Rakesh Jhunjhunwala criticises Raghuram Rajan: ‘He sees only darkness, has no good words for India’

Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala is extremely bullish on Indian stock market. He believes that India is in a bull run, and the biggest bull run is ahead of us. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala also said that currently, he is carrying the highest leverage of his life. By his own admission, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala was not as optimistic when he sold 2% of his portfolio in March of 2020 at lows of the stock market; but then again turned bullish by April-May. “The markets gave a message in the way it rebounded from the lows,” he said. In an interview with The Print, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala said that in the next three-four year India will see double-digit growth. “I think we’ll grow -7 per cent this year, next year it will go at 10 per cent positive,” he said. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala also predicts that in the next 25 years, India will surpass China, even as the latter is 5 times of India.

‘Raghuram Rajan sees only darkness’

During the conversation, Rakesh Jhunjhwala criticised former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan for not supporting farm laws. “Does Raghuram Rajan have one good word for what India has done in the last five years? I want to take him up. He keeps criticising the government,” Rakesh Jhunjhunwala said. “(Raghuram) Rajan only sees darkness and no light,” he added. The ace investor presented the ongoing farmers’ agitation as an example of how difficult it is to bring about changes in India. The big bull said Raghuram Rajan had advocated the same farm laws earlier, but is now criticising.

With Indian economy on the path of recovery, investors have high expectations from the Union Budget 2021. When asked about the budget expectations, Jhunjhunwala said that people will be surprised seeing the Union Budget 2021. “In the budget, I expect that there will be no taxes, a substantial increase in expenditure and a 6.5 to 7 per cent fiscal deficit.” During this week, Indian share markets zoomed to record high levels with BSE Sensex moving past the crucial 50,000-mark and Nifty 50 crossing the psychological level of 14,750.

Investment opportunities in PSUs and government banks

As for the opportunities in the current market scenario, the ace investor said that there are a lot of opportunities in the public sector and at this moment it is in the public sector banks. “As the Indian economy will grow, people will be going to deposit in the public sector banks. They have made more provisions in their books than HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. They are at the cusp of efficiency,” he said. Jhunjhunwala also said that most unfavored stocks are going to give the highest returns.