‘India on the up, 2026 looking like a very exciting year for stock market’

Indian markets have already turned around from the worst period of dollar returns in over two decades, and 2026 will be an “exciting year” for domestic stocks, according to Morgan Stanley managing director Ridham Desai.

- HT Correspondent

In 2025 so far, Nifty 50 and Sensex have risen 10% and 9%, respectively, hitting record highs, Desai said at the 23rd Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2025. While the world has been in a ferocious bull market, India has been the outlier, he said, adding that this has been the country’s worst relative year since 1993 in dollar terms.

“Now, as we look forward, India’s relative performance has already turned in November,” Desai said in a session with Mint editor-in-chief Ravi Krishnan. “...we're recouping some of our lost ground. And this has come on the back of a big policy pivot that India itself made starting in February with rate cuts.”

The Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee has cumulatively cut rates by 100 basis points since February and later announced to cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 100 bpsin phases. CRR is the proportion of deposits that banks must park with RBI.

The central bank has backed this with massive doses of liquidity, as well as an easing of the regulatory burden on the banking sector, Desai said.