Tuesday, December 16, 2014

2015: 10 things to watch

Thought for the day
"While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill - little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago."
-          John Adams (American, 1735-1826)
Word for the day
Querulous (Adj)
Apt to find fault; habitually complaining.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
Why listenership of "Man Ki Baat" is dwindling with each episode?
Is PM not talking what we want to hear?

2015: 10 things to watch

In my view, regardless of the jitteriness of the markets during last week, it is worthwhile to discuss a strategy for next year or may be two. The exercise may look little less interesting at this point in time; still it is worth undertaking in order to suitably calibrate (a) asset allocation (b) return expectations and (c) sectoral preferences.
In my view, the following 10 key factors are critical for the Indian financial markets, in particular, in next 12-18 months. Investors therefore would want to keep a close watch on these. Prima facie, these factors are very generic and may offer no great insight. But, I would like to watch of these from my colored glasses and see through them the emerging trends.
(1)   Revival of investment cycle
In my view, it will depend on a host of factors like credit worthiness of borrowers and project undertakers, extent of bank capitalization, viability of infra sector projects, policy support and investor's risk appetite to name a few.
(2)   Household savings
Employment growth and household inflation would be key deciding factors.
(3)   Rural Income
Rural wage growth and monsoon are key factors to watch.
(4)   Corporate earnings
Pricing power led by demand growth and higher utilization needs to watched.
(5)   INR movement
Restoring faith of Indian investors and NRIs in INR strength, USD relative strength and current account management are the key factors that need to be watched.
(6)   Bond yields
Credit demand growth & fiscal prudence would be key factor to watch.
(7)   Political will
The political will to pursue radical reforms and faster growth agenda would be a key determinate of the future growth trajectory
(8)   Global economic growth
In particular price stability and consumer demand growth will be the key.
(9)   Global flows
(10) Technical trends
In next few days I shall discuss each of these factors in some detail.

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