Investing In 2020

There is a clear divergence between the Indian economy and markets. While the economy continues to face challenges, the markets remain buoyant. What does an investor do in these interesting times? Over the next few pages, Fortune India gives a peak into the road ahead across sectors.

- Dhirendra Kumar

THE MONTHS ARE YOURS, BUT THE YEARS ARE OURS

Once Indian equity markets swayed to cues from FIIs. Not any more. Indians are into mutual funds big-time—real, long-term investing unlike the short-term punting that passed for investing.

FOR YEARS THE BUYING and selling decisions of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) dominated equity markets in India. Investors would discuss markets on the premise that foreign investors and traders were the ones calling the shots on market direction. To be able to predict what FIIs would do was the highest form of skill for an Indian trader, and to have actual leaked information was like a license to print money. Of course, such skills and knowledge were more exaggerations than reality, but the fact remains that in terms of actual cash, FIIs dominated.

Conventional wisdom had it that this was the way things were, and the way they would be in the foreseeable future. After all, westerners had far more money than we did. After the global financial crisis during 2008-09, because the central banks of the developed countries made money cheap and easy to avail, unlike the hard-earned money that we Indians have, it seemed that the dominance of FIIs would continue. However, over the next few years, a funny thing happened: Indians actually discovered mutual funds investing—real investing, not the ‘here-today-gone-tomorrow’ punting that used to pass for investing.