Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's re-election victory has lined up his Hindu nationalist party for a stronger mandate to push through economic reform.
Market participants have expressed a wide range of views on what the results mean for Indian equities and debt.
The following remarks have been edited for brevity and clarity:
Ramesh Mantri, director of investments, White Oak Capital Management, investment adviser to the Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust:
The strong decisive mandate by Indian citizens to the NDA government will ensure continuity of existing reforms process and also embolden PM Narendra Modi to accelerate India's transformation into a more market oriented economy. It is India's opportunity to dismantle its archaic laws, carry out major structural reforms, further improve the ease of doing business and free up resources from inefficient public enterprises to aggressively invest in both infrastructure and human resources.
An environment conducive to enterprise will improve the dynamism of the economy, create jobs, accelerate growth, and in the process also be rewarding to investors.
The strong decisive mandate by Indian citizens to the NDA government will ensure continuity of existing reforms process and also embolden PM Narendra Modi to accelerate India's transformation into a more market oriented economy. It is India's opportunity to dismantle its archaic laws, carry out major structural reforms, further improve the ease of doing business and free up resources from inefficient public enterprises to aggressively invest in both infrastructure and human resources.
An environment conducive to enterprise will improve the dynamism of the economy, create jobs, accelerate growth, and in the process also be rewarding to investors.
Vinay Agarwal, portfolio manager, First State Stewart Asia:
We strongly believe that the results of the election will have little bearing on the long-term investment case for Indian equities. Firstly, Indian people and businesses are used to political change. Since India liberalised its economy in 1991, we have had several governments with different ideologies, political strength and, what is more, very different tenures as well. A government in 1996 lasted for only 16 days, while another ruled from 2004 to 2014. The current, right-wing government of Modi has an absolute majority in the lower house of parliament whereas a previous government had as many as 27 coalition partners with varied agendas.
We would gladly use any knee-jerk reaction as an opportunity to increase our holdings in companies.
