From 8k to 17k: Ramesh Damani on lows, rally, road ahead

Excerpts from Your World at 10 on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » RELATED NEWS Experts see Nifty at 5300 levels, differ on timing ALSO READ See what other experts are saying about markets See what FIIs are saying about the markets See what Udayan Mukherjee is saying about the markets Nifty BSE | NSE 10/02/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

On this day, one year ago, the S&P 500 hit a 12-year low of 672. In the one year since, it has rallied 70%. In the same year, the Sensex has rallied 112% from a low of 8,047. While the crash of 2008 was unprecedented, the rally since March 2009 seems to be no less remarkable.

Does this run justify where the global economy stands just a year or two after the meltdown. Will trouble in Europe take us back to the days when banks in the US were going down like dominos.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, market veteran Ramesh Damani, Member of BSE, reminisces over the last one year and looks into the future of the markets.

Here is a verbatim transcript of the interview. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: What a year it has been from where we were on March 9th last year to where we are today not just in India but across global markets. What do you make of it?

A: It actually was a near death experience for financial markets. I remember it so vividly, it seemed like the bloodletting, the price falling would never stop. It has truly been astounding how much the market has rallied since then and how much blust has come back into the market whether it is in terms of price appreciation, whether it is in terms of bonuses given to employees or whether feeling that no matter what happens we are okay.

You are right. It's been two complete opposite ends of the spectrum; near death and near normalcy. The thing of course I am reminded is what Mark Twain once said, "What we learn from history is that we never learn from history."