This study investigates the behavioural bias of market-wide herding in the Indian equity market during the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The study also examines the impact of market volatility and government response on herding during the sample period. We use the measure of cross-sectional absolute deviation and semi-parametric estimator of quantile regression for the period 1 January 2020 till 15 June 2020 for S&P CNX Nifty Index and its 50 constituent companies. The results obtained reveal significant herding in the Indian equity market that is aggravated by market volatility. Further, we find that the government response and control measures implemented are successful in reducing herd behaviour. The research calls for better information disclosure guidelines to promote market efficiency. We further suggest that during exogenous events, investors need to realign their portfolios and formulate trading strategies for better risk-return management.

本研究调查了在 COVID-19 大流行蔓延期间印度股市中全市场放牧的行为偏差。该研究还检查了样本期间市场波动和政府反应对放牧的影响。我们对标普 CNX Nifty 指数及其 50 家成分公司使用 2020 年 1 月 1 日至 2020 年 6 月 15 日期间的横截面绝对偏差度量和分位数回归的半参数估计量。获得的结果表明，印度股市存在明显的羊群效应，市场波动加剧了这种羊群效应。此外，我们发现政府实施的应对和控制措施成功地减少了畜群行为。该研究呼吁制定更好的信息披露指南，以提高市场效率。我们进一步建议，在外生事件期间，