The book presents a comprehensive view of the Indian equity markets over the past two decades (1994-2014). Equity markets constitute the most important segment of stock exchanges; in fact, the status of equity returns is, by and large, considered as a barometer of the state of a country's economy. Returns earned by the equity investors on their funds invested in equity markets have become a decisive factor in the growth of such markets. In this context, the book discusses all the major aspects of equity returns and also conducts a dis-aggregative analysis based on underlying factors like age, size, ownership structure, industry affiliation/sector, among others, to explain the factors affecting returns and risk. While on the one hand the study ascertains the market rates of return (earned) on equities from the investors' perspective (by including both the capital gains and the dividend income), it also shows how to compute the rates of returns on equities from the corporate perspective(that is, rate of return earned on equity funds). It further assesses the required/expected rate of return and examines the volatility in stock returns, with a focus on its behaviour during the period of the study. It deepens investors' understanding of equity investment, helping them to make more-informed investments. While of interest to the investor community, this book also contributes significantly to the existing literature on market returns and is a valuable reference resource for academics, researchers and market participants, financial institutions and other intermediaries, regulators and policy makers.

Autorentext
Shveta Singh is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Delhi), India. She teaches courses like managerial accounting and financial management, Indian financial system and security analysis, and portfolio management. Recently, she has developed a course on Corporate Governance and has also received training by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), for the same. She has contributed to various consulting assignments for organizations like the Directorate General of Supplies & Disposals (DGS&D) and the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC). She has published research papers in journals of national and international repute. She has co-authored a research monograph titled "Financial Management Practices: An Empirical Study of Indian Corporates" (Springer, 2013). She has won many awards including the Literati award for outstanding research by Emerald Publishing Inc.
P.K. Jain is a Professor of Finance at the Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi. He holds a PhD in finance from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. He earlier served as the Co-ordinator of Dalmia Research Programme on Management in Asia. He was the Modi Foundation Chair Professor. He has a teaching experience of more than 40 years in subjects related to management accounting, financial management, financial analysis, cost analysis and cost control. His research is primarily focused in the area of corporate finance. He has authored/co-authored more than 11 textbooks and 14 research books /monographs. An empiricist, he investigates applied problems using real-business data to have the managerial implications of various financial aspects. He has published more than 160 research papers in journals of national and international repute. Recently, his paper on Capital Budgeting Decisions: Evidence from India has been adjudged with the Literati Award by Emerald for Outstanding Excellence in Research. He has also received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. He has also presented research papers in nearly three dozen conferences held in India and abroad; and many of them have been published in the conference proceedings. He is on the Board of academic institutions and reviewer of journals like, Vision, Abhigyan, Vikalpa, Finance India, Management and Change. He has been visiting faculty at the International Centre for Promotion of Enterprises Ljubljana, Slovenia for more than a decade. He has been conferred best teacher award by IIT Delhi in January 2012. In July 2012, he has also been conferred 3rd Asia's Best B-School Awards entitled 'Best Professor in Financial Management' (in Singapore) by World Education Congress and CMO Asia as well as 'Best Teacher in Financial Management' (at Mumbai) by Amar Ujala (in November, 2012).
Surendra S. Yadav is currently a Professor and former Head of the Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi. He teaches corporate finance, international finance, international business, and security analysis & portfolio management. He has been a visiting professor at University of Paris, Paris School of Management and Inseec Business School, Paris, France, and University of Tempa, USA. He  has published fourteen books. He has contributed more than one hundred thirty papers in research journals and about six dozen papers in conferences/seminars. He has contributed more than thirty articles in financial/economic newspapers. He has undertaken several sponsored research and consultancy projects for the industry and the government. Prof. Surendra S. Yadav is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Advances in Management Research (JAMR), published by Emerald, UK, in collaboration with IIT Delhi.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Rates of Return on Equities: Corporates' perspective.- Chapter 3. Expected Rates of Return on Equity.- Chapter 4. Rates of Return on Equities: Investors' Perspective.- Chapter 5. Rates of Returns: Disaggregative Analysis.- Chapter 6. Analysis of Price Multiples.- Chapter 7. Volatility in Stock Returns.- Chapter 8. Level of Market Efficiency Using the 'Rational Bubbles' Approach.- Chapter 9. Concluding Observations.