Viksit Bharat @ 2047: Transformative Role of Commerce, Management and Technology (Edition-III) (ISBN : 978-93-49468-06-1)

Carbon Pricing for Sustainable Automotive Transition

Author: Natania Theresa Thomas

This paper analyses in the automobile industry in India an emerging Financial-Environmental Feedback Loop. It brings quite some critical questions into focus such as does Indian financial sector indeed reward companies leading in sustainability with Greenium? do companies with higher emission face Carbon Risk Premium? The automakers are caught in a Decarbonization Dilemma as India pursue their 200 billion electric vehicle (EV) target, a move which is geared towards achieving the SDG 13 and 9. The study uses a time series data approach of five years on five major companies, Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Ashok Leyland and TVS Motor Company, which are major representation of the automotive industry in India. The triangulated methodology uses audited financial statements, mandatory BRSR, and government Vahan Dashboard as a methodology to map the relationship between Carbon intensity and weighted average cost of debt. The initial observations show that poor environmental performance of a firm with high emission is always associated with high borrowing costs. Also, the researchers discovered the J-curve impact of transition financing in the scenario where the large investments in Green Capex, on the part of the companies in the EV markets, increase the breadth of their debt-to-equity ratios that exposes them to short term capital requirements. This insight illustrates the fact that the financial markets of India are no longer spectators/observers but willing drivers of SDGs to become sustainable in the long run and hence remain competitive in the long run.

Download Full Paper: