A pick-up in earnings could lead to moderate returns in 2019: Shilpa Kumar

India will continue to be the fastest-growing economy in the world with the most attractive demographics, says Shilpa Kumar

A pick-up in corporate earnings could lead to moderate returns in 2019, says Shilpa Kumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Securities. In an interview to Sundar Sethuraman, she says equity issuances are showing signs of a revival. Edited excerpts:

What’s the one-year outlook for the market?

The dollar beat most asset classes this year. The Nifty, gold and bonds provided similar returns. Risk assets (mid-caps and small-caps) underperformed significantly.

Long-term expected annual returns on Indian equities have been about 15 per cent. In any calendar year, returns have either overshot or undershot, depending on changes in investor expectations.

Indian equities are