Nifty valuation reasonable; minor market correction likely: Goyal

Mumbai, Mar 1 (PTI) After some sell-off during the week, Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday opined that the 50-share benchmark Nifty's valuation is decent and reasonable.

Goyal, who oversees the commerce and industry portfolio, said that there can be some more correction in the offing for the Indian markets.

A forward price-to-earnings ratio of 19 makes the Nifty valuations "decent" and "reasonable".

"Some of them (Nifty stocks) may have seen some downfall, but by and large the Nifty still reflects decent valuations," Goyal said, speaking at an event organised by mutual fund industry's lobby grouping Amfi here.

"At a P/E ratio of 19 for a developing nation which is the fastest growing country, it (valuation) is still reasonable - some small correction here or there may still happen," he added.

Goyal said that the ongoing correction in the markets should serve as a wake-up call for the ones who have not advised the small investors properly, and asked Amfi to ensure that it isolates those who have given bad advice to clients.

He also suggested that MFs should not give up on their duty and commitment to the larger market, and not concentrate on the returns alone.

Goyal, a chartered accountant, said the last 2-3 years have been a period of crazy growth in the market where the prices of a lot of stocks were driven by a compulsion of the market to deploy funds that they were receiving, and also the fear of missing out.

All the stakeholders have to reflect on the happenings in the recent past, he said, stressing that we cannot ignore the perils of the investment culture we have seen developing in some parts of the market.

He seemed to be particularly concerned with the activity in smaller companies and wondered how an auto dealer commanded huge valuations recently.

Without taking names, Goyal said a free trade agreement with one country is "almost done" and two more are chasing the government for a similar pact.

Earlier in the day, speaking at the Mumbai Tech Week, he said AI was used during the discussions on an FTA with the European Commission.

He also said that the fledgling AI field doesn't require an "industry status".

"The ghost of the industry tag has become very outdated," he said, adding that if you get the industry status, one can call inspectors to private houses. PTI