Financialization of Indian agricultural commodities: the case of index investments

Abstract

PurposeThe phenomenon known as financialization of commodities, arising from the speculation in commodity derivatives market, has raised serious concerns in the recent past. This has prompted distortion in agricultural commodity prices driving them away from rational levels of supply and demand shocks. In the backdrop of financialized commodities leading to increase in price of agricultural products and their interaction with equity markets, the authors examine the investment of institutional investors in impacting the agricultural returns. The paper aims to focus on the financial mechanism that drives extreme values and the mean of agricultural returns.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ the Threshold AutoRegressive Quantile (TQAR) methodology to find evidence of linkages between the Indian agricultural and equity markets from January 2010 to May 2020 consistent with the rise in inflows of institutional investors in agricultural markets.FindingsThe results reveal that the investors impact the agricultural commodity markets strongly when the composite commodity index value (COMDEX) is low. Additionally, in the lower extreme quantiles (0.25) of agricultural returns, the integration between the equity index and agricultural returns is found to be highly significant compared to insignificant values in the higher quantiles (0.75 and 0.95) in both the regimes. The results suggest that low values of agricultural commodities are more closely linked to equity indices when composite commodity index value is low. This implies that, at the lower quantiles of COMDEX return (bad day), the investors move to the stock market. In that way, the commodity index returns are seen to be as a strong channel for the financialization of Indian agricultural commodities and suggesting potential involvement of investors during those regime.Research limitations/implicationsRegulators need to anticipate the price fluctuations in spot and futures markets. Investors in commodity markets need to strengthen risk awareness to carry out portfolio strategies.Practical implicationsFrom policy perspective, it is of pivotal importance to enhance the understanding of the financialization of agricultural products. The findings provide reference measures to stabilize the commodity markets, alleviate price distortions and carry out further evidence of price discovery and risk management in Indian commodity markets.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to highlight the potential influence of financial markets on the financialization of agricultural commodities in an emerging economy like India.

Does internationalization and board diversity affect family firms' sustainable performance? Empirical evidence from an emerging economy

“…Several studies provide valuable insights into the relationship between internationalization and firm performance in Indian family firms (Chattopadhyay and Das (2016), Sisodia et al (2016), Verma and Verma (2017); Manogna & Mishra, 2023; Manogna & Mishra, 2022b). A study explores the impact of internationalization on the financial performance of family firms in India.…”