Financial Year Recap: How Indian Markets Outscored Global Counterparts

In the financial year 2024, the Indian Headline Index notably outperformed several major global peers, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Euro Stoxx 50, FTSE 100, Hang Seng and KOSPI.

Conversely, domestic Indian indices lagged behind the Nikkei, Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 during the same period.

Investors' interest in India remains very high, given the increased weightage of the country in MSCI indices, even as the high valuations continue to weigh on sentiments, according to a Citi Research report.

Reasons for a favourable bias on India are secular growth outlook particularly relative to peers, supportive macro, expectation of policy continuity in an election year, financialisation of savings, it said.

However, a lot of investors do struggle with high valuations, resulting in some money staying on the sidelines, Citi Research said.

Investors are poised for bargain hunting as optimism pervades Dalal Street, with positive catalysts, including significant FII buying and a global stock market rally, according to Prashanth Tapse, senior vice president (research), Mehta Equities.

Throughout the fiscal year, the Nifty 50 has consistently reached new peaks, with milestones such as surpassing 19,000 points in June, climbing to 20,000 and 21,000 levels in September and December respectively. January saw another significant leap as it crossed the 22,000 mark.

December marked a historic moment as the market capitalisation of Indian listed companies on the National Stock Exchange crossed $4 trillion for the first time.

There has been a notable increase in activity within the Indian primary market as companies capitalise on the bullish market conditions to raise funds.