Indian Stocks Market are a very difficult place to invest despite claims to the contrary which will be made by institutional investors.The all pervasive corruption present amongst most of the company managements makes bottom up stock picking a tough call.Even institutional “smart” investors like Goldman,GMO frequently get tripped by fly by night operators.Market operators blatantly manipulate stocks while the primary market is a “pump and dump” heaven.However the Indian growth story has fooled fund managers from outside to keep investing into the story.I have written in the blog numerous pitfalls present in investing in India.Some of these are coming home to roost as the Indian stock markets have fallen by more than 10% in 2011 despite other markets making new highs.Here are the top 5 Headwinds facing the Indian markets in 2011.
1) Corruption– Scandals and Scams seem to be hitting India daily with stocks taking massive hits.The Third Largest Indian Conglomerate Owner recently paid the highest fine in history to settle insider trading charges.Note that group has seen the biggest losses in the last 2 years with stocks losing 80-90% of their value.
2) Inflation – The Indian Central Bank has been guilty of being behind the curve in raising interest rates like some of the other counterparts in Asia.As a result,inflation has been flaring into double digits.Food inflation is touching nearly 18% in a country where 80% of the citizens make less than $2/day
3) Income Inequality – Keeps on increasing as the businessmen-politician-bureacrat nexus drains India dry.$2 Billion home coexists with most of the world’s hungry
4) Social Unrest (Naxalism) – India’s PM recently said that Naxalism was India’s biggest problem .This home grown terrorism is due to massive poverty and disillusionment in the tribal and rural areas of the country.
5) Oil Price – As Oil Prices touch $100/barrel,India’s problems seem to multiply.India imports 80-90% of its massive and increasing oil requirements. India gives subsidy on oil products leading to monetary and fiscal headache for the government.If it raise the domestic prices,it leads to political and inflation problems.If it does,it leads to massive losses for PSU Oil companies and increasing fiscal deficit.
Here are some links for Indian Stock Market Investing Pitfalls
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Indian Stock Market New Day Old Story – Promoter -> Land Scam -> Stock Plunges -> Huge Investor Loss
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Indian Small Cap Index,ETFs (SCIF,SCIN) get Massacred by Surfeit of Scandals
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LIC Housing Finance Crashes with PSU Bank Stocks on Loan Scam in a Satyam Deja Vu
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Why Indian Stock Market can be Hazardous for Investing – Lack of Information,Regulation and Enforcement
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India’s Booming Stocks Fail To Discount Huge Risks due to Herd Mentality of Institutional Investors