India a bright spot, to remain fastest-growing major economy this year

Mumbai : Despite global macro-economic conditions, India continues to remain a bright spot and is expected to be the fastest-growing major economy this year, a report showed on Tuesday.

The country has become the fifth-largest economy in the world, and is set to be among the top three global economic powers soon. Dr Gita Gopinath, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), stated last week that the country is likely to achieve this feat by 2027.

The IMF has raised its economic growth forecast for the country for FY25 to 7 per cent from 6.8 per cent projected in April.

The overall headline numbers of India’s economy are strong, reflecting a large amount of public investment which has been a critical factor driving growth.

According to the latest report by Motilal Oswal Private Wealth (MOPW), corporate earnings growth over the last five years has been stellar and this has been the primary driver of equity market performance.

The report mentioned that for the top 500 listed companies (Nifty500), the PAT growth between FY19-24 was 22 per cent, and the total market cap of these companies has grown at the same rate during this period.

“Earnings growth is expected to moderate going forward,” it added.

In terms of valuations, large caps are in fair valuation while mid and small caps on aggregate are relatively expensive.

In the fixed income market, on the back of favourable demand-supply dynamics and well contained inflation, the yield curve has started to gradually steepen -- debt securities with 1-3 year maturity are trading at yields which are lower than those with 10 year and above maturity.

“The RBI is likely to maintain status quo on interest rates this year with an eye on the US Fed rate actions,” the report noted.

The Budget provided a fillip to multi-asset allocation funds, which invest in equity, debt and gold, and should be considered as a superior alternative to traditional fixed income.