India is likely to see more FDI deals like Facebook and Reliance Jio's this year once the lockdown is lifted and the situation gets normalised, said Saurabh Mukherjea, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Marcellus Investment Managers.

Reliance Industries on Wednesday announced that social media giant Facebook will invest Rs 43,574 crore ($5.7 billion) in its subsidiary Jio Platforms for a 9.99 percent stake.

The investment makes Facebook the largest minority shareholder in Jio Platforms and values the RIL technology arm at Rs 4.62 lakh crore ($66 billion) pre-money enterprise value.

“There is clearly a huge amount of western money heading towards Asia in general and India in particular. We have seen this already play out in countries like Korea and Philippines where foreign money has pumped up their market by 25 percent. My reckoning is once we come out of the lockdown through the months of May, June, we will see more FDI of the sort of Reliance and we will see plenty more FPI,” said Mukherjea.

Mukherjea further added that "things in India are not as bad as they are being perceived". He said that he continues to remain positive on companies like Dr. Lal PathLabs, Asian Paints and HDFC Bank.

On the financial side, Mukherjea believes that quality banking and financial names will bounce bank strongly. However, he said that there is a need to focus more on the liability side for NBFCs, during a crisis.

Disclaimer:

Reliance Industries, the promoter of Reliance Jio, also controls Network18 which owns CNBC-TV18.

First Published:Apr 22, 2020 3:44 PM IST