New Delhi, Aug. 28 -- Unmesh Sharma, the head of institutional equities at HDFC Securities, says the Indian stock market could stay rangebound and the Nifty may give flat to single-digit returns in FY26. He believes any material earnings missed this financial year would be detrimental to the markets. In an interview with Mint, Sharma talks about market valuation, recent government reforms, and US Fed rate cut expectations. Here are edited excerpts of the interview:

We believe this is a range-bound market. There is no major downside due to strong twin balance sheets and double-digit corporate earnings growth.

Additionally, there is no major valuation upside either, as Nifty is trading at +1 standard deviation above mean valuations (nearl...