2024: The Year of Riddles for Both Markets and Life

Forecasting Nifty returns and box-office results is futile; enjoy the show as it unfolds

- RADHIKA GUPTA

Interesting election results in three major world powers. Continued economic uncertainty in another one. And, continued geopolitical tensions in yet another. To cut rates or not, the constant question. The threat and opportunities posed by the two letters, AI. In all this, 13%-plus returns on the NIFTY 100 and 24%-plus on the mid-cap index. Sitting at the beginning of 2024, this was perhaps not the obvious outcome, and a reminder of the lines from Anand: "Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haye. Kabhi yeh hasaye, kabhi yeh rulaye."

For all we attempt to predict, economic events remain unpredictable, and the market reaction to event outcomes even more unpredictable (remember 4 June!), and traditional relationships between macro variables and markets don't always hold true. In case you thought markets were the only ones delivering pahelis, spare a thought for the movies: The highest-grossing Hindi film was a so-called small-budget horror comedy sequel, Stree 2, and the highest-grossing Hindi film in aggregate was a dubbed version of a Southern film, Pushpa 2.

Here is 2024 personal finance, with a touch of help from film quotes: In Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Abhay Deol encourages a hesitant Hrithik Roshan to take a leap of faith and jump out of a plane during their skydiving adventure. "Jab tak tum dare nahi, tum jeete nahi."