KOLKATA: Global capital markets which have been volatile in the current year are likely to remain volatile. The volatility in Indian equity market at 12 per cent, during the current fiscal upto mid-December, is among the lowest compared to major developed and emerging markets, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman Ajay Tyagi said on Thursday.
"The capital markets, globally, have been quite volatile during the current year and are likely to remain so in coming times on account of various factors such as US Fed rate hikes, volatile oil prices, intensifying trade conflicts and sanctions. The Indian markets have also been affected by these factors," Tyagi told the 8th India Finance Conference, organised by IIM-Calcutta.
The performance of the Indian capital market compares favourably with the other major global economies on various parameters such as indices returns, volatility and currency movements, he said.
"During the current financial year (up to December 14, 2018), return of Nifty has moved up by about 5.8 per cent as compared to almost neutral return in Dow Jones (-0.01 per cent)… The volatility in Indian equity market at 12 per cent is among the lowest compared to major developed and emerging markets like UK (12 per cent), US (16 per cent), China (19 per cent), Japan (17 per cent), South Korea (14 per cent), Hong Kong (19 per cent) and Brazil (21 per cent)," he said.
On the domestic front, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) have been facing tight liquidity since September 2018, he said, adding that though much has improved on account of various steps taken by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in providing systemic liquidity.
According to him, India is ranked among the top 10 countries in terms of market capitalisation.
World Bank's Ease of Doing Business 2019 survey ranks India 7th in the area of "protecting minority investors", much ahead of even many developed jurisdictions like US, Japan, Germany and Australia, he added.
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