Investors cautiously optimistic on India: BNP Paribas

Excerpts from Bazaar on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » RELATED NEWS Nifty to be capped at 5250-5300 on the upside Nifty upside capped at 5200-5250: Sharekhan 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 30/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

Q: I believe disinvestment was one of the issues discussed at your conference, how excited are investors about that process or do they feel over there as well there are some changes that are required because appetite hasn't been great up until now, it's been okay?

A: The one way to look at disinvestment is what is the appetite for the disinvestment process itself for the companies that are actually going through the process. The second way to look at it is what it does to the fiscal situation at the country. So if we take a broader view from a fiscal situation perspective, disinvestment, 3G auctions, there was even talk about for the first time auctioning of coal blocks or natural resources of the country and what kind of impact that can have on the fiscal situation of the country. So from that perspective foreign investors were pleased, there was also talk about new Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) rule of having a minimum free float of 25%. So that's what I mean by they heard all these right things. Was there an appetite for some of the earlier disinvestments in the last few weeks? That was not the question that we were trying to answer at these conference. But from a fiscal situation perspective, I got the sense reasonably happy with the measures that the government was taking.

Q: You had the BPCL Chairman presenting at the conference too. What sense you got on oil sector policy, something which a lot of global investors are watching very closely with respect to the subsidy impact on the fisc?

A: I could sense tinge of disappointment among investors right after the Budget when there was a fuel price hike that was announced without any specific talk or timeline about implementation of Kirit Parikh. So essentially the feeling that investors got was there were fuel price hikes that were announced which does not seem very well coordinated or communicated. Does that mean Kirit Parikh Committee report is now going to be in the locker for the next six-twelve months because it does not make sense deregulating oil price without accompanying fuel price hike, so why the need for fuel price hike in the interim? So that was one area where I could sense a tinge of disappointment, oil price deregulation was a big burning issue that a lot of investors wanted to get clarity on. I am not so sure that they did get some clarity on that after the conference.

Q: Was the attendance highest for the event of the last day where 15 over a side cricket match with Anil Kumble, Wasim Akram, Andrew Symonds?

A: It was a 20 over game. It was politics, policy and a cricket team. If you believe cricket as a sport of intellectual, so then I guess it was right form of entertainment to have. But that was a big hit of course; there were lots of people who played the game, lots of people who were curious about the game. So we had a pretty good game actually in fact Dr Shashi Tharoor was suppose to join us to that game, but unfortunately could not make it at the last minute. So that would have been a real combination of politics, policy and cricket if he had.