KAVITHA RANGANATHAN

Designation:

Professor

Area:

Accounting, Economics and Finance

Education:

M.Phil, Ph.D

Date of Joining:

2014-12-11

Biography

Kavitha Ranganathan is a professor in the area of Accounting, Economics and Finance at the T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI), Manipal. Prior to joining TAPMI, she worked at the National Institute of Securities Market and was part of the research team for the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) commissioned by the Government of India. Her research focuses on decision making under risk and uncertainty and extends to behavioral corporate finance and corporate governance issues. Recently, she has been exploring risk literacy and risk communication among investment professionals. Kavitha is also a recipient of Max Planck Mobility Fellowship for India and a visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin. In 2024, she has been appointed as the Head of the Max Planck Partner Group at the T A Pai Management Institute which is funded by the Max Planck Society. This research group will focus on elements of risk literacy and enhancing risk communication to support informed financial decisions.

Published Papers

Publications

Lejarraga, T., Ranganathan, K., & Wulff, D. U. (2024). Can simulated experience be harnessed to help people make investment decisions? Judgment and Decision Making, 19, e24. https://doi.org/10.1017/jdm.2024.17
Chui, A., Ranganathan, K., Rohit, A., & Veeraraghavan, M. (2023). Momentum, reversals and liquidity: Indian evidence. Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 82, 102193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacfin.2023.102193
Ranganathan, K., & Veeraraghavan, M. (2023). Pre-and-aftermarket IPO underpricing: Does use of proceeds disclosure matter? Journal of Contemporary Accounting & Economics, 100379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcae.2023.100379
Ranganathan, K., & Lejarraga, T. (2021). Elicitation of risk preferences through satisficing. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 32, 100570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2021.100570
Ranganathan, K. (2021). Do personal values explain variation in satisficing measures of risk? Management Decision, 59(7), 1642–1663. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-08-2019-1115
Ranganathan, K., & Singh, P. (2021). Anchoring in Mergers and Acquisitions: Does the Regulatory Environment Matter? Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, 36(1), 142–171. https://doi.org/10.1177/0148558X18798998
Ranganathan, K., & Saraogi, A. (2021). What explains voluntary premarket underpricing and aftermarket mispricing in Indian IPOs? Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 32, 100565. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2021.100565
Berg, N., Prakhya, S., & Ranganathan, K. (2018). A satisficing approach to eliciting risk preferences. Journal of Business Research, 82, 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.08.029
Ranganathan, K. (2018). Does global shapes of utility functions matter for investment decisions? Bulletin of Economic Research, 70(4), 341–361. https://doi.org/10.1111/boer.12155
Ranganathan, K., & Prakhya, S. (2012). Global shapes of preference scaling functions. Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, 24(2), 145–172. https://doi.org/10.1177/0260107913504720

Teaching Cases

Corporate Finance, Behavioral Finance, Investment Management, Indian Securities Market for post graduate programs.

Teaching Interest

Corporate Finance
Corporate Governance
Behavioral Finance
Portfolio Management
Wealth Management
Behavioral Decision-Making.

Research Interest

Decision-making under Risk and Uncertainty (with focus on financial decisions)
Risk Literacy and Risk Communication (with focus on boosting competencies)
Behavioural Corporate Finance (in context of IPOs, Mergers and Acquisitions, Blockholder Trades)
Board Diversity and issues in Corporate Governance (with focus on the Indian financial markets)

Training & Consultation

Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission, August 2011 – March 2013: Project by Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India.
- Consumer finance protection: Insights from Behavioural Economics
- Working group on efficiency of Clearing corporations and financial advisory in India
NSE-IGIDR Corporate Governance Initiative 2017. Block deals, market reaction and monitoring role: Evidence from India (with Poonam Singh).
NSE Research Initiative, March 2014: Reference Price Bias and Regulation: Evidence from Indian Mergers and Acquisitions (with Poonam Singh).
IPO Process in India: Due Diligence by Merchant Bankers, Submitted to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), December 2012.
Induction Programme in Securities Markets for SEBI and CBI Officers, 2010–2012.

Paper-work in progress

Do non-family blockholders compete or co-opt with family blockholders in Family Firms? (Kavitha Ranganathan, Bin Srinidhi, Poonam Singh and Madhu Veeraraghavan). Under Review at Pacific Basin Finance Journal. ABDC A* category.
How do investment professionals interpret risk? (Gerd Gigerenzer, Kavitha Ranganathan, Michelle McDowell and Madhu Veeraraghavan). Manuscript in preparation. To be submitted to Financial Analyst Journal. ABDC A category.
Performance of rookie directors in family firms: Evidence from post-quota regulation in India (Kavitha Ranganathan and Madhu Veeraraghavan). Manuscript in preparation. To be submitted to Journal of Corporate Finance. ABDC A* category.
Risk and benefit perception in Fintech adoption among merchants in developing countries (Ian Dawson, Yaniv Hanoch, Kavitha Ranganathan and PK Senyo). Analysis in progress.
Defensive decision-making in family firms (Florian Artinger, Kavitha Ranganathan and Madhu Veeraraghavan). Data Collection. Research Grant from Berlin International University.
Counter-cyclical risk aversion: Replication and extension of Cohn et al. (2015) (with Tomás Lejarraga, Kavitha Ranganathan and Jan Woike). Experimental Stage.
Growth opportunity Bias among Sell-side analysts in Indian Firms. Ideation in progress.

Academic Service

2024+ Partner Group Leader, Appointed by the Max Planck Society, Germany
2024+ Professor (AEF Area), T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI), Manipal
2018+ Associate Professor (AEF Area), T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI), Manipal
2019-2024 Associate Dean Research - T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI), Manipal
2018–2022 Visiting Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB), Berlin
2022+ Guest Scientist, Harding Center for Risk Literacy, University of Potsdam
2015–2018 Assistant Professor (AEF Area), T A Pai Management Institute (TAPMI)
2008–2014 Research Officer, National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), Mumbai

Ph.D. Guideship

Yet to be updated

Awards

Max Planck Partner Group in collaboration with the Center for Adaptive Rationality at the MPIB, Berlin and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) for setting up a Center for Research Excellence in India. Title is "Boosting Risk Literacy and Informed Financial Decisions" Grant amount is 200,000 Euros (~2 Crores INR) for 5-years.
DFG Grant on Initiation of International Collaboration with the Harding Center for Risk Literacy at the University of Potsdam (11778 Euros)
Research grant by the Berlin International University for the project titled "Defensive Decision-Making in Family Firms" (7500 Euros).
Research grant by the Biäsch Foundation for Applied Psychology for the project titled "Harnessing Simulated Experience to Help People Make Investment Decisions" (49258 Swiss Francs).
Max Planck India Mobility Grant by the Max Planck Society for highly qualified young research scientists to visit a Max Planck Institute of choice from 2019-2022 (upto 12000 Euros).
Max Planck Society Grants for organising the TAPMI-Max Planck Winter School on Bounded Rationality held at the T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal, January 2017 (upto 20000 Euros)
NSE-IGIDR Corporate Governance Initiative, November 2016 (2000 USD)

Media Coverage

Yet to be updated