MF chiefs allay fears over high FII inflows, bullish on infra

The Indian capital market remains fundamentally strong, concerns over high FII inflows are uncalled for and the much-feared flight of capital, if it at all happens, will only result in short-term volatility in the market, domestic fund managers have said.

"Why are you worried about the scenario of selling by FIIs? Let the foreigners sell so that we can buy our own stocks cheap," Reliance Mutual Fund's Head of Equity Investments Sunil Singhania said at an event here.

Both Singhania and Sanjay Sinha, Chief Executive Officer of L&T Mutual Fund, opined that market-prospects were bright both in the medium and the long-term, and that a pull-out by FIIs, if at all, would only result in a short term volatility.
    
An 18-month rally has seen the BSE Sensex gaining over 150 per cent, rising from 8,000 points to reach the 20,000 mark this month.
    
Unlike the pre-slowdown rally, domestic institutions and retail investors have not participated in the surge, which has primarily been driven by heavy FII buying.
    
The FII inflows have resulted in a steady appreciation of the Rupee, giving rise to concerns over the price competitiveness of the country's exports. This has led the Reserve Bank to announce that it may intervene in the forex market.

The rally has also jacked-up the valuations of Indian assets but Sethuram Aiyer, Chief Investment Officer of Shinsei Asset Management, said the valuations were not high "if we factor in the growth potential."

"Currently, everybody is raising concerns over the PE multiples to be in the region of 24. But if you take into account the 20-30 per cent growth by a company for two-years, you get a PE of 15 in March 2012, which is very reasonable," he said.

He, however, flagged fiscal and current account deficits and high inflation as areas of concern on which concrete action was needed.
    
Besides, Sinha said, going forward, infrastructure sector stocks would perform well.
    
"We are approaching the end of the eleventh Five Year Plan due to which spending will go up by government agencies. The next plan has also allocated a high amount towards infra building," Sinha said.