Motilal Oswal's Oswal: Eyeing a 15-20 per cent return	Parag Parikh's Parikh: He believes equities are 'in'

It's easy to find bulls on the street. Motilal Oswal, the Chairman and Managing Director of the eponymous securities firm, believes anyone investing in the market at the current levels will still earn returns around 15-20 per cent. "We expect the overall bullish trend to continue," he says, proffering the largely conducive external economic environment, the growth in GDP, healthy corporate results, and a low interest rate regime as reasons why the boom on the Street will roll on. Oswal is confident that nothing can change this, although he admits that political instability and a poor monsoon could dampen the mood some. Oswal's sectors of choice: banking, power, oil and gas, and two-wheelers. Parag Parikh, the Chairman of another eponymous securities firm, is equally bullish although he isn't looking at specific sectors at this point. Instead, the man has been studying the market and likes what he sees: the change in the type of stocks that move the market, the increasing awareness about equities, and a positive mindset that will ensure that "the markets go up because people want them to".

-Shilpa Nayak

In the pleasant afterglow of the India "shining" campaign, we would naturally expect the markets to smile benevolently on us for the coming year. Sadly, the facts do not seem to support the case.

Metier Capital's Pinak Mehtal: What India Shining?

The year-on-year growth in net profits of corporates for this past year resulted from economic revival, cost cutting, and lower interest rates. The big kick in growth and the accompanying jump in stock prices are now in the past. Interest rates are expected to rise, pushing stock prices down. Higher inflation will also spur interest rates upwards, notwithstanding all the misleading propaganda by the government and the Reserve Bank of India. And rising energy and commodity prices will erode margins.

Over the last year stocks, bonds, commodities, and real estate have all experienced a liquidity driven rally-courtesy foreign institutional investors and the RBI. Liquidity driven rallies always rectify. The question is when, not if.

I would suggest limiting exposure in banks, FMCG, industrials, commodity stocks, pharma, and it before the elections and parking in cash for the present. A long-term investment in the energy and natural resources sectors seems reasonable. Finally, since the global financial markets are highly imbalanced, some investment in bullion may be good portfolio insurance.

-As e-mailed by Pinak Mehta to Shilpa Nayak