Asia’s sleeping giant India ‘especially appealing’ as reforms drive growth resurgence

WITH the Narendra Modi administration looking on track for a third term as India’s general elections concluded on Jun 1 (Saturday), market observers say the country is stepping out of China’s shadow and looking “especially appealing” to investors.

Based on exit polls, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance is reportedly on track to clinch between 350 and 400 seats in the 543-seat lower house of parliament. In 2019, the alliance won 352 seats. This could bolster confidence that India’s reform-led growth will continue to set it apart from other major emerging markets.

While China has been grappling with an economic slowdown, India chalked up growth of 8 per cent in the last quarter of 2023. The South Asian nation’s equity market has also been outperforming its emerging market peers, with the MSCI India index returning 21 per cent last year.