'India is in a hurry to grow'

At 63, Larry Williams, the ace commodities short-term trader from the US, knows he must run to earn his dollars. Running, he has been, as a marathon runner across the world, till date numbering 67, including the Chicago Marathon.

He had emerged winner in three in the over sixty category. He now looks forward to participating in one in India too.

In Bangalore on his testing-the-waters-of-India trip and also to get an update on the plans for the first ever Larry Williams Institute, anywhere across the globe, he spent time with Business Standard and spoke on issues ranging from equities, gol gappas and yes... marathons.

"Before I came to India," said Williams, "I had only a so-so opinion of your country. Huge population, the rise of the software and knowledge industry, rich history, tradition and so on. But once I came here, I developed an all-new view of India. I've learnt that Indians are really hardworking and highly intelligent, honest. From my hotel window, I can see people are up and away moving about since morning. It is as if India is in a hurry to grow."

What should India watch out for? "India has all the resources, knowledge, enthusiasm, hardworking people. But just a small thing could apply the brakes on your progress!" Williams compares participation in the Indian capital market to America's 1930s scenario.

"I am amazed to find that less than 4 per cent of the trades in India are by retail players. This was the situation in the US during the Great Depression in the 30s. Even Russia, when it opened up its markets, was like this. It looks like Indian retail investors trade more on emotional reasons than based on savvy intelligent research. It would be interesting to know how the market will react if more retail investors traded here."

"An average Indian has more understanding of the capital market than what I normally see even in the US," he remarked.

Eager to understand the Indian capital market and its intricacies, Williams has not missed an opportunity to chat with anyone connected with the markets. He took care to load his laptop with the last 10 years' trading data of the Bombay Stock Exchange. "Data are important to me. They help me identify a pattern."

Usually spending a maximum of two and half days in a particular trade, Williams is upbeat on the Indian markets.

"Gold, crude oil and a couple of commodities are interesting to trade here. Lets see how, I will take this forward. To start with, I will be in India for a workshop in February through which I will enable traders here to understand my methodologies and take it forward."