20 hours ago
Venugopal Garre, Managing Director and India Head of Research at Bernstein, reaffirmed a positive stance on Indian equities, projecting a 10–12% return for largecap indices this year.
“We are telling investors to buy,” Garre said, adding that this view has been in place since January when he shifted from a cautious to a more constructive outlook.
Garre continues to maintain a Nifty target of 26,500, citing improvements in the macroeconomic environment, a stable consumption outlook, and expectations of increased capital expenditure. “This market is not going to be a straight line up,” he cautioned, noting that volatility due to global factors should be expected, though the risk from earnings downgrades has moderated compared to last year.
Also Read | Pankaj Murarka eyes new Nifty highs by December; bullish on staples and discretionary stocks
Garre identified financials as his highest overweight sector for the year, with a portfolio focus on banks and insurance. “The cycle is essentially going to favour growth,” he said, noting that reduced regulatory scrutiny and a shift in the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) liquidity approach had added to his confidence.
On consumption, Garre has taken a selective approach. He said that DMart was preferred over Trent in his India portfolio, while Jubilant Foodworks replaced Eternal (Zomato). He sees promise in small-ticket consumption and quick-service restaurants (QSRs) like Devyani , noting that this segment could benefit from improving momentum and tax cuts.
Also Read | India’s tariff edge can't shield market from weak earnings, says Ambit's Dhiraj Agarwal
While he used to have a separate SMID (Small and Mid Cap) portfolio, Garre shared that it is now largely suspended. “Can be extremely risky in terms of volatile environment,” he noted, with Jubilant being the only smallcap holding in his current India main portfolio.
Speaking on foreign investor sentiment, Garre noted mixed feedback. “Global investors were underweight India in February, overweight by July,” he said, suggesting inconsistent positioning. He does not expect a significant shift in allocation from China to India in the near term, but added, “Foreign institutional investors (FII) outflows have bottomed out.”
For the full interview, watch the accompanying video
Catch all the latest updates from the stock market here
