Investment professionals from around the globe have pinpointed India as one of the top three markets worldwide for equity investment opportunities in 2015, according to the CFA Institute’s latest annual Global Market Sentiment Survey (GMSS) for 2015.

The survey of 5,259 CFA charter-holders and members globally — including portfolio managers, research analysts, consultants and C-suite executives — identified the US as the market with the most potential in the ongoing calendar year; every third respondent selected it as their top pick for equity market performance.

China was another favourite, attracting 9.3 per cent of survey respondents’ votes. India rounded up the top 3 with 8.9 per cent of survey respondents betting on the market to outperform this year.

Below World Bank’s forecast On an average, the CFA Institute members expect the global economy to grow by 2 per cent in 2015, below the World Bank’s most recent forecast of 3.4 per cent. Members in France and Germany were the most optimistic, expecting GDP growth of 2.6 per cent, while survey respondents in Australia and Hong Kong were the most pessimistic with a 1.6 per cent projection.

In the previous year’s survey, 78 per cent of the Indian members had indicated that political stability was their biggest concern, but this year, that proportion fell to just 2 per cent. Not just that, 87 per cent respondents were confident that political stability at home would have a positive impact on growth. And 28 per cent of the respondents also indicated that an increased focus on job creation and consumer consumption would be a big factor in the performance of the economy.

On the employment front, members in India and China were considerably more bullish than those of other countries. Around 77 per cent of domestic respondents believe that opportunities will increase this year, compared with 60 per cent of the Chinese survey participants. In contrast, 88 per cent of members in Germany and 86 per cent in Brazil and Switzerland expect employment opportunities in their markets to contract or remain stagnant.

Slowdown risks Although the world economy is expected to grow, the optimism was tempered by concerns about continued weakness in developed economies. This was cited as the biggest risk to global markets by the majority of respondents from various countries. Indian CFA Institute members in particular were apprehensive about a continued slowdown, with 44 per cent of them citing it as the biggest risk, compared with 3 per cent from the UK. As far as the local market, 33 per cent of survey respondents said that inflationary surprises posed the greatest risk.

The end of quantitative easing stimulus measures was also adjudged as a significant risk by 94 per cent and 93 per cent of the Indian respondents.

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