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UPI: A GLOBAL PAYMENT PLATFORM







               
UPI: A GLOBAL PAYMENT PLATFORM

SANCHIT GAIKWAD1, VIVEK MANDAL2, GLEN PAUL3, VAIBHAVI JAWALE4

119MBA0021, 219MBA0102, 319MBA0023, 419MBA0099, VIT BUSINESS SCHOOL, VIT UNIVERSITY, VELLORE, TN. 632014
 


ABSTRACT

The pace at which global interactions and transactions are taking place, efficient cross border payment is the need of the hour. Cross border payments are transactions made by individuals, companies or banking institutions where the payee and the recipient are based in different countries. To optimize commerce, develop and strength the ties between nations and to carry out smooth international payments, cross border payments are very crucial. Technology advancement in the area of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger technology, have shown lot of promises to bring a transformational approach to cross border payments. Both new age FinTech firms, like Ripple and incumbent banks like Global Banking leader JP Morgan Chase, have adopted DLT technologies to solve the current challenges in the Cross-border payment. The results from the early adoption have been very encouraging. Ripple system is one of pioneers in this cross-border payment network. In India, Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) facilitating inter-bank transactions. This paper discusses about extending UPI as cross border payment platform using blockchain and distributed ledger technology. We conclude with a proposal where UPI can be used for cross border payment with the central bank or any central bank appointed financial institution acting as the intermediary for non-synthetic transactions between international customers. DLT is used in this proposal as it capable of fast, cost efficient, transparent and secure transaction.

While it is required to do a detailed technical study of the UPI platform capabilities for extension to blockchain based platform. However, considering the fact that, India and in specific NPCI have been pioneering the effort of digital adoption in domestic payments. It is only a matter of time, where India will show the way for the transformation in cross border payment. This research is towards an alternate approach NPCI can adopt for transformation on cross border payments. 

1.     INTRODUCTION
Cross-border payments are growing rapidly as many companies’ having their goods and services all over the world. In cross-border payments blockchain technology enable secure transfers between large number of bank ledgers. It helps to reduce the intermediaries, which acts as mediator to help the money transfer between two banks. The term cross-border payment refers to transactions including individuals, organizations, banks and settlement establishments working in two distinct nations.
The nations included don't need to share a border. For example, a payment from the US to China will be viewed as a cross-border payment, despite the fact that they are not neighbouring nations. Cross-border payments in Europe are dependent upon Regulation (EC) No 924/2009, which forces banks to apply similar charges to cross-border exchanges as those applied to local (or national) transactions where these payments are in Euros. At the point when the two nations associated with the exchange need to utilize various monetary standards (foreign currency exchange) to do remote cash trade to finish the payment.
Worldwide organizations depending on a global supply chain or with numerous foreign providers may face significant volumes of payments regularly. To free the treasury group from the manual outstanding task at hand that would be involved in preparing each one of those payments physically, a few organizations incorporate payment handling software to mechanize cross-border payments.
Ripple, a currency exchange and remittance network stated that India was the biggest market in middle east countries in terms of cross border payments. In 2018, $73 billion was sent to India in global remittance across the all platforms. According to the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) report the migrant workers sent $256 billion to their families in the Asian countries. And according to World Bank projections, by end of this year remittances are expected to grow by $642 billion.  
For global e-commerce organizations, cross-border payments are an essential part of their everyday activities. They should have the option to transfer funds across various nation’s most securely and proficiently conceivable. Frequently, cross-border payments are progressively costly and can take more time to process than domestic payments because of the number of intermediaries involved. Regularly, international payments take two to five working days to clear, depending upon the number of intermediaries between banks the funds need to go through.
Despite of geopolitical disturbance, strong worldwide GDP and related trade development will keep on driving increments in global payments (Fig 1). Today, there are 0.7 yearly cross-border payments per capita on average worldwide (up from 0.5 in 2014) and total cross-border payments esteem averaging 1.8 times to global GDP. These numerous shifts especially between geographies and it ranging from 0.7 of nominal GDP in America to 5.50 in Western Europe.
Figure 1. Growth of cross-border payments. Source: McKinsey Global Payments Map

1.     CHALLENGES IN CROSS - BORDER PAYMENTS
Cross-border payments are like a black box because there is no direct connectivity between both transacting parties. Due to this, there are lacking factors like traceability and transparency. Furthermore, expensive charges to process transactions from one system to others that eventually end clients withstand limit numismatic suppliers’ market and downsize their wardship capacities and there is no transparency and cost of executing a cross border payment is very high, which is ultimately borne by the end client. Additionally, no standardization across worldwide systems impacts information transfer, which frequently causes dangers and risks of transactions and other data of users.
It is constraining organizations and shoppers to move from banks to FinTech suppliers utilizing blockchain arrangements, which more properly satisfies their requests. Due to an outdated operating system and manual processing on both sides of the transactions are mainly causing inefficiencies for banks. The traditional SWIFT system is facing newcomers like the Ripple system which is based on the blockchain distributed ledger technology with its own crypto tokens. 
With all the challenges currently existing in the cross-border payments. New age Fintech firms, prominent being Ripple and incumbents’ banks like JPMC are tackling the problem head-on. The subsequent section of the document discusses salient features of the Ripple and JPMC Blockchain-based cross border payment platform.

2.     RIPPLE SYSTEM:
Ripple addresses the key faced by the current date cross border payment systems. Firstly, the platform operates as both messaging and settlement platform. Secondly, the transparent exchange rates quote available in the network, enables the remitter to choose the service provider. All these are accomplished through the DLT based ledger platform. It is one of the largest crypto currency networks in the world, started even before people heard the name of Bitcoin. It one of the pioneers of cross-border payments systems and is one of the fastest modes for the money transfer with lower or minimal fees for the transaction. In ripple network any currency can be transacted globally between individuals or companies. It has minimum transaction fees of $0.00001 which is collected to prevent DDoS attacks. DDoS stands for Distributed Denial-of-Service is a cyber-attack where the miscreant temporarily or indefinitely makes the network unavailable to its users by disrupting the services of a host connected to internet. DDoS attack is carried out by flooding the target network with redundant requests in order to overload the system and prevent genuine requests from being fulfilled. In DDoS attack, the redundant requests are sent from different sources infected with malware so that it becomes impossible to stop the attack by blocking a single source.
Ripple has many advantages over its peers like enabling of quick lending and borrowing of money amounts, forgery proof, compatible, fast and seamless transaction. The drawbacks of ripple network are that it is not centralized, involves the usage of cryptocurrency which as to the day have a lot of risks.
3.1 COMPONENTS OF RIPPLE NETWORK
3.1.1 Messenger
3.1.2 ILP
3.1.3 FX Ticker
3.1.4 Validator
3.1.1 Messenger (RippleNet):
RippleNet is a single global network of banks. It provides bidirectional messaging channel which helps in the transferring of the required messages from both the receiver as well as the sender. It helps in the communication of the different steps in the transaction upon their completion. Every institution uses the same technology and adheres to a consistent set of payment rules and standards. RippleNet helps the banks from the connectivity, standardized technology and the data attachment issue from each set of payment. This technology provides a solid infrastructure which can drive the costs down and also increase the speed of the transactions with an improved transparency of the fees, timing and the delivery.
3.1.2 ILP (Inter-Ledger Protocol):
Inter-Ledger Protocol is a sub ledger of each transacting bank’s general ledger. This helps in being transparent during the transaction, as it allows the other party to view the debit or credit details of the other party and shall also help in deciding whether the transaction will succeed or fail.

3.1.3 FX Ticker:
The FX ticker facilitates the exchange rates that are provided between the ledgers. Since this involves cross border transaction, there is a serious need of monitoring the exchange rates. During a transaction it helps in coordinating the transfers on the ledger for the settlement, it also ensures the validity of the FX quote and transfer on the ILP ledger settlement amount to the beneficiary bank’s ILP ledger.

3.1.4 Validator:
A validator indicates whether the transaction will succeed or fail after performing a cryptographical check. It also helps in removing the settlement risks by coordinating the movement of the funds across the ledger and hence reduces the delay in the transactions.

Figure 2. Ripple Transaction Flowchart. Source: https://digit.hbs.org/submission/ripple-the-disruptor-to-the-forty-years-old- cross-border-payment-system.

Once there is transaction request from Bank A (refer the Transactional Flowchart), the same request is being posted by the bank in the Block Chain with the help of the messenger. The bank receives different quotes with fee at different exchange rates from various destinations. Once the best suitable quote is being accepted by the sender, the same shall be intimated to the receiving bank. The FX Ticker will be informed about the exchange rate that is being chosen. Now the money to be transacted will be converted to the XRP funds which is further sent to the receiving bank via the XRP network directly. The ILP provides the ledger to keep the risk lower and also make the process automatic. Once the XRP fund is received by the bank the same will be converted to the local currency and thereby transferred to the customer.



3.2 XRP (SYNTHETIC CURRENCY)

XRP coins are accounting units in an open source distributed database called the XRP Ledger. An XRP Ledger stores information regarding the transaction and the balances. With governance and fast transaction confirmations, XRP is said to be one of the most efficient settlement options for financial institutions and liquidity providers seeking global reach, accessibility, and fast settlement finality for interbank flows.
XRP is the own currency of Ripple which is used to carry on the transactions, each unit of an XRP is worth 0.108621 dollar and the transactional fees is 0.001% for each of the XRP. Since the fee is very low it helps in promoting customers in making their transactions. As this cryptocurrency is being held by the banks, it becomes very easy to carry out the transactions. And at any point of time these banks can exchange the XRP for the fiat currencies. Transaction of XRP is regarded as real time as it involves selection of exchange rates. As XRP is privately owned, the maximum amount of the cryptocurrency that can be released is 100 Billion XRP, and as of now there are 40 Billion XR in the market.
Figure 3. XRP-USD Conversion. Source: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/xrp/
3.3 JPMC

Among the same class of Fiat currencies, we see the newest member JP Morgan coin. This is based on the blockchain technology that enables the instantaneous transfer of payments between its clients.JP Morgan coin equivalents to 1 USD and since the US currency is the global currency, this makes it easier for all the different financial institutions to make a transfer from one country to another making thus the bank operates globally. Operating on the very exchange rate (i.e. the USD value) it does save a lot of settlement time.
3.3.1 Functioning of JP Morgan Coin:
Consider two customers Mr.X and Mr. Y where Mr.X wants to transfer 5000 INR to Mr. Y in Detroit and both of them hold an account in JP Morgan. The 5000 INR will be converted to the JP Morgan coin, i.e., around 65 JP Morgan coin (taking the exchange rate at 1 USD = Rs.76.42). This 65 JP Morgan coin will be deducted from Mr. X’s account and with the help of the blockchain it will be moved over to Mr. Y’s account in Detroit. Now upon transfer Mr. Y can redeem the same for USD from JP Morgan.
JP Morgan believes in the potential of blockchain technology and is supportive of the controlled and regulated usage of the cryptocurrency. They also believe that this technology is going to reduce the client’s counterparty and settlement risk, as it would decrease the capital requirement and enable instant value transfer.
3.3.2 Features:

Ø  JP Morgan Coin holds a 1:1 redeemable value in fiat currency held by JP Morgan.
Ø  Only those of the institutional customers in the JP Morgan who have passed the KYC shall avail transaction through the coin.
Ø  It involves block chain technology.

3.3.3 Benefits:

Ø  Security and Innovation:
This company ensures a large budget over the cybersecurity and has a Blockchain centre of Excellence that ensures a leading innovation in its financial services.
Ø  Strong Controls and Compliance:
In addition to the millions of dollars invested in the annual cybersecurity, JP Morgan does include a strong KYC controls in place.
Ø  Regulatory Oversight:
JP Morgan is a national chartered U.S bank with a global presence and it does need to comply with the banking laws and regulations by the United States as well as the International Jurisdiction.
In the year 2017 JPMorgan first launched its Interbank Information Network (IIN). The sole purpose of it was to make the Cross-border Payment faster, it does that by lowering the intermediaries and it is then when it used the Scalable peer-to-peer network using blockchain technology. What the IIN does is that it verifies the exchange information in the real-time, so that the payment is verified and been approved. This network included banks like National Bank of Canada, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Bahamas Limited, BCT Bank International, Credicorp Bank, First Horizon Bank, Global Bank Corporation, etc. And a sum total of all the banks included in the network did Cross border Payment across Asia, America, Europe and the Middle East.

The underpinning technology in both Ripple and JPMC Coin is the DLT technology, which have enabled to provide efficiency in the cross-border payment. Before we move to our proposal, the next section provides a brief overview about DLT technology and its advantages.

3.4 DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY (DLT)
Distributed Ledger Technology is the digital system of recording transactions which records the details that need to be recorded in multiple places at the same time. It is used to record both static as well as the dynamic data. DLT makes the execution of every transaction faster than it generally used to be as it brings the same data visible to the entire system, and it also helps to reduce the transaction cost occurring at every transaction.
Every node in DLT holds the same record; this makes it very difficult to manipulate the data and brings more transparency into the transactions. It also helps in the transaction to take place in the real time with the exact data being visible. It is also believed that better control over information can be held and at the same time only selective amount of data can be shared with the required individuals taking part in the transaction.
This piece of technology can not only be used in the case of a financial system but can also be used in national interest as it would hold the individual’s information within the state as well as within the country as a whole. This technology finds its usage in medical institutions that would enable the doctors in and around to study the cases and also get knowledge about how the particular patient with that disease was treated. The same can be utilized in the supply chain of a manufacturing firm that would give a clear picture of the movement of the material and also updates the status of the same giving the clear information regarding the movement of the material from the manufacture to the distributor to the customer.
1.      NATIONAL PAYMENT CORPORATION OF INDIA (NPCI)
The National Payment Corporation of India is an umbrella organisation for operating the retail payment and settlements in India. It is operating with the vision of ‘Being the Best Payment Network Globally’ and its mission is it wishes to touch every Indian with one or the other payment service. It was initiated by the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Bank’s Association formed under the provision of the Payment and Settlement System Act, 2007. The sole purpose of creation of this organisation was to make the Online Payment and Settlement Infrastructure in India robust.
The main motto of NPCI was to bring the RuPay, UPI, Aadhaar Enabled Payment system and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana into the light, making them fully utilized by the general public which would further lead to the digitalization of the financial system as a whole.
The corporation is also responsible for the development of various tools moving forward in the way digitalization, like:
·         National Electronic Toll Collection
Ex: FASTag (Radio Frequency Identification)
·         Unified Payment Interface
Ex: Bill payment of Electricity, Gas, Water, Telecom, DTH across India.
·         National Financial Switch (NFS)
It is the largest network of shared Automated Teller Machines in India facilitating the process of cash withdrawal and also card to card fund transfer and cash deposits across India.
·         Immediate Payment Service (IMPS)

4.1 UNIFIED PAYMENT INTERFACE (UPI)
This system by the Government of India deals in bringing all the banks across the nation to come together so as to make it possible for the people to transfer funds from accounts of different banks using a single mobile application. It helps in fulfilling the peer to peer collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per the requirement and the convenience of the one initiating the transaction.
The UPI came into the picture with the single function making the process of transaction happen seamlessly, and it actually solves the problem of the payer and payee having their bank account in different banks and coming forward to make a transaction, and UPI was bought to fight the very same issue. The security concerns were taken into consideration and hence the UPI bought in the Two Factor Authentication process:
1.      The first factor remains the Payment Service Provider (PSP), this is generally taken from the card information or the mobile phone or even the login details for the account. Since only the VPA or the virtual address is being shared the other information of the beneficiary remains safe.
2.      The second factor is either the biometrics collected by the by the PSP or the numeric pin set by the user.
4.1.1 Salient features of UPI:
·         It is one of the fastest modes of money transfer which remains in service round the clock i.e., 24*7 and for 365 days.
·         It is based on the simple scan and pay based payment methods.
·         It offers one of the best solutions to being cash-less and hence eliminates the very need for running into the ATM machines and also provides a solution to the Cash on Delivery payment modes.
·         It increases the security as there is no sharing of credentials that may increase the vulnerability of those who are the part of the very transaction.
·         Since there no need of the lengthy information like the Card no, Account no, IFSC Code, it makes UPI much simpler.


In the month of June of 2018, a MoU was signed by the Government of Singapore and India. Here the memorandum of understanding (MoU) was to expand the fintech ties between both the nations. In this, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) of India entered into partnership with Singapore’s domestic payment system operator Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS). And this led to NETS and NPCI explore the usage of NPCI’s UPI-based payments app BHIM, which would make the payment of NETS merchant easier.
Figure 4. The Architecture of UPI. Source: https://www.livemint.com/Industry/bTGwxmykXhSKX5Vf8050NI/How- UPI-works.html


The SBI Singapore is to work with the NPCI so as to make the Cross-border Payment between the two countries simpler. This development made would add convenience to the Blue-collar workers as they can send money to their families using this app. This option is made available to every individual who has a savings account in the SBI Singapore. While the efforts from UPI making a global cross border payment is through, interfacing of the country’s settlement platform. Our proposal is to discuss on how RBI through NPCI and UPI platform can leverage the DLT Technology and be a forefront in leading the change. 


1.     PROPOSAL
5.1 DLT BASED CROSS BORDER PAYMENT AMONG THE CENTRAL BANKS:
In the case of a Cross Border Payment there is huge advantage of having a DLT system incorporated.

Figure 5. Cross border payments using DLT


So, let us try understanding what happens here:
·         The Central Bank acts as the participating node in the network, and hence it shall provide the guarantee for the success of a settlement of funds.
·         All the other banks shall act as a secondary node and shall be in the network of the Central Bank.
·         Any funds flowing through shall pass through the central banks of that country.
o   For e.g., If the money has to flow from Mr.X having a bank account in State bank of India (SBI) which is located in India to Mr. Y having a bank account in ING Bank in Spain.
o   So, SBI shall initiate the process with an intimation to the RBI, which shall hence interact with the BOS, and hence shall make the transaction to the ING Bank in which Mr. Y has an account.
o   The node of SBI would have the information about the details of Mr.X and similarly the node of ING would have the information of Mr.Y.
·         The node that is with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which is the central bank of India shall hold all the information with every nationalized bank and same for the Bank of Spain which is the central bank of Spain.
o   Upon the transaction moving forward the information shall also move in the same manner. So, Until BOS approving the transaction, the information regarding Mr. X shall not be passed to the ING Bank.
o   And hence the central banks shall be held together by the DLT through a central node.
·         Since this is a cross border payment the Exchange rate services shall also play a vital role,
o   The transactions upon approval by the central bank shall fetch the exchange rate and the mark-up by the Exchange rate services.
o   This shall give the final conversion of what the beneficiary shall receive upon the completion of the settlement.
·         In the current model the need for a crypto currency has been eliminated by the usage of USD as the Global Currency.
o   So, in the transaction between two central banks the funds shall first be converted into the equivalent dollar value by the Exchange rate services.
o   And moving further the funds shall be converted to the local currency.
·         The model incorporates the concept of Netting.
o   A time period shall be set for the settlements to happen between the central banks.
o   Hence a ledger will provide the information regarding the net Payables and the receivables.
And since the usage of DLT and the Exchange rate services, the model shall incorporate transparency in data and also the conversion that takes place between the central banks making the process flawless.

5.2 CROSS BORDER PAYMENT VIA CENTRAL BANK APPOINTED BANKS OR NATIONALIZED BANKS:
The key elements of this process involve:
5.2.1 Messenger Network
5.2.2 Exchange rate
5.2.3 DLT

Figure 6. Cross border payments using DLT with Nationalised banks

5.2.1    Messenger Network:
·         It would lead to the initial transaction request from other banks to the nationalize bank backed up by the Central Bank.
·         Advancement and approval made by the transactions shall intimated to both the parties.
·         The exchange rate being offered after the certain mark-up shall be made available to the parties through this network.
·         The same network shall also show the status of the transaction and at what stage it is.
5.2.2    Exchange Rate:
·         Since a cross border payment is being involved, we need to bring the exchange rate into consideration.
·         Any currency that is transferred to countries other than USA shall undergo the dollar value conversion which has been treated as the central currency.
·         The mark-up value and the other taxes shall be set by the Exchange rate services and that shall provide a finalised value of what the beneficiary shall receive.
5.2.3    DLT:
·         DLT plays an important role in the utilization of the data hence being available with the central banks as well as the nationalized banks of the countries.
·         As the transaction is being made internationally, in any of these transactions there will be the communication among these central banks with the data available in the ledger.
·         So as to maintain the security of these data, the ledger would make sure that the concerned data shall only be visible to the pervious and the subsequent level.
·         Referring to figure 6, If the request for the Cross Border payment was made by ICICI and the request is to be pending with SBI, then the data of the transaction originator shall be visible only to SBI, and upon SBI’s approval for the further transaction the same information shall be available to BOA, and the process goes on.
In this model we are putting forward the nationalised bank on behalf of the Central bank so as to take forward the Cross-Border Payment. This bank shall hence be backed up by the central bank, which shall guarantee a settlement of funds. Exchange Rate Transparency is one of the main agenda and it shall be very similar to the Ripple network model, it shall take the help of the exchange rate services. Once a request for the transfer of currencies is posted by the customer. It will be broadcasted in the network by the respective Central bank to the domestic network of banks. The exchange rate charged by the Bank, should be better than or equal to the exchange rate services. And hence there shall be further decrement in the value of the funds that the beneficiary is supposed to receive.
The cross-border payment method does not involve any cryptocurrency as seen in the case of ripple network model, as here we are trying to incorporate USD as the global currency. And any transaction happening to any of the countries shall be first be converted into the USD and which shall then be converted to the local currency of that particular country.
The transfer of the funds between the central bank appointed nationalised bank shall be done periodically. And upon that time a net payables and receivables shall be finalised, this list shall provide information for the transactions that has to be taken place between the central banks. And here we have taken the help of UPI 2.0, this shall enable the nationalised banks to successfully make a settlement and hence make the cross-border Payment through this model a success.
6. CONCLUSION

The business and e-commerce world are becoming global at a very fast pace and cross border payment being the new entrant is on the back burner. The need of the hour is a fast, secure, transparent and reliable cross border payment system which will dominate the global transactions. With UPI playing an important role in the process of making India a digitized and cashless economy, it can be modified for a cross border payment system without the usage of any synthetic currency. This disruptive technology is a boon to the present payment system because of its low cost, high volume, transparent, secure and quick transaction network. The use block chain and distributed ledger technology will make the cross-border payment system more efficient and can be considered to be a stepping stone towards a hassle-free cashless economy.
REFERENCE
   1.      Ripple Vs Swift: Transforming Cross Border Remmitance using cross border technology, (Tianyi Qui, Ruidong Zhang, Yuan Gao)
   4.      Solution Overview: https://ripple.com/
   5.      "Ripple, the disruptor to the forty years old cross-border payment system" by P. Chen, Feb 2, 2018, Fin.
   7.      "Understanding Denial-of-Service Attacks". US-CERT. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
   8.      UPI- Redefining Digital Payments -A Critical Review, (Atul Gupta, Abhishek Bansal, Arshad Agarwal, Bhoomi Garg, Utkarsh Sharma)
   9.      Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures and Bank for International Settlements (2018): Cross Border Retail Payments, www.bis.org/cpmi/publ/d173.pdf

   10.  The Inefficiencies of Cross-Border Payments: How Current Forces Are Shaping the Future by Yoon S. Park, PHD & DBA, George Washington University
   12.  Improving Cross-Border Retail Payment Services: The Eurosystem’s View, published by European Central Bank
   16.  Unified Payment Interface (UPI) - A Way towards Cashless Economy by Radhika Basavaraj Kakade, Prof. Nupur A. Veshne. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), e-ISSN: 2395-0056 Volume: 04 Issue: 11, Nov – 2017.




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