Chronic woes persist for stocks

The thumping victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies (Mahayuti) in the Maharashtra assembly election means political stability with more synchronization of economic policies between the Centre and the state.

- Harsha Jethmalani

The Mahayuti's promise of increased focus on planned urban development in Mumbai bodes well for real estate developers, construction, and infrastructure stocks.

Moreover, developments in the economically significant state tend to shape foreign investors' perceptions of India.

On Monday, benchmark indices Nifty50 and BSE Sensex rose over 1% each.

True, improved investor sentiment is a given after the Maharashtra election, but ongoing fundamental challenges cannot be ignored.

Foreign portfolio investors have been on a selling spree, offloading Indian stocks worth ₹21,840 crore in 2024 so far, showed NSDL data.

The September quarter (Q2FY25) earnings do not bring good tidings.

Profit after tax growth for BSE500 companies (excluding oil marketing companies) slipped further to 8% from 10% in Q1FY25 and 21% in FY24, with most sectors barring BFSI posting a sharp slowdown, showed an analysis by Nuvama Research.