PurposeThe primary objective of the study is to discover the most prominent criteria and sub-criteria among environmental issues, social dimensions and corporate governance factors that may impact individual equity investors' investment decisions.Design/methodology/approachThe present study collected data from 438 individual equity investors from the North Indian region. To achieve the objectives of the study, a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (Fuzzy AHP) was applied. The key considerations of the study were environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.FindingsThe governance criterion was discovered to be the most significant factor influencing individual equity investors' investment decisions among the three ESG factors, followed by environmental criteria, while social criteria were shown to be the least influential.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study solely looked at ESG issues as drivers of stock investors' investment decisions. In the current world, however, many other factors, including behavioral biases, accounting information, ownership structure and fundamental analysis, can have a substantial influence on investors' investment decisions.Practical implicationsThe study's findings widen the theoretical contribution in the field of responsible investment by asserting how ESG factors influence investors' investment decisions in the equity market. From a practical standpoint, this study applies to retail and institutional investors, portfolio managers, financial advisors, market regulators, corporations and society at large.Originality/valueTo the best of authors knowledge, no attempt has been made to prioritize the ESG issues that impact the investment decisions of individual equity investors. Ergo, this study contributes to the existing literature on socially responsible investment.

Purpose This paper aims to empirically examine the performance of the high-ESG (environment, social and governance) portfolio vis-à-vis the low-ESG portfolio at the Indian stock market before and during the Covid19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The absolute rate of return and several risk-adjusted performance measures, for instance, Sharpe ratio, Modigliani–Modigliani measure, Treynor ratio, Jensen’s alpha, information ratio, Fama’s decomposition measure and Fama and French’s three-factor model, have been used in this study along with the t-test. Findings All three indices (CARBONEX, GREENEX and BSE 500) had better returns during Covid19 period as compared to the pre-Covid19 period. However, these returns were not statistically significant. During Covid19, the risk of the indices also rose, but they provided better returns for the additional risk taken. Finally, it is concluded that the performance of high-ESG and low-ESG stock portfolios did not differ significantly in both periods. Practical implications The study is relevant to individual and institutional investors, financial advisors, portfolio managers, corporations, policymakers, market regulators and society at large. Social implications This study emphasized the need to expand the role of ESG investment in India for the benefit of people, communities and society as a whole. Originality/value This research is the first of its kind, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that compares the performance of a high-ESG portfolio with a low-ESG portfolio both before and during the Covid19, particularly in the Indian context.

The present study aims to answer the question of whether herding and overconfidence bias serially mediate the relationship between financial literacy with equity investors’ decision-making in the Indian stock market. A survey method was deployed to collect primary data from 436 individual equity investors in the north Indian region. PLS-SEM has been used to examine the serial mediation-based model proposed for the study. Financial literacy was found to have a considerable favourable influence on individual investors’ decision-making. The relationship between financial literacy and investors’ decision-making was found to be serially mediated by herding and overconfidence bias. The study proposes that investors should attend financial market courses, training programs, conferences and seminars to improve their financial literacy and understanding, allowing them to overcome behavioural biases, and will improve their decision-making.

PurposeResearch in the domain of behavioral finance has proven that investors demonstrate irrational behavior while making investment decisions. In a similar domain, the primary objective of this research is to prioritize the behavioral biases that influence cryptocurrency investors' investment decisions in the Indian context.Design/methodology/approachA fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) was used to prioritize the behavioral factors impacting cryptocurrency investors' investment decisions. Overconfidence and optimism, anchoring, representativeness, information availability, herding, regret aversion, and loss aversion are among the primary biases evaluated in the present study.FindingsThe findings suggested that the two most important influential criteria were herding and regret aversion, with loss aversion and information availability being the least influential criteria. Opinions of family, friends, and colleagues about investment in cryptocurrency, the sale of cryptocurrencies that have increased in value, the avoidance of selling currencies that have decreased in value, the agony of holding losing cryptocurrencies for too long rather than selling winning cryptocurrencies too soon, and the purchase of cryptocurrencies that have fallen significantly from their all-time high are the most important sub-criteria.Research limitations/implicationsThis survey only covered active cryptocurrency participants. Additionally, the study was limited to individual crypto investors in one country, India, with a sample size of 467 participants. Although the sample size is appropriate, a larger sample size might reflect the more realistic scenario of the Indian crypto market.Practical implicationsThe study is relevant to individual and institutional cryptocurrency investors, crypto portfolio managers, policymakers, researchers, market regulators, and society at large.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, no prior research has attempted to explain how the overall importance of various criteria and sub-criteria related to behavioral factors that influence the decision-making process of crypto retail investors can be assessed and how the priority of focus can be established, particularly in the Indian context.

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