Mumbai: A majority of Indian investment professionals are optimistic about the prospects of domestic economy even as they are concerned about the lack of ethical culture in financial firms, integrity of financial reporting and mis-selling by financial advisors, says a survey.
"In India, 77 percent of members surveyed expect employment opportunities for investment professionals to increase in 2015 and only 1 percent believe they will decrease. About 22 percent expect job opportunities to stay about the same," said the CFA Institute's annual Global Market Sentiment Survey (GMSS) released on Wednesday.
The survey had 143 respondents from India including portfolio managers, research analysts, consultants, and C-suite executives.
The survey found that the respondents are optimistic with an expected GDP growth of 5.8 percent for the country in 2015, the second highest globally.
It said that only 2 percent of the respondents were concerned about political stability in their home market in 2015, compared to 78 percent in 2014.
Jayesh Gandhi, President, Indian Association of Investment Professionals (IAIP), a member society of CFA Institute said, "We are in the beginning of a new growth phase where investment professionals are optimistic about the country's GDP outlook and making it an ideal investment destination. We also expect the political stability to have positive effects."
He further said an increased focus on job creation partly brought on by the 'Make in India' campaign and rising rural consumption will have the biggest positive impact on the Indian market.
"Indian respondents anticipate that continued accommodative central bank policies (28 percent) and an increased focus on job creation and consumer consumption (28 percent) will have the biggest positive impact on global capital markets in 2015," the survey said.
However, Indian respondents cited a lack of ethical culture within financial firms, integrity of financial reporting and mis-selling by financial advisors as the most serious issues undermining local market integrity.
The survey revealed that 66 percent of the respondents in India perceived lack of ethical culture within financial firms as the top factor contributing to the current lack of trust in the finance industry.
They called for improved regulation and enhanced corporate governance practices, as well as improved transparency of financial reporting as necessary actions to improve market integrity and investor trust.
