2019 is likely to be a better year as compared to last few years, said Ashwini Agarwal, co-founder and partner of Ashmore Investment Management, adding that “India trades at little bit of a premium to the rest of EMs".

"Unless there is a disorderly event ... we should see much better year for EMs over 2019 as compared to last several years,” said Agarwal.

Agarwal said that he saw an upward momentum for earnings this year. “I clearly see an upward momentum for earnings this year and see fairly reasonable set of numbers for December quarter and March quarter. Earnings momentum will continue into the next year driven partly by financials where NPL costs are expected to come off and also because of low inflation and correction in crude prices,” he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

In the back drop of better earnings, the liquidity conditions are expected to be reasonably benign, which could be another positive sign in terms of outlook for equities, said Agarwal.

Sector specific, he said there is no fundamental reason for sustained demand slowdown for autos. The slowdown in demand was largely due to credit non availability with the NBFCs. But as NBFC balance sheets start to grow again, we should see recovery in demand, he added.