COVID-19, Economic Package and Indian Stock Market: An Event Analysis

The present study is an attempt to analyse the behaviour of securities around the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the declaration of an economic package by the government of India. In this study, daily prices of securities constituting the BSE 100 index are considered as these securities are highly traded and their trading impact would immediately reflect on the index. To present a sector-specific analysis, the securities are further classified based on sectors and are analysed using the event study methodology. Average abnormal returns (AARs) and cumulative average abnormal returns (CAARs) for overall market and for each sector have been calculated and their significance have been tested using parametric T-statistics, standardised cross-sectional test and non-parametric sign test. Based on the analysis, the study concluded that it was not the pandemic but the actions towards controlling the pandemic that caused a negative impact on the Indian stock market. The economic package declared by the government of India to boost the economy also turned out to be futile and failed in achieving its objectives. Among the sectors, only the technology sector has been positively impacted by the pandemic. The outcome of the study would be beneficial to the trading community in identifying the sectors/securities that would act as hedging in the pandemic situations. JEL Codes: E44, G1, G14, G18