Growth outlook bleak for India, to report weak earnings in first half of fiscal 2015: Jim Walker

MUMBAI: India’s economic outlook will remain bleak and India Inc will report weak earnings in the first half of fiscal 2015, said Jim Walker, founder and managing director, Asianomics Macro, in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion of IIFL Institutional Investors Conference ‘Enterprising India’, Walker said, “There will be more weakness in economic growth data as the private sector deleverages and balance sheets are repaired.” He also held the view that interest rates are likely to rise in the face of persistent inflation, but rupee, at its current level, will correct the current account deficit within the year.

In his presentation titled, ‘The Storm after the Calm’, Walker said complacency has overwhelmed fundamentals in the QE-obsessed investment world. But, unfortunately, the nature of inflation is not well understood.

“QE tapering represents a deflationary episode for asset prices, particularly in the US and Europe is in full-blown credit deflation. The crisis will resurface there in 2014. Profit-driven growth conditions have deteriorated in 2013. We expect sluggish global growth to continue, which means the Asian export engine will continue to sputter,” he added.

Speaking at the event, Nirmal Jain, chairman of IIFL, said, “Notwithstanding the economic slowdown and the oftdiscussed policy paralysis, institutional investors are optimistic about positive political outcome changing the sentiment immediately, and the economy, over the next five years.”

The conference, with the theme EPS — Economic, Politics and Sentiment, which kicked off on Wednesday, is spread over three days, and will conclud on February 21. The main speakers include KC Chakrabarty, deputy governor of RBI, Chris Roberts, technical analyst, Rajan Anandan, MD, Google India, Arvinder Singh Bakshi, advisor to the ministry of power, and Rahul Dravid, former cricketer, among others.