Modi getting rock star treatment from investors

modiWASHINGTON: With money managers pouring in a whopping USD 16.5 billion in Indian stocks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being treated like a rock star by investors around the world, a leading American financial daily has said.

“Investors around the world are giving Modi, and India, the rock star treatment. Money managers have poured USD 16.5 billion into Indian stocks this year, the most of any developing country tracked by the Institute of International Finance,” The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Noting that India’s S&P BSE Sensex has soared 35 per cent this year, closing at a record 54 times in 2014, the daily said investors are betting that Modi will introduce policies to jump-start India’s economy, boosting profits at companies ranging from banks to cement makers.

The paper said economists predict India will expand at a faster rate this year, the only one of the BRIC countries – which include Brazil, Russia and China – expected to accelerate.

The International Monetary Fund expects growth in India to reach 6.4 per cent next year, from 5.6 per cent this year, it said.

For money managers who have to invest billions on behalf of large institutions, India may be one of the last developing economies of its size that can offer steady, highflying returns, the daily said. -PTI