Budget 2024: Expect no big announcements; market to see stock-specific movements, says Yogesh Patil of LIC Mutual Fund

livemint.com:

Yogesh Patil, Chief Investment Officer -Equity at LIC Mutual Fund. In an interview with Mint, Patil talked about the market's performance in 2023 and the outlook. Edited excerpts: The government has already announced many measures such as production-linked incentives (PLI) to propel economic growth.

We have seen robust growth in economic activity, increased tax collections and various macroeconomic indicators indicate better times ahead. Reforms announced so far have already built the base for the next leg of growth of our economy. We do not expect the government to make big announcements in the Vote on Account due before the Lok Sabha elections.

The Finance Minister confirmed that the February 2024 Budget will solely be a Vote on Account due to the impending elections. Also Read: Budget 2024: Govt to keep infra development, manufacturing in focus, says Sonam Udasi of Tata Mutual Fund We have seen a broad-based rally in the equity markets supported by domestic flows and buoyant investor participation. We came across many positive developments throughout the year such as select corporate earnings upgrades, outcomes of three state elections, and benign commentary by the US Federal Reserve in the last review meet of the year.

Some of these were not factored in by the investors. The stock returns in 2023 must be seen in light of relatively low participation by foreign investors, who are now coming back to India. The Nifty 50 index did well, despite relatively muted performance by the banking and financial services (BFSI) sector which has the highest weight in the index.