Santosh Rao expects one Fed rate cut this year; says ultimately FIIs will return to India
Santosh Rao, Head of Research/Partner, Manhattan Venture Partners, says foreign funds flows will ultimately come into India because India is the fastest growing economy in the world but right now, there is much better risk-reward outside India. So, right now, money is getting scattered around other places. But ultimately, it will come back to India.
Rao also says that the Fed will probably have one cut this year and more next year when the US economy is expected to slow down. They won’t cut rates now because the prices are still high and there is a greater threat of inflation.
US retail sales rose less than forecast in February, and the previous month was revised down to mark the biggest drop since July 2021. Anxiety is building among US consumers about the likely impact from US tariffs on the economy and their pocketbooks. China on the other hand, has announced a «Special Action Plan to Boost Consumption» in a bid to prop up domestic consumption in the world's second largest economy. How do you see these things impacting US consumers?
Santosh Rao: Overall, right now, the US consumer is getting cautious. The underlying data right now is kind of soft, but people are really worried about the future, what is coming down the pike? The inflation expectations are high and that kind of feeds into the narrative and that one thing leads to another, so the prices keep going up. So, the big inflation, the resurgence of inflation is a big issue. So, you want to clamp that down. So, let us see.
Right now, it is still in a