Indian markets tanked due to global meltdown, says Madhu Kela  

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Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were withdrawing from Indian equities due to a global meltdown amid surging inflation as well as expected tightening by central banks and it was not an India-specific move, market veteran Madhu Kela of MK Ventures said on May 24.

FIIs had taken out around Rs 3.25 trillion from the secondary market in the last eight months, equal to all the money that came into India in the past 10 years, Kela told CNBC-TV18. FIIs pumped in around Rs 1 lakh crore in the primary market in the last few months.

"So there is a lot of money withdrawn from Indian markets and it did not need to worry over India-specific problems. It could be related to a global meltdown, which is happening, inflation surging,  global recession happening. This may be also due to a few investors who may have lost money in the different markets, maybe in Russia or China, etc", Madhu Kela of MK Ventures said in a CNBC TV interview.

Markets were now far more resilient because at the time of the global financial crisis in 2008, FII outflow was lower but markets dropped more than 50 percent, he said. This time FIIs selling was significantly higher but the market had fallen just 15 percent, he said.

Kela said valuations had moderated quite significantly and were reasonable now. He said FY21 earnings per share saw a 15 percent growth, the first double-digit raise in 10 years.

He advised retail investors to conserve money and have moderate expectations. Saying he was positive on auto ancillary stocks after the government imposed a duty on metals, the market veteran said it was better to buy ancillaries stocks than the mainline auto companies.