The Financial Feasibility of Investing in a Sustainability Index in India

ESG is at the center of dialogue for investments, corporate governance and management. It used as an acronym for ‘Environmental, Social and Governance’ factors. The rapid rise of ESG has led to the prominence of socially responsible investing and has created a dual objective for investor’s capital. Researchers have previously studied the volatility of sustainable investments and whether SRI affects portfolio performance. Analyzing the financial feasibility of investing in a sustainability index was done by utilizing the historical data of returns on BSE ESG Index, NIFTY 500 Index and the BSE ESG 100 Index from October 2017 to April 2024. S&P BSE 100 ESG Index was used as a proxy for a sustainability index and the S&P BSE 100 Index was the index used to proxy traditional investments. This study has utilized financial ratios along with EGARCH and Granger causality test to understand the risk-reward characteristics of sustainable investments and compare them with traditional investments to understand whether it is financially viable to be a sustainably responsible investor. T test was conducted to identify whether is a significant difference between the returns of the sustainability index and its parent index. Results suggest that the sustainability index has a lower risk-adjusted return than traditional investments however, there is not a significant difference between the returns of the sustainability index and its parent index. There is a presence of strong persistent volatility in the sustainability index and negative shocks have a greater impact on the volatility of the index. Data also suggests a bi-directional relationship between the S&P 500 ESG Index and India’s sustainability index. The study recommends investors to consider the cost associated with investing in sustainability themed instruments while also taking into considerations the factors which are responsible for volatility of sustainable investments as well as the asymmetrical impact of negative shocks on returns.