Veteran US investor Jim Rogers, who was previously known as an India skeptic, has made a surprising U-turn, hailing the country’s growth and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s economic policies.
“I would suggest people look at Indian equities if they want to be really rich because there are lots of really smart Indians all over the world,” Rogers said in an interview with the Business Today magazine. “If you can find some of those smart Indians you are going to make a lot of money and be very rich.”
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Rogers also suggested that if Modi “opens the [Indian] currency and he opens the market,” China, the largest economy in Asia, will have to “watch out for the new India.”
Last week, speaking at a conclave held by the India Today group, Rogers said India is in a “sweet spot” and has the potential to be “even better in the future.”
“For the first time in my life, I am beginning to think that they [the Indian government] are getting it right,” he added.
Rogers’ comments are significant as he sold his holdings in Indian companies in 2015, claiming “there was nothing new coming from Modi.” In an interview with financial daily Mint at the time, he expressed disillusionment with the pace of the Modi government’s reforms, saying “one can’t just invest on hope.”
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His recent remarks come against the backdrop of the IMF describing India as the “fastest growing economy in the world.” The country’s GDP grew 8.4% from October to December 2023, representing the fastest pace in six quarters.
After the numbers came in, the Indian government raised its GDP growth outlook for fiscal year 2023-24 from 7.3% to 7.6%. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its latest bulletin, forecast that India will be able to sustain 8% annual GDP growth. The country is poised to become the third-largest economy in the world within the next three years.
Raghuram Rajan, the former head of the RBI, has cautioned that the greatest mistake India can make is to “believe the hype” regarding its growth. “We’ve got many more years of hard work to do to ensure the hype is real,” he told Bloomberg in a recent interview, adding that education and upskilling of the workforce remain areas of concern.