Why Morgan Stanley's Ridham Desai is confident about Indian equities' outlook for 2026 | HTLS 2025

In this exclusive conversation on HT Leadership Summit 2025 - Ridham Desai, MD of India Equities at Morgan Stanley, says he sees India in a temporary mid‑cycle slowdown driven by elections, erratic rains, China policy shifts and the global AI reset, but believes the growth engine is already turning up again and will accelerate from here. He argues India’s IPO wave is healthy because it recycles capital: early investors exit, that money is redeployed via new funds into other businesses and capex, supporting the next leg of the investment cycle. On external risks, he downplays the impact of recent US tariffs, saying they touch only about 1.2% of India’s GDP, a trade deal is likely, and India’s long‑term secular growth story for markets remains firmly intact.