Keki Mistry expresses confidence in the Indian economy despite subpar Q1 GDP

Keki Mistry, vice chairman and chief executive officer at HDFC said on Thursday that he expects the domestic market to remain strong as it is the resilient one among emerging markets despite a lower-than-expected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reading in the first quarter.

India reported a growth of 13.5 percent yesterday for the first quarter which saw manufacturing sector growth disappoint expectations.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) emerged as net buyers of Indian equities in August 2022 — the first month of net inflows for Dalal Street since September 2021. Net purchases by FPIs stood at Rs 22,025.8 crore for the month, according to provisional exchange data.

Keki said he did not expect a material impact of the decline in economic growth on interest rate hikes.

“I don't see the economy getting impacted in any material kind. Will RBI raise rates, not raise rates? To my mind, I would still expect that there could be between 25 bps and 30 bps, at maximum 35 bps hike in rates in the next credit policy,” said Mistry.

According to him, the optimism level today is one of the best in recent times. Mistry said, “The economy is on extremely strong footing. I genuinely believe that, I genuinely see that in the economy. I talk to friends in different industries. And the optimism level that I have seen today is far higher than I have seen at almost any other time in the past. We have completely come out of COVID-19 (pandemic). So the economy stands on strong footing.”