Impact of <scp>COVID</scp> ‐19 on portfolio allocation decisions of individual investors

Covid-19 has impacted the financial markets dramatically. The risk and return expectations of investors have changed, leading them to reallocate their portfolios. This paper aims to analyse the impact of Covid-19 on the portfolio allocation decisions of individual investors. The study examines the perceptions of investors about various investment avenues before and during the period of extreme uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The data were collected from individual investors residing in Delhi and Mumbai. AHP is used to rank the investment preferences of the respondents. The results show that due to the present financial crisis pertaining to COVID-19, investors have started reallocating their portfolios. Since the returns on risky assets are not as expected, investors are moving towards a conservative portfolio. However, the case of transition from risky to risk-free assets is not the same in the case of all investors.