Expect a gradual recovery in corporate earnings

A number of positives supported an 18% earnings growth during FY20-24.

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Accordingly, markets also performed well, said Shridatta Bhandwaldar, head of equities at Canara Robeco MF. He tells Ananya Grover that investors should temper expectations and stick to conservative equity products.

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What will be the impact of 50% tariffs on Indian equities?

The way the US administration has been operating, one can expect a sudden change tomorrow. It depends on how the Russia-Ukraine issue gets resolved, at least in the case of an additional 25% tariff. As a base case, a 20-25% tariff is going to remain at least for the next six months. On an annualised basis, at least a 25-bps impact on the GDP is expected. Additional 25% over the next two quarters will go away because it is not sustainable even from an importer's perspective. One of the silver linings is that commodity prices will remain in check. That is a positive for India as it imports a lot of commodities, particularly the energy side. Secondly, if the US keeps behaving this way, eventually a lot of investors, including central bankers, will have to think about the quantum of allocation to be made to the US, and people will explore other geographies in terms of incremental capital allocation.