NE Watch Desk
Bharat has secured the position of
JPMorgan’s leading market in Asia and became one of its preferred markets
globally despite strong competition from Vietnam, as stated by investment bank’s
Asian Equity Strategist Mixo Das.
Accentuating Bharat’s significant
benefits from the growing adoption of a “China plus one” strategy by companies,
Mixo Das asserted the nation’s enormous size and scale will either entirely replace
or substantially augment the desired capacity preferred by global investors and
manufacturers.
This optimism is leveraged by Apple’s
strategic moves, including the launch of retail stores and iPhone production in
Bharat.
The trend extends beyond tech giants,
with Bharat’s largest automaker Maruti Suzuki recently announcing a $4.2
billion investment for a new factory. Even Vietnamese electric auto maker
VinFast expressed intentions to spend around $2 billion on constituting a
factory in Bharat.
This surge in manufacturing activity has
significantly boosted investor sentiment, building on the momentum from Bharat’s
stock market emerging as one of Asia’s top performers in the previous year. The
New Year has seen the Indian markets continuing on a strong trajectory, with
both the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex reaching record highs.
On the contrary, JPMorgan holds a
cautious stance on China, noting a slowdown in its economy and annual declines
in stock markets for the third consecutive year in 2023. While acknowledging
occasional “tactical rallies,” Das expressed skepticism about the sustainability
of growth in the Chinese market. He highlighted low household confidence as investing
in equities is not a top priority for Chinese investors.
Moreover, Das indicated that foreign
investors are unlikely to return to the Chinese market in 2024, citing the
unreliability of foreign money and the need for a more extended period of
repair in business confidence before witnessing a healthier Chinese market
throughout the year.
