The impact of the macroeconomic shock of demonetisation in 2016 on the dividend payout policy of Indian companies is examined. The analyses of 2,157 Indian companies’ data for the period from 2013 to 2018 find that both aggregate dividend payout ratio and the number of companies paying dividends dropped in post-demonetisation years. The results of the dynamic system generalised method of moments show that the long-term target dividend payout ratio declined by 9.31% post demonetisation. The study suggests that major macroeconomic shocks affect the dividend payout decisions of companies.
