Fragmented coalition would mean pain for the markets: Ridham Desai

Published: Jun 18, 2018

Life is not a template and neither is mine. Like several who have worked as journalists, I am a generalist in my over two decade experience across print, global news wires and dotcom firms. But there has been one underlying theme in each phase; life gave me the chance to observe and tell a story -- from early days tracking a securities scam to terror attacks and some of India's most significant court trials. Besides writing, I have jumped fences to become an entrepreneur, as an investment advisor -- and also taught the finer aspects of business journalism to young minds. At Forbes India, I also keep an eye on some of its proprietary specials like the Rich list, GenNext and Celebrity lists. An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Communications and H.R College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, I have worked for organisations such as Agence France-Presse, Business Standard, The Financial Express and The Times of India prior to this.

Image: Manoj Patil

Stock markets unlikely to show any upside till 2019 election results, says Ridham Desai, MD and India equity strategist at Morgan Stanley.

On the prospect of more rate hikes this year:
We were not expecting it this quickly. Future RBI action will depend on how the US Fed moves and how oil prices fluctuate.

On the outlook for large cap stocks:
India will witness a secular bull market for the next five years, led by improved corporate earnings growth. Stocks are not expensive, domestic growth is looking good. But there is the elections factor. So we may see quarters with strong growth but the markets may not rise.

On what happens if BJP does not return to power:
The issue is not whether the ruling government comes back or not. If the markets start to believe that a fragmented coalition could emerge as a reality, there could be more pain for the markets.