TMS Ep260: India Inc investments, global bond indices, markets, EWS quota

Corporate tax has already been slashed. PLI scheme is there. Stock market is so confident. Investment from abroad is pouring in. “So what is stopping Indian companies from investing in the economy?” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked on Tuesday as she vowed all the support they needed. But why are Indian businesses shying away from increasing investments?    

Despite being the biggest bond market among emerging economies, India has long been struggling to get its bonds listed on global indexes. But experts believe that it may change soon as Russia’s recent exclusion has set the ball rolling for India’s inclusion in global bond indices. 

Not just the US bond markets, but the global equities too are rattled amid fear of the US Fed raising the interest rate to tame inflation. The fears sent global equities spiralling down as investors feared a hard landing for the world’s biggest economy. Domestic equities, on the flipside, settled with marginal cuts of 0.4%. So, what does this rebound say about Sensex and Nifty? Should investors be worried if the US Fed raises rate by 75 bps or higher next week? 

 
After the markets, let us move on to a case which is being heard by the Constitution bench of the Supreme Court. The validity of the 10% quota for people belonging to economically weaker sections is under scrutiny in the apex court. This episode of the podcast offers an insight into this much debated issue and more.