New Delhi: Top industrialist Keki Mistry, who has become the first person to hold a board position at listed Indian firms having market value of over Rs 17.5 lakh crore, believes the upcoming national elections would give a big boost to the rural economy. Mistry, vice chairman and CEO at financial sector conglomerate HDFC, also said a host of reforms initiated in India over the past decade would lead to positive outcomes over the next years for the economy.
“Historic trends have shown that union elections spur up rural economies and help local entrepreneurs. The upcoming elections are expected to help rural demand,” Mistry said on his expectations about opportunities before the Indian economy in 2019 and beyond. The general elections are due in the next few months and there have been apprehensions in some quarters that the performance of the Indian economy and the markets may get impacted due to the uncertainties generally associated with the poll season.
Mistry also said the thrust on housing by the government, the demand for housing finance and the visible benefits of reforms, such as those from the new regulatory regime of RERA (Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act), would be positive for the real estate sector, particularly affordable housing. Besides HDFC, 64-year-old Mistry is also on the board of four other group firms — HDFC Bank, HDFC Asset Management Company, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company and Gruh Finance.
Outside the group, he is also on the board of Torrent Power, while recently he was appointed as independent director on the board of Tata group behemoth TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), which is the country’s most valued listed company. Mistry is scheduled to attend his first board meeting of TCS, which has a market cap of over Rs 7 lakh crore, next week on January 10.
