'Government unlikely to choose fiscal profligacy'

"You will not lose money if you take a medium-to-long-term view of India.But in the short term, I am not comfortable, as the current rally is purely liquidity-driven," observes RAJ BHATT, chairman and chief executive officer of Elara Capital. In an interview with Sundar Sethuraman, Bhatt says India stands out globally because of its financial discipline. Edited excerpts:

India has seen the return of coalition governments after 10 years. Will this change economic policy and impact markets?

The government should be more effective with slightly fewer seats. Consensus building becomes more challenging when more parties are in the coalition.

The present regime is a more stable coalition, and their allies have previously worked with them and collaborated with the ruling party in their respective states.

Your expectations from the Budget?

We have Assembly elections coming up. This time, they must win because of the coalition nature of this government. However, the government is unlikely to choose fiscal profligacy.

Right now, even developed countries have high fiscal deficits, whether in the US or Europe. We are standing out because of our financial discipline.