Do it yourself

The first three weeks of the FY26 have been rather dramatic for the stock markets. By the end of FY25, the benchmark Nifty 50 was down ~10% from its previous high level recorded in September 2024. Foreign investors were selling persistently. News flow from any quarter was not particularly encouraging. Investors’ sentiment was sagging. Market volumes had plunged over 30% from their 2024 highs. The rate of SIP discontinuation had increased materially, with March 2025 recording net negative addition to operative SIPs. Social media timelines of active market participants were filled with despondency. FY26 started with the declaration of trade war by the US. Markets that were already reeling under pressure plunged further, with the benchmark Nifty 50 falling another 9% in the first five trading sessions of FY26. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many traders and small investors capitulated and liquidated their positions. Several others churned their portfolios to move to defensive sectors li...

 My dilemma this morning is whether I should be concerned about the internal politics of the United States of America, as most of my colleagues and financial market participants appear to be! In past 20yrs, we have seen George Bush Jr. (Republican, 8yrs), Barak Obama (Democrat, 8yrs) and Donald Trump (Republican, 4yrs) as presidents of United States. In these 20years, India witnessed Atal Bihari Vajpayee (NDA, 3.5yrs), Manmohan Singh (UPA, 10yrs) and Narendra Modi (BJP, 6.5yrs) as India’s prime minister. Evidently, a Socialist India (UPA) has lived well with Republican US (Bush); and a free economy supporter India (BJP) has lived well with Democrat (Obama) US. In past two decades, we have achieved progress in our civil nuclear program and we have been able to materially enhance our relationship with key US allies like Japan, Australia, UAE, Saudi Arab, and France; while maintain our strong relationship with Russia and Iran. The relationship with China has been volatile all throug...