The US President Donald Trump’s bitter jibe at India being a dead economy may have found endorsement from the Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, neither the economy is dead nor there is any gloom, as suggested by Mr Gandhi’s own market investments in the vibrant India Inc.
At least nine of Gandhi’s two dozen portfolio stocks including Divi’s Laboratories Ltd, Garware Technical Fibres Ltd, Dr Lal Pathlabs Ltd, ICICI Bank Ltd and Bajaj Finance Ltd delivered him up to 67 per cent returns since May 3, 2024, the day his Article 4 affidavit was uploaded on Election Commission of India (ECI), ahead of general elections.
Divi’s Laboratories Ltd emerged as his best stock pick, delivering 67 per cent return since May 3, 2024. Garware Technical Fibres Ltd delivered him 40 per cent return. Dr Lal Pathlabs Ltd made him richer by 36 per cent, ICICI Bank Ltd 30 per cent and Bajaj Finance Ltd 27 per cent since May 3, 2024. This is on assumptions he is holding on to the two dozen stocks till date.
Trump & fastest growing economy
Irked by India’s oil and arm purchases from Russia and failing to halt Russia-Ukraine war, Trump this week in a social media post said he does not care what India does with Russia. “They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care,” he said.
Following this, Gandhi in a X post said the Indian economy is dead and that “Modi killed it”.
The remarks were rebuked by the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, who reminded everyone India’s status as the world’s fastest-growing economy. India was counted among ‘Fragile Five’ economies less than a decade ago, he said while reflecting his optimism over India’s prospects of being the third largest economy in a few years’ timeframe.
At present, India is the world’s fourth largest economy, as its real GDP grew at 6.5 per cent and nominal GDP tripled from to Rs 331.03 lakh crore in 2024-25 from Rs 106.57 lakh crore in 2014-15 under the Modi government .
Lagging stock portfolio
While many of Gandhi’s portfolio stocks delivered solid returns since May 2024, his equity portfolio lagged the benchmark indices, rising a mere 5 per cent return at Rs 4.07 crore (excluding Vertoz) since May 2024 against 9.10 per cent jump in the BSE Sensex.
Gandhi’s equity portfolio value stood at Rs 3.89 crore in May 2024. The affidavit last year showed his investments as of March 15, 2024 were worth Rs 4.33 crore(including Britannia’s NCDs roughly worth Rs 81,000).
Moreover, Gandhi’s portfolio even underperformed India’s GDP growth of 6.5 per cent for FY25.
While there are concerns over the 25 per cent tariff on Indian exports to the US, Ventura Securities noted that even in the pessimistic scenario, economists do not expect more than a 0.5 per cent impact on India’s GDP. It noted that despite past disruptive events like sanctions imposed on India for its Pokhran nuclear tests (May 1998), global financial crisis of 2008, and Covid-19,
India re-emerged as a stronger economy with equity markets achieving record highs.
It is worth noting that India ran a $38 billion trade surplus with the US in 2024. A total of 18 per cent of India’s overall export go to the US, valued at 2.1 per cent of GDP ($81 billion in 2024. Despite the Trump’s imposition of 25 per cent trade tariff on India, the negotiations are on as India stays committed to fair and balance deal with the US.