Mumbai (AsiaNews) - "The electoral result, declared so far, indicates a landslide win for the BJP, which should propel the stock markets to new heights," said Clifton Desilva, director of Altina Securities Pvt Ltd, as he spoke to AsiaNews about India's election results and the BJP victory.
According to the latest projections, Modi's party has 277 seats out of 543. The BJP and its coalition partners together now hold 336 seats. However, "Now that the BJP is likely to attain a sweeping mandate it does not have to depend on allies as was the case with the UPA government," Desilva said. The UPA or United Progressive Alliance was the Indian Congress Party-led coalition that lost the election.
What is more, the BJP "has the reputation of being a business-oriented party," Desilva noted. Thus, "all the big reforms that the UPA could not implement it is hoped that the BJP will implement them. [. . .] In fact the last five to six years we have seen the stock market sliding to new lows with the GDP [growth] slipping from 9.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent".
Under a BJP administration, "it is expected that the investment cycle, which was stalled for various reasons, will get a kick start." As a result, "projects worth over Rs 6 trillion (US$ 100 billion) that were stalled are likely to be revived, which will have a positive impact on reviving the growth of the Indian economy", especially in terms of infrastructure, capital goods and banking sectors.
As soon as the BJP victory appeared to be a foregone conclusion, foreign governments rushed to congratulate the new leader.
"China is willing to make joint efforts with new Indian government, maintain high level exchanges, deepen cooperation in all areas and bring China, India strategic partnership to new height," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.
US President Barack Obama congratulated India's new prime minister on his election victory and invited him "to visit Washington at a time of mutual agreement to further strengthen our bilateral relationship," the White House said.
Modi has already accepted an invitation to visit the United Kingdom, according to a statement by Prime Minister Cameron's office.
In the recent past, both the United Kingdom and the United States had refused Modi a visa because of his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat massacre.