India's growth story to continue to be attractive in 2018: Ridham Desai

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Ridham Desai, Head of India Equity Research and India Equity Strategist at Morgan Stanley gave his take on Arun Jaitley's Union Budget 2018 and his outlook on the road ahead.

This Budget has no potential to affect this market. What is going to drive this market is global, he said.

I don’t think long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax is warranting a Nifty fall. The Nifty fall is going to be global if at all, he added.

According to him, sentiments in the bond markets today is far worse than the equity markets.

Comparing India with other emerging markets (EMs), Desai said that India’s growth story looks a lot more attractive than the average EMs and that will continue to be the case in 2018 with one caveat that is oil. There is this macro threat of oil prices going up and the Budget has done what it could by containing expenditure growth and trying to manage inflation.

Speaking of the rural economy, he said that there is nothing in the Budget to boost the rural economy immediately. There is a promise for later this year. The rural economy is on the mend. Farm incomes and rural wages are recovering. I would continue to be bullish on rural stocks, he further mentioned.

For full interview, watch accompanying video...