Jim Rogers has a penchant for making controversial statements. He designs the statements carefully so as to evoke outrage amongst the intelligentsia.
On an earlier occasion, Jim Rogers made the provocative statement that NAMO has done “nothing but talk” and that he (Jim) was getting disillusioned and was contemplating selling his Indian shares. At that stage, Jim Rogers was badly mauled by Nilesh Shah, the CIO of Kotak Mutual Fund. Nilesh not only gave a point-by-point rebuttal to each of Jim’s points but also ridiculed and mocked him for not wanting to invest in India (see Dear Jim Rogers, You Are A Fool For Wanting To Sell A Gold-Mine Like India: Nilesh Shah, Kotak MF).
Jim Rogers laid low for some time, licking his wounds. Now, he is back in the ring to take another swing. In the latest piece, Jim declared that he has lost all hope in India and that he has sold off all of his shares and is never going to come back.
Predictably, the ace stock pickers wasted no time in attacking Jim Rogers.
Porinju Veliyath, the outspoken stock picker who manages an AUM of Rs. 240 crore, was first off the block. He minced no words in condemning Jim Rogers: “Dumb Rogers ‘exits India’ without really entering; holds world record in getting almost every prediction wrong!” he said.
Porinju found a strong ally in Anuj Singhal, the markets editor with CNBC TV18. He not only endorsed Porinju’s comment as “Epic” but added that Jim Rogers “is not only dumb but arrogant, rude and a non worthy. Most networks have banned him but in India, we treat goras like god”.
Anuj couldn’t hide his contempt for Jim Rogers. “The biggest call Jim Rogers made in 2011 was “Dollar is doomed” – Enough said” he thundered.
Samir Arora, the whiz kid fund manager with Helios Capital was also contemptuous of Jim Rogers: He mocked Rogers by asking “Anyone seen any interview/comment/tweet recently by Jim Rogers on China and how everything is going as per his plans there?” and also provided data on how India has outperformed China over the past twenty years.
Sandip Sabhrawal also joined the fray by declaring that he is “shocked” at the publicity that Jim Rogers is getting. He vented his ire by suggesting that Jim Rogers is a “one-hit wonder” and that his pessimism is actually a “contrarian buy signal”. “Markets will be much higher a year from now” Sandeep said confidently.
However, Jim Rogers was not without his supporters. Sanjay Jha, the Congress spokesperson, took advantage of the situation to take a dig at NAMO. “Jim Rogers quitting Indian stock-markets lock, stock(s) & barrel due to a failed, lazy & incompetent Modi Sarkar must be worrying for bulls” he tweeted.
Markandey Katju, the eccentric former judge of the Supreme Court couldn’t resist adding his two-bits: “You can’t invest just on hope (i.e. jumlas)” he said.
Surprisingly, even Govind Ethiraj, former CNBC TV18 anchor, appeared to be in Jim Rogers’ camp. “Jim Rogers is not a career diplomat & not here to massage our egos, if you disagree, go & buy India equities” he said.
T. S. Harihar, market veteran, praised Jim Rogers for not being a “pushover in the world of investing” and said there is “profound wisdom” in his words.
Now, we have to wait and watch whether Jim Rogers lives to regret his decision to sell Indian stocks or whether he will be vindicated in his stand.
You just can not ignore ,what Jim Rogers was referring.Modi was elected with very high hopes and lot of promises. So many of investers had invested on those exaggerated hopes and Jim Rogers may be one of them.As now Modi Govt is looking more and more like UPA 3,some of investers are losing hopes.But forget NDA and UPA,India has been growing at about 7% since long.It will continue to grow at same rate as Indian Economy is on auto pilot inspite of all mismanagements by various govts and inspite of scams and corruptions. So we as Indians know our system and are experienced of political non delivery. So stay invested and earn our long term 15% average return of auto pilot economy and keep faith in Indian enterpenures. As far as blasting of Jim Rogers is concerned ,it is more of a professional reaction of class whose bread and butter is Indian stock market and less on real facts.
Well said Kharb. I think Rogers is politely taking his frustrations out on Namo, as many of us are feeling. And if porinjut has a problem with that, why doesn’t he invest every cent he has into equities to prop it up. But all this nonsense aside, the markets have gone down, India has brought no good news to their investors at all. All we hear is Greece, China, fed. Not once are we gifted Indian news of GST passed, land bill passed, capex begun, reforms. I am a massive fan of Namo. But so far, for a man who wants to be remembered in Indian history as someone who made a difference to the country, the action will need to begin. Lastly, to Mr Rogers again, if you have someone like Sanjay ja on your side, then sadly, you will not be able to find any supporters.
Why do U expect Jim Rogers to beat your drum?! https://goo.gl/eIkTi1
by reading this article it sounds like jim rogers got it right the first time when nilesh shah of kotak was trashing him. since then indian equity markets have only gone down and are continuing to go down. The amount of money the small time indian fund managers have as an aum is probably the annual profit made by jim rogers. so one should hear him patiently. where is he wrong in his complaints? just because he is kicking these small time fund managers where it hurts the most why should he be ridiculed? the joke will be on people who will lose money because of a closed mind that can not entertain contradictory thoughts. talking of samir arora, isnt he the one predicting the MOTHER OF ALL RALLIES just one year back? that rally has melted like the ice cube in the scotch he consumes before his interviews.
Jim Rogers could be a China guru/Commodity Guru or whatever but that does not mean he is always right w.r.to India. Factor this – As part of his global trip to 150+ nations Jim Rogers was in India in 2001. He said that at end of his visit the only Indian stock he would buy was Indian Hotels. He had very negative comments on Indian IT Stocks and had no idea of Indian Pharma stocks. And in last 14 years, we know the kind of 25-50-100 baggers we got in Indian markets and surely Indian Hotels is not among them. So let us not go overboard about this person. His views can be given due regard w.r.to commodities but he may not have any understanding of indian markets.