One of the paradoxes of 2020 has been the global divergence between economic fundamentals, and stock market returns. But, as our lead editorial notes here, a return to pre-Covid levels of activity in India would in itself imply a bounce of over 21 per cent in earnings, and investor-expectations do target that degree of recovery by end-2021-22.
Even so, a PE ratio of 38 looks high but a sharp bounce in earnings is more or less guaranteed in the first six months of 2021-22.
Other opinion pieces for the day, among other things, talk about the need for innovation, and infrastructure.
If we place export and innovation at the heart of our growth aspiration, we will sustain rapid progress for years. 2021 must see us rebuild our economy, and set course for decades of rapid growth, writes Naushad Forbes here.
The biggest benefit of the proposed surety bonds may have less to do with substituting bank guarantees as ensuring that insurance companies play a much bigger role in infrastructure financing in India, writes Vinayak Chatterjee here.
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
