Is Voluntary Disclosure Value Relevant? Evidence from Top Listed Firms in India

In view of ongoing reforms in India with emphasis on improving transparency of corporate, the present study aims to examine the influence of voluntary disclosure on the market value of India's top-listed firms. To this end, the study uses a sample of top 100 non-financial and non-utility firms listed at Bombay Stock Exchange based on market capitalization over a 5-year period (2014-2018). To control potential endogeneity in the relationship between voluntary disclosure and firms' market valuation, fixed effect panel data model and two-stage least squares model of estimation have been employed. The result obtained from the analysis suggests that enhanced level of voluntary disclosure significantly improves the market value of sample firms. The study further undertakes additional analysis by categorizing voluntary disclosure into its sub-components wherein the findings reveal that three components of voluntary disclosure such as corporate and strategic disclosure, forward looking disclosure and corporate governance disclosure make positive contribution towards market value of firms, while the remaining components of voluntary disclosure such as human and intellectual capital disclosure and financial and capital market disclosure do not appear to have any significant influence on the same. Overall, the finding suggests that voluntary disclosure made by sample firms is considered relevant by investors. However, value relevance of different components of voluntary disclosure varies with the nature and extent of information disclosed. The study offers some important policy implications.