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The present study assessed the status of the financial literacy (FL) levels and examined its impact on the investment decisions of the investors from the cities of Ahmedabad and Vadodara in Gujarat state. We measured FL using a multi-dimensional construct of financial behaviour, attitude and knowledge. Investment decisions were analysed taking the six proxies – neutral information, personal financial need, macroeconomic indicators, accounting information, advocate information and firm image. The study revealed a high level of FL among the respondents with 62.50% of the respondents being highly financially literate and the remaining having a comparatively lower degree of FL. Though, respondents exhibited a higher level of financial literacy, they still lacked required degree of understanding of advanced financial and investment topics. Using simple linear regression, we found that investors’ investment decisions were significantly positively impacted by their levels of FL. This study has implications for employers, policymakers, regulatory authorities and financial education providers to achieve financial inclusion and well-being goals by devising appropriate strategies and interventions for individuals with varying level of FL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obligatory requirements have been prescribed in the social, environmental, and governance domains, to ensure that corporate behaviour is not harmful to the societies in which they operate. Consequently, both corporate social responsibility (CSR) and CSR reporting have attracted the growing attention of researchers, as evidenced by increased publications and media attention. However, no specific study has been conducted that evaluates CSR disclosures by pharma companies in Gujarat; and it is not known whether the CSR disclosures by pharma companies are affected by parameters such as revenue, assets turnover, CSR committee size, CSR head, price earnings ratio, and so on. The present paper fills this research gap. The present paper studies the CSR reporting practices of the pharma companies based in Gujarat and ranks them based on their reporting and disclosure practices. Mann-Whitney U test results find that there is no significant difference in CSR disclosures of the sample companies based on identified variables, except the price earnings ratio (PER). Further, the CSR disclosure by pharma companies is still in its infancy and lacks the rigour and quality that it should possess, despite the growing expenditure on CSR activities as mandated by the Companies Act, 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]