Three years is a long time in politics. A lot can be achieved in that time despite being the ruling party in the world’s largest democracy with an underlying sentiment of cynicism on any change being implemented successfully. In fact, if you quiz India’s media on Modi’s success the response would be highly polarised.
The latest measure of Modi’s success can be gauged through his party’s (BJP) landslide victory at the polls on the weekend. The BJP won approximately 325 of 403 assembly seats in a state election of significance in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India’s most populous state, with over 200 million people. UP sends 80 legislators to the 545-seat parliament, positioning Modi well at the next national election campaign in 2019.
The result is a stunning endorsement of Modi’s popularity, reform initiative and hard-line towards addressing the issues India grapples with such as poverty, corruption and lack of a mandate to execute politically. It also indicates that Modi’s well discussed Demonetisation initiative launched late in 2016, cancelling 86% of India’s high value notes, did little to impact the growing sentiment towards Modi as the leader who can shape India’s future and improve global perception.
Modi’s scorecard since being elected in 2014 showcases the following:
- Passing GST through the lower and upper house for implementation in 2H17
- Reform initiatives such as Housing for all, Make-in-India, Smart Cities, Electrification, Swachh Bharat (cleaner India), Skill India, Digital India
- Demonetisation which focused on reducing the usage of cash for payments
- Increasing political popularity, particularly is significant states like UP. This should lead to a majority in both the Lower House (already in place) and the Upper House.
It remains to be seen whether Modi Government now takes on the challenge of broader market reforms like labour laws and land ownership, which if it can be addressed, would really open the doors to more significant foreign investment. Given the likelihood of a second term increasing (2019-2024), it is expected that we could be in for more bold decision making and greater follow through on reforms already commenced.
Whilst Indian equities may appear expensive to the naked eye at 18x FY18 earnings (12 months forward), we are likely to see a positive re-rating based on the fact that private investment and capex will benefit from improving sentiment and greater continuity from BJP’s execution. In our view this is likely to lead to an increase in the “e” component of the P/e, pushing prices upwards based on fundamental earnings growth – now that’s rare in a global equity market today that requires share buybacks and broader capital management to support its price.
India Avenue’s view:
We see the election victory by Modi’s BJP party as a clear sign that there is great belief on his political execution and moral authority. This sets the tone for another victory in 2019 at the National Elections, allowing the party a significant period to execute on its promises.
Regardless of the starting point, we foresee three to five years of strong equity market returns henceforth given a more unified India under the Modi Government. Since Demonetisation local investors have also focused significantly on equity markets given the challenges of Property and Gold investing as well as falling interest rates.
India Avenue is a boutique investment management firm providing investment solutions that allow our clients to benefit from India’s remarkable growth story.
OUR BUSINESS
2005
The journey towards the “birth” of India Avenue originated in 2005, when ING Investment Management started a business in India as a separate division, utilising a practiced multi-manager philosophy in markets like Australia, and exported it to India. Three of our founders, Mugunthan Siva, Rajeev Thakkar and Sajjan Raut Desai worked together for INGIM (India), building investment strategies and structures, under this philosophy and applying them to Indian capital markets
2011
In 2011 our founders started discussing the possibility of building an investment firm with a capability to provide a focus on India as an stand-alone investment jurisdiction for foreign investors. The founders identified Australia and New Zealand as nascent markets for investing in regional locations, with the potential to accelerate given education and insights which the firm could provide.
2015
By 2015 the group of founders decided to work full-time on this concept to bring it to life. They did this by leaving their existing employment, thus exercising high conviction in the investment region of India as a long-term structural story for investors in Australia and New Zealand. Thus, the firm India Avenue Investment Management was registered and came to life in 2015 in Sydney, Australia.
2016
After building our business for a period of 12 months, our first fund, The India Avenue Equity Fund was launched on 6th September 2016, with strong service provider partners like Equity Trustees (RE), Mainstream (Fund Administrator), KPMG (Fund Auditor) and BNP India (Custodian).
NOW
India Avenue is now a boutique investment business firm, with clients spread across family offices, high net worth individuals, wealth advisers and financial planning firms. Our firm has focused on education and knowledge as a driver of investment behaviour and have taken a long-term approach towards Australian and New Zealand investors contemplating an allocation to India’s growth as part of their portfolios. Our firm has assets in excess of A$50m and the India Avenue Equity Fund is rated “Recommended”* by Lonsec and is available on multiple investment platforms across Australia and New Zealand.