Green Stocks Jan 24: The Slide Turns Into a Rout

The broader decline in the market has turned into a rout for small caps and mid-caps, and most of the green caps were no exception. The secular decline seen across the board points to weak hands finally capitulating to withdraw from the market and lick their wounds, so to say. While it might be too early to call a bottom yet, the fact remains that stocks are getting ever closer to moving from richly valued to fairly valued, and in some cases, undervalued.

India, which has none of the compulsions of the US when it comes to the need to reduce our dependence on oil and gas imports, needs to step up and assure investors that the trajectory remains intact, and on top priority, despite what the Trump administration does or threatens.

Prices in the latest storage tender from NHPC, at barely Rs 3.10 indicate a strong period of interest and growth for solar, especially when coupled with storage now. Prices seem lower than coal, and there is a real case for the country to seek further acceleration in capacity additions rather than pausing. Canceling some of the planned new greenfield thermal capacity, in particular, will help, as some of those plans really look increasingly far-fetched at these costs.