Five charts to start your day

Indian stocks leave their Chinese peers far behind

My earliest memories of India were when I was six years old, wandering through the bustling streets of Delhi, and then later on through the lush countryside of Kashmir. The kaleidoscope of vibrant colours, the dust and the explosion of smells and sounds were overwhelmingly intoxicating. Later as a teenager, I would travel to Mapusa market with my grandfather in Goa. The market was full of chaos and excitement and is forever etched in my memory.

Under the relentless, scorching sun, you had to skilfully haggle in Konkani with tough market vendors who wouldn't hesitate to rip you off. My grandfather, a fluent Portuguese speaker, was in his element there, effortlessly switching languages to gauge the vendors and make his presence felt. It was these experiences that taught me that India was a country for doing business.

So forgive me, but India's rise feels unsurprising. Even as investors have diverted billions of dollars away from China's slowing economy toward India, you have to ask, shouldn't they have done this sooner?

Seduced by two decades of betting on China as the world's primary growth story, they ignored that India was the biggest democracy in the world, with a plethora of languages, races and religions brought together under a united and strong Indian Union. Moreover, it boasts the second-largest English-speaking population on the planet, numbering 128 million.

Fortunately, times have changed. Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are endorsing the South Asian nation as the premier investment destination for the next decade.

This shift has sparked a gold rush, with hedge funds and investors repositioning their portfolios to India, driven by its rapid economic growth, expansive infrastructure development and geopolitical considerations. As China grapples with economic challenges and global tensions, India's rise as a significant player on the world stage is gaining momentum.

All of this is the theme of today’s first chart. Enjoy!

Source: Bloomberg

Coming up:

• Assets in India’s ETFs have overtaken their Chinese counterparts

• China’s margin trades plunge as investors lose confidence

• The Magnificent Seven’s fortunes are diverging

• The only worry now is a US soft landing

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