Debt Financing and Agency Cost on Profitability: Are Real Estate Firms’ Performance in India Getting Affected?

Abstract

This article tries to understand the relationship between agency cost, debt financing and Indian real estate companies’ performance. The study attempts to document the effect of debt on the firm’s profitability and then explores the reason behind such an impact by introducing the agency cost as a parameter. The study is conducted in two phases. Phase I is carried out to establish the relationship between debt financing and the firm’s financial performance. In Phase II, the study is conducted to understand the impact of agency cost on debt financing. Firms from the BSE Realty Index were selected for the period 2011–2018. Profitability is measured through return on equity (ROE), whereas debt financing is measured through the firm’s leverage ratio. The agency cost is measured through the asset utilisation ratio and general expense to sales ratio. Panel regression method is used to understand the impact of debt financing and agency cost on the firms’ profitability. The result of Phase I suggests a significant negative relationship between debt financing and the ROE and the result of Phase II suggests a positive relationship between the agency cost and debt financing. This means that reduction in agency cost will lead to lesser amount of debt financing thereby improving the firm’s financial performance.