. Saibal Ghosh, 2015. "Trade Credit, Bank Credit and Crisis: Some Empirical Evidence for India?," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 9(4), pages 333-361, November.
    14. Leora Klapper & Luc Laeven & Raghuram Rajan, 2012. "Trade Credit Contracts," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(3), pages 838-867.
    15. Yang, Xiaolou, 2011. "Trade credit versus bank credit: Evidence from corporate inventory financing," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 419-434.
    16. Coulibaly, Brahima & Sapriza, Horacio & Zlate, Andrei, 2013. "Financial frictions, trade credit, and the 2008–09 global financial crisis," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 25-38.
    17. Bougheas, Spiros & Mateut, Simona & Mizen, Paul, 2009. "Corporate trade credit and inventories: New evidence of a trade-off from accounts payable and receivable," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 300-307, February.
    18. Rajendra R. Vaidya, 2011. "The Determinants of trade credit: Evidence from Indian manufacturing firms," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2011-012, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    19. Inessa Love & Rida Zaidi, 2010. "Trade Credit, Bank Credit and Financial Crisis," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 10(1), pages 125-147, March.
    20. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    21. Benjamin S. Wilner, 2000. "The Exploitation of Relationships in Financial Distress: The Case of Trade Credit," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 153-178, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Antonio Fabio Forgione & Carlo Migliardo, 2019. "An empirical analysis of the impact of trade credit on bank debt restructuring," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(2), pages 415-438, July.
    2. Altunok, Fatih & Mitchell, Karlyn & Pearce, Douglas K., 2020. "The trade credit channel and monetary policy transmission: Empirical evidence from U.S. panel data," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 226-250.
    3. James, Hui L., 2023. "Social capital and the riskiness of trade credit," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    4. Mariarosaria Agostino & Francesco Trivieri, 2014. "Does trade credit play a signalling role? Some evidence from SMEs microdata," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 131-151, January.
    5. Machokoto, Michael & Mahonye, Nyasha & Makate, Marshall, 2022. "Short-term financing sources in Africa: Substitutes or complements?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    6. Mateut, Simona & Chevapatrakul, Thanaset, 2018. "Customer financing, bargaining power and trade credit uptake," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 147-162.
    7. Jagriti Srivastava & Balagopal Gopalakrishnan, 2021. "In-kind financing during a pandemic: Trade credit and COVID-19," Working papers 473, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
    8. Abdulla, Yomna & Dang, Viet Anh & Khurshed, Arif, 2020. "Suppliers' listing status and trade credit provision," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    9. Mateut, Simona, 2014. "Reverse trade credit or default risk? Explaining the use of prepayments by firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 303-326.
    10. Box, Travis & Davis, Ryan & Hill, Matthew & Lawrey, Chris, 2018. "Operating performance and aggressive trade credit policies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 192-208.
    11. Falavigna, Greta & Ippoliti, Roberto, 2023. "SMEs’ behavior under financial constraints: An empirical investigation on the legal environment and the substitution effect with tax arrears," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    12. Michael Machokoto & Daniel Gyimah & Boulis Maher Ibrahim, 2022. "The evolution of trade credit: new evidence from developed versus developing countries," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 857-912, October.
    13. Gyimah, Daniel & Machokoto, Michael & Sikochi, Anywhere (Siko), 2020. "Peer influence on trade credit," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    14. María-José Palacín-Sánchez & Francisco-Javier Canto-Cuevas & Filippo di-Pietro, 2019. "Trade credit versus bank credit: a simultaneous analysis in European SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 1079-1096, December.
    15. Tsuruta, Daisuke & Uchida, Hirofumi, 2019. "The real driver of trade credit," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    16. Jiri Chod, 2017. "Inventory, Risk Shifting, and Trade Credit," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(10), pages 3207-3225, October.
    17. Adalto Barbaceia Gonçalves & Rafael Schiozer & Hsia Hua Sheng, 2018. "Trade Credit and Product Market Power during a Financial Crisis," Working Papers CEB 18-004, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    18. Gonçalves, Adalto Barbaceia & Schiozer, Rafael F. & Sheng, Hsia Hua, 2018. "Trade credit and product market power during a financial crisis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 308-323.
    19. McGuinness, Gerard & Hogan, Teresa & Powell, Ronan, 2018. "European trade credit use and SME survival," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 81-103.
    20. Bertrand, Jérémie & Murro, Pierluigi, 2022. "Firm–bank “odd couples” and trade credit: Evidence from Italian small- and medium-sized enterprises," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade credit; corporate finance; bank borrowing; macro economy; panel data; generalized method of moments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    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:soueco:v:22:y:2021:i:1:p:132-154. 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.ips.lk/ .

    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.