Modi Returns to US With Misplaced Clout as Inventory, Financial Growth Fades

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces a harder problem this time in pitching the nation as a beautiful funding vacation spot for President Donald Trump and US buyers.

The local weather round Indian monetary property has shifted dramatically since Modi final visited the US practically two years in the past. Then, he touted the nation’s booming economic system, hovering inventory markets, and its potential to rival China because the world’s manufacturing unit. Now, his case is more durable to make.

Modi’s go to comes as foreigners have pulled $21 billion from Indian shares for the reason that finish of September, the rupee has hit recent lows, and the nation’s $4.1 trillion inventory market is Asia’s worst performer this 12 months among the many area’s main economies. Trump’s threats of reciprocal tariffs are solely making issues worse.

“PM Modi’s go to to Washington comes at a pivotal time” for India’s markets, stated Vikas Pershad, a portfolio supervisor at M&G Investments Singapore Pte. Whereas the nation is extra insulated than its friends to commerce tensions, “readability on tariff instructions would assist ease investor issues,” he stated.

The necessity to reignite investor curiosity in India has by no means been larger. China’s rising technological prowess, underscored by DeepSeek’s rise, is accelerating a rotation to North Asian markets, significantly amongst US funds.

India, in distinction, is ready for its weakest financial progress for the reason that pandemic, and its shares stay costlier than every other rising market in Asia regardless of the current correction. In the meantime, the rupee has gone from being among the finest performing in rising Asia to among the many worst to this point this 12 months.

That’s to not say Modi doesn’t have a lot to showcase. The nation continues to be the world’s fastest-growing giant economic system, with a rising base of rich customers. A report private earnings tax lower this month is predicted to spice up spending, whereas the federal government has additionally pledged greater than 11 trillion rupees ($128 billion) in fiscal 2026 to improve infrastructure.

“A weaker outlook for India isn’t the sturdy supportive issue initially hoped for,” Ian Hui, world market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Administration stated in a observe Tuesday. Nonetheless, the strategist believes “near-term prospects are enhancing,” he wrote, including that “India nonetheless stays promising regardless of a loss in near-term momentum.”

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