The crude shock’s effect on Indian equities

Higher oil prices are rarely a good thing but that’s particularly true if you’re a net importer of crude oil like Australia or India. For Mugunthan Siva of India Avenue Investment Management, this poses a huge challenge for everything from fuel prices to the government’s petrol subsidy program. So is the Indian economy worse off this time than in the previous decades? Mugunthan says this time is different to the last major shock during the 2013 “taper tantrum” where India was classed as one of the five most problematic investment markets due to its over-reliance on energy imports. Now, its IT market is much larger and the human capital has changed.