It has been over two years, since we
struggled our way out of the financial crisis of 2008. As the events of the financial crisis are getting
unfolded, it is getting clearer that post the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy,
the world suffered a `temporary cardiac arrest'. The financial
authorities/central bankers across the world took
charge and resorted to desperate measures to do whatever it took to save the
economy from collapsing. At that juncture, what was required most was injecting
ample liquidity into the financial system so that the cascading effect of the
crisis could be averted. The timely monetary and fiscal stimuli, access to
information and proactive financial regulators across the world, made it possible
to avert the 1930 kind of depression. The money injected into the financial
system to avoid the financial crisis has now started finding its place with
different asset classes across the world such as equities, gold, silver and other
asset classes. Many peripheral countries which followed sound
macroeconomic policies have started attracting
large capital inflow, and in recent years have enjoyed fast economic growth.
Emerging market economies such as India and China have received huge fund
flows. This has ensured Sensex to rally from its 2008 lows of 7700 levels to the
recent 21000 levels indicating a return of 173% in a matter of just 24 months.
Indian stocks have outperformed their BRIC peers Brazil, Russia
and China so far in 2010. Statistics show that India has emerged as the best
performing market across the world year to date. The euphoric experience by the
Indian capital markets is evident in the strong performance of benchmark
indices, above average valuations, unprecedented FII flows, large IPO
subscriptions, increased traded volumes, and so on. Not only this, the year 2010 is
seen among the best years in terms of rainfalland strong industrial
production also. The advance tax collection numbers reflect higher profits and are an
indicator of the fact that India companies are poised to report another period
of corporate growth.
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