Allen, FranklinChakrabarti, RajeshDe, SankarQian, JunQian, Meijun2012-06-182012-06-182006-08https://hdl.handle.net/10986/8369The authors examine the legal and business environments, financing channels, and governance mechanisms of various types of firms in India and compare them to those from other countries. Despite its English commonlaw origin, strong legal protection provided by the law, and a democratic government, corruption within India's legal system and government significantly weakens investor protection in practice. External financing of firms has been dominated by nonmarket sources of financing, while the characteristics of listed firms are similar to those from countries with weak investor protection. The evidence, including results based on a survey of small and medium-scale private firms, shows that alternative financing channels provide the most important source of funds. The authors also find that informal governance mechanisms, such as those based on reputation, trust, and relationships are more important than formal mechanisms (such as courts) in resolving disputes, overcoming corruption, and supporting growth.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCOUNTINGACCOUNTING PRACTICESACCOUNTING SYSTEMSAVERAGE LEVELBALANCE OF PAYMENTSBANK DEPOSITSBANKING SECTORBANKING SYSTEMBANKRUPTCYBARGAINING POWERBORROWINGBROKERSBUREAUCRACYBUSINESS ENTERPRISESBUSINESS ENVIRONMENTBUSINESS OPERATIONSCAPITAL MARKETSCAPITALIZATIONCAUSAL IMPACTCIVIL-LAW SYSTEMSCOMMERCIAL BANKSCOMMON STOCKCOMMON-LAW COUNTRIESCOMMON-LAW SYSTEMCOMMON-LAW SYSTEMSCOMPANIES ACTCOMPANYCONGLOMERATESCONTROLLING SHAREHOLDERCORPORATE GOVERNANCECORPORATE GOVERNANCE MECHANISMSCORPORATE GOVERNANCE SYSTEMCORPORATE GROWTHCORPORATE LAWSCORPORATE SECTORCORPORATIONSCORRUPTIONDEBTDEMOCRACYDEPOSITSDEREGULATIONDIRECT INVESTMENTDISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTSDIVIDEND POLICIESECONOMIC CONDITIONSECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMICSEMERGING MARKETSEMPLOYMENTENTREPRENEURSEQUITY CAPITALEQUITY MARKETSFACE VALUEFINANCIAL ASSETSFINANCIAL DATAFINANCIAL DEVELOPMENTFINANCIAL INSTITUTIONSFINANCIAL MARKETSFINANCIAL SYSTEMSFIRMSFIXED ASSETFOREIGN BANKSFOREIGN DEBTFOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTGLOBALIZATIONGOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONGROWTH RATEINDUSTRIAL COMPANIESINSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTINTEREST RATESINVESTOR PROTECTIONLAWSLAWYERSLEGAL ORIGINLEGAL PROTECTIONLENDERSLICENSINGLISTED COMPANIESMEDIUM ENTERPRISESMINORITY INVESTORMINORITY INVESTOR PROTECTIONOFFERINGSOVERHEAD COSTSOWNERSHIP STRUCTUREPOLITICAL ECONOMYPRIVATE COMPANIESPRIVATE ENTERPRISEPRIVATIZATIONPRODUCTIVITYPROFITABILITYPROPERTY RIGHTSPROTECTION OF INVESTORSPROTECTION OF MINORITY SHAREHOLDERSPUBLIC COMPANIESPUBLIC INSTITUTIONSPURCHASING POWERPURCHASING POWER PARITYREGULATORY AUTHORITIESRESERVE BANK OF INDIARESOURCE ALLOCATIONRETAINED EARNINGSRULE OF LAWSHARE CAPITALSHAREHOLDER RIGHTSSHAREHOLDERSSMALL ENTERPRISESSMALL FIRMSSMESME SECTORSOCIETYSTATE ENTERPRISESSTATE OWNED BANKSSTOCK CORPORATIONSSTOCK EXCHANGESTOCK EXCHANGESSTOCK MARKETSTOCK MARKETSSTOCK OWNERSHIPSTOCK PRICESSTOCKSTAX EVASIONTAX RATESTERM FINANCETRANSPARENCYUNLISTED COMPANIESWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-3975