ESG and Corporates in India: An exploratory study with a Modified ESG score

The need to focus on sustainability is more evident now than ever.
Thus, the UN SGDs have taken precedence in the objectives to
be achieved by most corporations across the world. The investor
perspective regarding sustainability and investment schemes
has also gradually changed. The investors are choosing assets
and portfolios which have an impact on society. Thus, the need to
develop a scale for measuring ESG for the Indian market is pertinent.
In this study, a scale with appropriate metrics for the Indian market
would be developed. This scale would have investor and technology
metrics. That would enable them to focus on investor psychology
and Machine learning technological interventions. The impact of
ESG and investor psychology on the asset returns of ESG-indexed
stocks in the Indian context would be evaluated. The period of
study is from November 2017 to March 2023, as this period allows
the researcher to identify investor behaviour pertaining to ESG and
return volatility during the pandemic. In this study, the standard
ESG framework by the GIIN(Global Impact Investing Network) will
be used with necessary modifications. The analysis would be done
by using a simple GARCH model which would accurately give the
return volatility linking ESG and investor psychology. The study
would enable policymakers to focus on strategizing regulations
for transparent ESG integration with the firms’ goals. The impact of
Machine learning techniques on ESG practices in corporations will
be highlighted. The study would also focus on investors’ impact on
asset returns