India top market for me, but regulatory red tape holding it back: Mark Mobius

Time of India

15-05-2025

Veteran emerging-markets investor
Mark Mobius
on Thursday reaffirmed his bullish stance on
Indian equities
, calling the country his 'top market' despite heightened
geopolitical tensions
with Pakistan. However, he warned that bureaucratic red tape is slowing foreign investor access, saying
regulatory delays
have held back his new fund's deployment in the country.
In a post on microblogging site X (formerly Twitter), Mobius reiterated his long-held view that market timing is futile. 'People often ask how I time the market. The simple answer is, I don't,' he wrote. 'Trying to guess which way the wind will blow tomorrow is a fool's game. Markets rise and fall for reasons that don't always make sense. Those who spend their time predicting daily market swings tend to spend a lot of time being wrong.'
https://x.com/MarkMobiusReal/status/1922904017308614801?s=08
Mobius linked his latest blog post titled "Avoiding the Fool's Game" in his X post, in which the Mobius Capital Partners co-founder said that his Mobius Emerging Opportunities Fund had been holding 95% of its assets in cash just two weeks ago, but that figure has now dropped to 60% as the fund has started redeploying capital.
'That's just the nature of this business. One moment you're waiting, the next you find something worth buying,' Mobius said.
India outlook remains firm despite tensions
Mobius, who has been investing in developing economies for more than three decades, played down the impact of fresh friction between India and Pakistan on markets, calling such events historically inconsequential to long-term fundamentals.
'These two countries have had a long and complicated history, and the latest round of friction, while serious, isn't new,' he said. 'A ceasefire has been announced, which should help ease concerns in the short term. But in my experience, these tensions rarely have a lasting/significant impact on the market itself.'
Instead, Mobius identified regulatory inefficiencies as the more serious headwind for investors. 'Since our fund is new, we've found it slow and difficult to get proper access to the Indian market,' he said. 'The paperwork alone has held us back for months. If India wants to attract more long-term capital, simplifying these processes would go a long way.'
Focus on fundamentals, not headlines
While Mobius said the macro picture continues to matter, citing lingering uncertainties in the U.S.–China trade relationship, he urged investors not to get 'caught up in news headlines.'
'For the U.S.–China trade relationship, things may look more stable on the surface now that some agreements have been reached. But implementation is what really matters and non-tariff barriers will likely remain a sticking point,' he noted.
The veteran investor cautioned that market volatility is likely to persist in the near term. 'So I do expect markets to be choppy for a while,' he said. Still, he encouraged investors to stay focused on company fundamentals: 'Do your homework and stay focused on searching for good businesses with strong fundamentals. That's really all that matters when it comes to investing.'
Mobius also highlighted
mid-cap stocks
as an area of particular interest for his team. 'They're not always on the radar of big institutional investors, and that's where we often find value.'
'I refuse to play a fool's game'
Mobius's blog post ended with a photo of him being mock-threatened by a Jack Sparrow impersonator at the Atlantis hotel in The Bahamas. In the image, the costumed pirate playfully grabs Mobius by the collar while pointing a fake rifle. The caption reads: 'I refuse to play a fool's game (photo taken at the Atlantis hotel in The Bahamas).'
The emerging-markets investor's remarks come at a time when global market sentiment remains fragile. After an initial rally earlier this week on optimism over a U.S.–China trade truce and high-profile investment deals from the Middle East during former President Donald Trump's Gulf tour, equities lost steam by Thursday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.15%, while U.S. equity futures also edged lower ahead of key data releases.
Investors were awaiting U.S. retail sales figures and earnings from Walmart for insight into consumer sentiment, as well as a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for cues on the interest rate outlook.
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