INTERVIEW UDAYAN MUKHERJEE:'COMPETING IN MARKETS IS TOUGHER THAN THE OLYMPICS'

Ray Dalio, Founder of Bridgewater Associates, talks about investing in a tough market, the difficult times ahead for the global economy and how to survive in such times

- Udayan Mukherjee

Ray Dalio, the Founder of the world's largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, is one of the most important voices in global financial markets. TIME magazine lists him among the 100 most influential people on the planet, and he is widely known as the 'Steve Jobs of investing', such is the inventiveness he brought to fund management. In an exclusive interview with Business Today's Global Business Editor Udayan Mukherjee, Dalio talks about the burning issues in the global economy today and warns of dire days ahead.

Edited excerpts:

Q: Ray, they call you the Steve Jobs of investing-does that annoy you? Or do you take it as a compliment?

A: I was an admirer of Steve. He was an independent thinker who came up with great and different ways of doing things that contributed a lot to what our world is like today. Wow! To be compared to Steve Jobs is an honour that I really don't deserve, but I'm happy to get.

Q: Okay, let us take it from the top; over the last few days, all the chatter in global financial markets has been about what the US Federal Reserve Governor told us. Was he signalling that rates will not go up a lot, that they're almost done? Perhaps it all boils down to the genesis of the problem, which is the sheer amount of debt and liquidity pumped into the global system over the last decade. Do you think the US Federal Reserve and central banks across the world can successfully dial back these excesses?