Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows his inked, marked finger after casting his vote at a polling booth in Ranip, Ahmedabad on May 7, 2024.
Sajjad Hussein | Episode | Getty Images
Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is about to come to power in India again – albeit with a much smaller majority, according to the latest data from the Election Commission of India.
The BJP-led NDA was in the lead with nearly 290 seats in Parliament, while the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), led by the Indian National Congress, was in the lead with 230 seats, according to the figures. Local media.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won 353 seats in 2019. If the numbers hold, the BJP would lose around 60 seats compared to 2019’s 303 general elections. The lower house of the Indian Parliament has 543 seats, and the party or coalition that wins at least 272 forms of government
“People in India are so eager to see Prime Minister Modi take charge again. And I think the pressure is on him more than ever,” said Samir Kapadia, CEO of India Index and managing director at Vogel Group. “He will continue to build India in a way that Indians want to see.”
Modes Reportedly said in March that he was confident the BJP-led NDA would secure more than 400 seats.
“While Prime Minister Modi is still a popular figure, the luster has faded as the daily realities of unemployment, inflation and governance dominate the minds of voters,” said Yamini Aiyar, former president of the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research. told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.”
According to a Center for the Study of Developing Societies survey in April, unemployment was the top concern for 27% of the 10,000 people surveyed. More than half (62%) of respondents said it had become harder to find a job over the past five years during Modi’s second term.
The unemployment rate in the world’s most populous country rose to 8.1% in April, up from 7.4% in March, the report said. Center for Monitoring Indian Economy.
“It remains to be seen whether Modi can attract the kind of labor-intensive jobs that India needs,” said Atman Trivedi, partner and head of the South Asia practice at Albright Stonebridge Group.
India’s benchmark indices Handy 50 And the BSE Sensex It fell 8% on Tuesday as trends showed that the BJP might not be able to get a clear majority on its own.
Market heavyweights Adani Ports and Adani Enterprises were both down over 20%, while State Bank of India and ICICI Bank were down 17% and almost 9% respectively.
On Monday, both the Nifty and Sensex had hit record levels and posted their best intraday gains since February 1, 2021, with gains of 3.25% and 3.39% respectively, after exit polls predicted a thumping majority for Modi’s BJP this weekend.
The Indian rupee weakened 0.31% on Tuesday after strengthening 0.41% on Monday.
Modi’s decade-long rule
Under Modi, India, home to 1.4 billion people, has witnessed robust economic growth. The fastest growing economy the world saw it GDP grows by 8.2% in fiscal year 2024.
The International Monetary Fund projects that the Indian economy will grow by 6.8% in 2024 and 6.5% in 2025, compared to China’s growth prospects of 4.6% in 2024 and 4.1% in 2025.
“Prime Minister Modi will have to flex his muscles against adversaries like China. This will mean supporting indigenous defense production capabilities,” Kapadia stressed.
In the The manifesto of the BJP For the coming term, Modi said the government would make India one of the three largest economies in the world, aggressively fight poverty, open new avenues for growth and fight corruption.
“We have gone from a nation that was one of the ‘Fragile Five’ to a nation that is one of the top five economies in the world,” he said in the manifesto.
Although India has enjoyed robust economic growth under Modi, observers and critics have warned of the country’s “democratic decline.”
“For example, the ruling anti-pluralist, Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with Prime Minister Modi at the helm has used sedition, defamation and counter-terrorism laws to silence critics.” The Sweden-based V-Dem Institute said in a 2024 report
Others, however, have pointed to the country’s mammoth electoral exercise as a testimony to its strong democratic foundations.
“The election also shines a light on India as a rising star built on democracy, and I am pleased that it draws a lot of attention to all the dynamic growth we are currently seeing in the country,” Malcom said. Dorson, senior portfolio manager and head of emerging markets strategy at Global X ETFs.
– CNBC’s Sumathi Bala contributed to this story.
