Expectations….expectations. Expectations, towards the end of a Government term which did not have the confidence to decide on any plans that will allow the economy to grow. Expectation on the team that was coming to power, which was aggressive. Expectation on Narendra Modi, who was presumed to be a strong decision maker, as the next Prime Minister. Expectation that, the new government will clear all the infra projects awaiting clearance, which will drive the economy into a robust growth phase. Indian economy staged a pretty strong recovery and went on to give a robust growth.
Favourable RBI policies, supported by Raghuram Rajan’s strong commitment to revive the Indian economy with his bold decisions on the interest front along with the cleaning up the banking system. His decision to impose curbs on Gold consumption, bring transparency into the Real Estate markets.
Almost all the external factors supported the expected growth. Crude Oil prices crashed, never to see the high’s that it went through. Favourable monsoon, good automobile sales followed by growth in profits of companies in competence. 2014 was a wonderful year for investors as the SENSEX surged more than 40%.
This expectation fizzled out earlier than it was to, things changed. As markets grew leaps and bounds, businesses did not see growth in sales. People began to complain that, “only the stock markets are moving up, money flow is not seen yet. No visible developments in the economy.” Soon, it was followed by the historical crash of the Chinese markets. Volkswagen case and normal to flat growth from the businesses, markets turned down, went into a tailspin throughout 2015.
After the March quarter results, there are glimpses of change visible. One of the most important factors in the results announced so far is that, sales growth has been still at a slower pace, while profits are showing good growth numbers. Such number growth is possible only if operations are controlled. On one side it is a negative, as controlling operational expenses cannot give continuous growth, it can become counterproductive.
While, on the other side, there are green shoots visible, if the companies who have managed to bring down their expenses, continue to maintain the same tightness on their expenditure and along with that when the sales numbers improve, the profit margins are going to be phenomenal. And that would mean a euphoric rally in stock prices.
As many analysts say on the media, “we are in a cusp of a great bull market” the future looks very attractive for India. It is time to give more exposure to Equity investments. For those who have missed the 2014 rally, now there is an even bigger price move waiting to happen. Those who have maintained a wait and watch on their stock investments, now it is the right time to begin investing. One can even think of adding to their existing investments. Those of you who had stopped their SIP’s or had moved to the debt markets for safety of capital can now think of venturing into the Equities segment to have very good gains.
If things pan out well, we might witness a rally in stock prices, which we had not seen so far in the Indian Stock market history. The next 5 years are going to be a boon to all those investors who venture into the markets.
Take advantage of the markets next move; at the early stage itself, waiting for more confirmation will only result in lost opportunities.
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