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Who is accountable for PSUs' conduct

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The government of India has been the greatest value destroyer for the investors in Indian Equities. The Nifty PSE index, comprising most listed PSU stocks, now trades at the same level as it was in 2006, implying no return for 13yrs, if we consider point to point investment period. The CPSE ETF comprising top 22 Central government undertaking stocks, launched in 2014 is giving negative return to its investors. Many large Public Sector companies are now trading at multi year low prices, adjusted for all dividends and other corporate actions. The government of India therefore has legal and moral duty to explain to the investors, why it should continue to manage these businesses. They have obviously not managed these great businesses like MTNL BEL, Coal India, etc well and destroyed huge wealth for the nation as a whole and individual investors as well. The Supreme Court may like to examine, whether the government should be permitted in the first place t...

Anatomy of a bear market in equities

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In past seven weeks, the Indian equity markets have corrected sharply. The benchmark Nifty50 index has fallen almost 9% in this period. The gauge of fear (volatility index) has risen over 60% in this period of seven weeks. This sharp correction in values, when everything appeared to be working normally for Indian equities has triggered an intense debate about the sustainability of present levels of equity prices. Some prominent analysts and investors have highlighted that the 11 year old bull phase in global equities that started post Lehman collapse and commencement of easy monetary policies may just about to be over. The disruptions created by spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) may have opened many fault lines in the global financial system, hitherto camouflaged by the persistence monetary stimulus by central bankers. Many technical analysts and chartists also fear an extended winter for Indian equities this time. Since I have recently increased my allocation to ...