Covid-19 Lockdown and Its Effect on BSE Indexes: An Event Study

ABSTRACT

This paper scrutinizes the Indian stock market performance after the central government's announcement of lockdown on March 22,2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdown had different impacts on varied sectors which were considered for the study, namely, banking, oil and gas, healthcare, capital goods, Fast Moving Consumer Durables (FMCD), and small-cap and mid-cap segments. The data was collected from BSE indexes, and an event study with estimation window from May 14, 2019 to March 5, 2020, a period of 201 market working days, was considered. The findings reveal that small-cap, mid-cap, FMCD and healthcare sectors were most impacted by the nationwide lockdown and thus had abnormal returns, while the impact on other sectors like banking, oil and gas, and capital goods was not significant.