The BJP on Thursday responded to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations regarding the connection between “BJP, exit pollsters and dubious foreign investors” and accused the Congress leader of “conspiring to mislead market investors”. Addressing a press conference, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the Congress leader is “still not over the opposition’s defeat” in the Lok Sabha elections. Several opposition parties had come together to form the INDIA bloc to take on the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha elections, news agency ANI reported.
Rahul Gandhi had alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had given “investment advice” to people during the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and that there was a loss of billions of rupees to retail investors also due to “fake exit polls.” . He demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the “biggest stock market scam”, ANI reported.
Goyal said that in the last ten years of Prime Minister Modi’s government, the market capitalization of Indian stocks crossed $5 trillion. “Rahul Gandhi is still not over the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. He is now conspiring to mislead market investors. Today, India has become the fifth largest economy,” he said. The union minister alleged that Rahul Gandhi wants to instill “fear in the minds of both domestic and global investors, so that they do not invest.”
“We all know that stock markets react to various estimates and predictions during any election, or even any forecast from banks and institutions. Ups and downs are normal even when there is no event,” he said. In May this year, the market capitalizations of companies listed on the BSE and NSE reached $5 trillion. Market capitalization or market capitalization is the total value of a company’s shares, obtained by multiplying the share price by the number of shares outstanding, ANI reported.
The Indian stock market has entered the league of the world’s top five stock markets, Goyal said, adding that the m-capitalization of PSU companies has quadrupled in the last few years. Indian investors, particularly retail investors, have benefited from the rise in stock indices over the years, he said. “Retail investors today are not mere spectators, but rather participate in it,” he said. FPI holdings in India were 21 per cent during the UPA days and have now fallen to 16 per cent, he said. At the same time, Indians investing in stock markets have increased, ANI reported.
“India is considered a well-regulated market and SEBI has received several recognitions across the world,” Goyal added. He said India was referred to as “among the fragile five” during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and the country was now the fifth largest economy. The term Fragile Five was coined by a Morgan Stanley analyst in 2013, and referred to a set of five emerging countries, including India, whose economy was not doing well at the time. The other four countries were Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa and Türkiye.
“The size of the mutual fund industry was just Rs 10 lakh crore in 2014, today it has increased more than 5 times to Rs 56 lakh crore. Through mutual funds, Indian investors, especially small investors, “They are tapping into this growing market today and these small retail investors have ensured that Indian property today has instantly become more than just the property of institutional investors…” Goyal said, ANI reported.
“In April and May, when the market was going up, foreigners sold in the market and Indian investors took advantage and bought. The benefit of this increase in the last two months has been received by Indian investors,” he said, referring to the latest capital outflows from foreign investors. In April and May, FPIs were net sellers in Indian stock markets, data showed, ANI reported.
“When the results came on June 4, when the market fell, foreign investors sold at a low price and Indian investors bought with the belief that the Modi government will come and we will take advantage of it. So foreigners bought at a high and sold at a low price. Indian investors sold at a high price and bought at a low price. So, in a way, Indian investors gained even in this period,” Goyal said, adding that retail investors gained. they benefited. during the period. In his comments, Rahul Gandhi demanded a probe by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), calling it “the biggest scam in the stock market”. Addressing a press conference, the Congress leader said that after the “fake” exit polls, the stock markets rose and then crashed on June 4, ANI reported.
“For the first time we have observed that during the elections, the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister and the Finance Minister made comments on the stock market. The Prime Minister said that the stock market is going up at a high speed” said the Union Home Minister. that on June 4 stock market will go up and everyone should invest and Finance Minister said something similar… Amit Shah says buy shares before June 4, May 19 PM Modi says stock market will break records in June 4. Why did the Prime Minister, the Home Minister give investment advice to investors?,” Rahul Gandhi had said, ANI reported.
Indian stocks witnessed a bloodbath on the day the Lok Sabha results were announced, with the incumbent BJP performing below par and looking like it might fall short of exit poll predictions and the majority brand alone. Many investors booked the profits they accrued from the gains they made a day after exit poll predictions indicated a comfortable majority for the BJP. Sensex declined by a whopping 4,389.73 points and Nifty by 1,379.40 points on the results day. Much of the losses have been recovered in the following two sessions.
(With contributions from ANI)