Budget 2021 Must Raise Resources Without Tax Hike: Nilesh Shah

Ahead of the Budget 2021, Nilesh Shah advises the government to ‘spend money on sectors hit by COVID-19’.

Nilesh Shah, Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company, speaks exclusively to The Quint.

(Photo: The Quint)

Video Editor: Deepthi Ramdas

Budget 2021-22 is soon going to be announced and all eyes are on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman but people are also curious to know about what is happening in the stock market.

Nilesh Shah, Group President and Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company, speaks exclusively to The Quint's Editorial Director Sanjay Pugalia about market expectation, economy, Budget 2021 and more.

Answering why markets are high, the Kotak MD said, "Between Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) and retail investors money has come into the stock market like never before."

The corporate profitability for the September quarter was 35 percent higher than the previous year despite 8 percent drop in sales. This unexpected recovery in market beyond everyone’s expectation has happened because retail and FPI buying has been strong, improving economic activity and decreasing active (COVID) cases. These are supporting sentiments and most importantly corporate results are way above market expectations.

Nilesh Shah, Group President & MD, Kotak Mahindra AMC

Elaborating on expectations from the Budget 2021 and how it would impact the market, Nilesh Shah said the longer-term support to the market would come if we create accelerated growth in the GDP.

Shah also advised that the government should 'spend money on sectors hit by COVID-19'.

Shah also believes there are 'lots of government assets which can be monetised' to raise money.

He also predicted the market situation for the next one year.

The kind of return we saw in the last nine months is once in a lifetime opportunity. I don’t see market going up 100 percent in the next nine months like the previous nine months.

Nilesh Shah, Group President & MD, Kotak Mahindra AMC