Latest news with #PiperSerica
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Biggest positive trigger for markets would be a sustainable resolution of tariff issue: Abhay Agarwal
Abhay Agarwal , Founder & Fund Manager, Piper Serica , says the markets are eagerly awaiting a resolution to the US president's tariff disputes, as the daily threats are impacting Indian industries. Order cancellations from US buyers in sectors like textiles and auto ancillaries are already occurring due to tariffs. A sustainable resolution is crucial to restore market confidence and prevent companies from withdrawing earnings guidance. What is your first comment on the RBI policy? I am sure it is on the expected lines. But given that inflation is going to be limited, and the tariff situation is still evolving, GDP for the current fiscal year has also not changed because of all the uncertainty that is looming around. Having said that, the situation is still evolving. We are also looking at a Fed policy. So, what is your take on the rate cut stance in India or the US, and the way ahead? Abhay Agarwal: The RBI policy was largely on expected lines but there were a couple of things that kind of differed from the past statements by the governor and one of them was the worry that the growth that they are seeing is uneven and I do not think as a governor he would want to see that or even the finance ministry would want to see that. Productivity Tool Zero to Hero in Microsoft Excel: Complete Excel guide By Metla Sudha Sekhar View Program Finance Introduction to Technical Analysis & Candlestick Theory By Dinesh Nagpal View Program Finance Financial Literacy i e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code By CA Rahul Gupta View Program Digital Marketing Digital Marketing Masterclass by Neil Patel By Neil Patel View Program Finance Technical Analysis Demystified- A Complete Guide to Trading By Kunal Patel View Program Productivity Tool Excel Essentials to Expert: Your Complete Guide By Study at home View Program Artificial Intelligence AI For Business Professionals Batch 2 By Ansh Mehra View Program One thing on their mind is how do we make sure that there is an even growth or largely even growth? The second is that the real inflation on the Street is higher than what the name plate inflation is showing and that is one of the reasons they want to see that play out over the next quarter or so, before deciding on the next rate cut. There is ample liquidity and that is the other thing that he indicated but what they want to see is that the rate transmission takes place right to the bottom of the pyramid which I do not think has taken place as per their expectations. So, for RBI, it is a work in process that it is not only just rate cuts that will drive the economic growth but also these impacts of rate cuts being felt by everybody, the borrowers and the industry kicking off of the private capex cycle. It is a wider agenda that he referred to and it will be interesting to see. The good thing from a market perspective is to see that the RBI is very focused on these key issues and will hopefully resolve them over the next three months and we will see the impact of that in the earnings in probably the third quarter this year. Live Events You Might Also Like: Take it one day at a time; not very bullish or very bearish at this point in time: Mihir Vora Now that we have all of these events, economic indicative actions, but still the triggers, the direction for the domestic market is missing. We see a lot of contingent scenarios from the global front, tariff implications are still underway and at the same time, the quarterly are a mixed bag. Where do you see the triggers coming in? What are the compounding themes? Abhay Agarwal: The markets are waiting for positive triggers and the biggest positive trigger is some kind of resolution to these tariff tantrums by the US president. This daily negative news flow, daily threats and it is something that people can discuss but completely out of control. Unfortunately, what I am seeing is that the impact of these tariffs are already being felt by the Indian industry. We have heard over the last couple of days, cancellation of orders by large US buyers from Indian suppliers in textiles, small auto ancillaries, and some consumer products because they do not want to pay that kind of tariff for imports from India. The Indian industry is already feeling the heat. It is not a discussion or a threat anymore. This has happened. The biggest positive trigger for the markets right now would be some kind of sustainable resolution of this daily tariff threat that has already started impacting Indian exporters and that will give the market confidence that the earnings can be forecast. Otherwise, most of the companies' management will pull out their management guidance for the next quarter and the quarter after that. It is very important that some kind of resolution comes into play.
Entrepreneur
24-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Inbound Aerospace and Bharatsure Raise Early-Stage Funding
The following startups have disclosed their latest funding rounds. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Inbound Aerospace Secures USD 1 Mn Funding Inbound Aerospace, a space-tech startup incubated at IIT Madras, has raised USD 1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Speciale Invest, with additional support from Piper Serica. The funding will be used to accelerate research and development of the company's autonomous re-entry spacecraft, validate key subsystems, and reach critical design milestones. Co-founder and CEO Aravind I B said the spacecraft is designed to address a growing need in microgravity infrastructure as the International Space Station approaches retirement. "Microgravity environments are difficult to replicate on Earth. Our spacecraft enables repeatable, cost-effective return of payloads from orbit, supporting in-space manufacturing and research," he said. Founded in 2025 by Aravind I B, Vishal Reddy, and retired Indian Navy Captain Abhijit Bhutey, Inbound Aerospace focuses on developing reusable vehicles that support in-orbit experiments and manufacturing. These spacecraft are aimed at facilitating breakthroughs in life sciences and material sciences through extended exposure to microgravity. Initially pre-incubated at IITM Nirmaan, the company now operates from the IIT Madras Incubation Cell. It was the only Indian finalist at Japan's S-Booster 2025 competition. With its first mission scheduled for 2028, Inbound Aerospace is positioning itself as a key enabler of space-based innovation for Earth-bound industries. Bharatsure Raises INR 6 Cr Led by Inflection Point Ventures Bharatsure, an insurtech startup, has raised Rs 6 crore in a funding round led by Inflection Point Ventures, with additional participation from Capital A and Atrium Angels. The funding will be used to strengthen the company's insurance infrastructure and expand its embedded and group insurance offerings across the country. Co-founder and CEO Anuj Parekh said, "These station partners play a frontline role in advancing sustainable mobility, and we are proud to design coverage that genuinely addresses their needs. The funding allows us to further develop our infrastructure too." Founded by Anuj Parekh and Sanil Basutkar, Bharatsure was established to provide insurance infrastructure as a service. The platform enables businesses, small enterprises, and partner ecosystems to integrate group and modular insurance products into their offerings. Bharatsure supports organisations with insurance distribution, employee benefits, and wellness solutions while generating revenue through policy sales, commission on premiums, and insurance-related technology services. The company recently partnered with Battery Smart to offer natural calamity insurance for electric vehicle station partners. This coverage includes protection against events such as fires, floods, earthquakes, and personal accidents. Bharatsure claims to have reached over two lakh lives and processed ten thousand claims through a network of 1,500 stations and 70,000 drivers across fifty cities. The startup aims to scale operations further in the coming years.
Economic Times
09-07-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Abhay Agarwal's top sectoral bets in a choppy market
"I would say that our markets on a global scheme of things are still quite small. We are at $5 trillion market cap where you have companies in US which are close to $4 trillion market cap, single company. So, we are on that growth path. The foreign investors understand that. Obviously, these kind of uncertainties related to tariff situation and daily news-based announcements about US threatening to put new tariffs or taking out old tariffs is going to keep the markets on their toes in the short term, but in the longer term we are going to be pretty okay," says Abhay Agarwal, Piper Serica. ADVERTISEMENT And yes, there is a lot of development and developments happening overnight and the markets are mature enough at least Indian markets to digest all of that. But US President Donald Trump has now slapped tariffs ranging anywhere between 25% to 45% on several countries globally. Also, there is a very important statement which has come in where Trump says that he is very close to make a deal with India. How do you see all of these developments for the domestic markets? Abhay Agarwal: From domestic market perspective, I have just got back from a two-week trip to Europe and what I can tell you is that if you just move out of this noisy situation that we are in, as you just mentioned tariff related announcements and the global uncertainty around that, the good news is that India is seen as a bright spot of growth not only for the short term but for next 5 years 10 years. So, the good news is that there is a lot of foreign capital that is looking to come into India, invest in India for the long term. These are not short-term traders. The timing of the entry remains a question mark because there are worries about Indian markets being overvalued, but at the same time there is this belief that the market cap and the GDP growth will continue to inch up. So, I would say that our markets on a global scheme of things are still quite small. We are at $5 trillion market cap where you have companies in US which are close to $4 trillion market cap, single company. So, we are on that growth path. The foreign investors understand that. Obviously, these kind of uncertainties related to tariff situation and daily news-based announcements about US threatening to put new tariffs or taking out old tariffs is going to keep the markets on their toes in the short term, but in the longer term we are going to be pretty okay. So, your house is actually known for capitalising on market fear. Now, on those lines I just want to know what is the kind of cash holding that is present and you have been a fan of pharma since very long time. So, if we talk about key sectors which are on your radar and is pharma still a part of it and also a few pockets in BFSI, what is your take? Abhay Agarwal: So, right now, we are about 8% cash and we are not looking to increase cash holdings because we continue to see good opportunities in some sectors and even in a raging bull market there is always a bear market also going on in some sectors or some specific stocks because of various reasons. So, we would like to focus on those situations, those opportunities. We are seeing enough of them. So, our average cash holding is about 5% to 6% that we like to maintain. In terms of pharma, yes, for last two years we have seen a lot of recovery in pharma companies' earnings and that has been because of five years of solid investment by large pharma companies in their business, a very friendly US FDA that is trying to make bridges with India to make sure that India is a very solid supply chain partner for US pharmaceutical business. And also, the Indian companies overinvested to their credit in building a very strong list of new launches and some of the Indian companies like Dr Reddy's if you look at it, they have like 150 potential new launches over next 18 months in the US. ADVERTISEMENT So, the analysts have not given the Indian pharma companies enough credit. Hopefully that will reverse. But we are very hopeful that just like last year the pharma sector was the best performing sector amongst all sectors in last calendar year, we are expecting a similar performance this year and probably next year also because some of the spaces like CDMO are still emerging. So, we are very bullish on the pharma sector continuing to do well because of very strong tailwinds there. On banking and financial services, we are seeing recovery. I think the bottom has been made as far as NPA cycle, credit cycle was concerned, collections were concerned. The self-regulatory body of small finance banks and microfinance companies has done a good job of taking away the froth by building in the guardrails. So, we see recovery now in microfinance companies as well as small banks which are trying to become universal banks now. So, this is a sector that we are now overweight in. We were zero weight for last two years, but we have increased our weightage. So, these are the two sectors that we are quite bullish and the third one is EMS which is again a space that we expect to continue to do well. ADVERTISEMENT We are in an ambiguous state as far as trade deal is concerned. We do not know whether or not trade deal is happening or a mini deal is happening or a final deal will happen in next three to six months. In this scenario, what should one do? Should wait and watch, just sit on cash, or deploy money in sectors which may not be impacted by this. Abhay Agarwal: Yes, if you are an investor, you are sitting on cash and you have a buy list, it is a good strategy to keep nibbling in a systematic way and that is what we are also doing. All the new money that we are getting, we are not deploying it at one go. So, we have a buy list in form of our model portfolio. But what we are doing is we are averaging out the buying over next six months. ADVERTISEMENT The problem is that this is such a news-driven market and the news changes every day. The sentiment changes every day. Every half an hour there is a new announcement. My personal view is that India and US will conclude a trade deal. However, it will not be a kind of a final deal. It will have nuances. There will still be moving parts. There will still be sectors which will not be covered by this trade deal. So, there will not be 100% certainty for a long period of time. But even if you get to 50% certainty, it will be a good sign for the market. It will show intent from US and India both to conclude this deal. But it may take time. So, no country is going to back off easily. So, a good strategy for any investor sitting on cash would be to deploy over next six months in a systematic manner rather than doing it all at once. ADVERTISEMENT That conviction gives a lot of confidence and when you say to deploy money in a staggered manner and create a strategy yes, results and earning season is around the corner. So while we define and draw the strategy considering the result and earning season, what is your take, what all sectors should one keep an eye on and once we get an opportunity get into it? Abhay Agarwal: Overall, I am quite hopeful that this result season will be a good result season because we are coming off a smaller base and we are coming off two if not three result seasons which kind of were underwhelming, though the last one I would say was not underwhelming, it was probably neutral. But my expectation from the current earning season which is just going to start now is that, we will have some outperformance by companies that have turned their business model to take care of new product launches both in India as well as overseas. I am expecting better results from banking and financial services industry than analysts are expecting from pharmaceutical, from EMS companies, from insurance companies I am expecting positive guidance. But at the same time there are some sectors that will continue to drag a little. The leading one is IT services. We will see cautious commentary again and an underwhelming growth guidance from IT services industry. Also, from large FMCG companies, I am expecting that the numbers will not be good, the margins will still be under pressure, but the guidance will be better. Similar for auto industry, the numbers may underwhelm a little but the guidance will be pretty positive because we have had a good monsoon a pick-up in rural income, rural consumption. So, overall, I would say this result season will be good. I would also suggest to astute investor not to punt on results. Let the results come out. Even if there is a stock reaction, make use of it rather than pre-empting the result before it is announced.
Time of India
09-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Abhay Agarwal's top sectoral bets in a choppy market
"I would say that our markets on a global scheme of things are still quite small. We are at $5 trillion market cap where you have companies in US which are close to $4 trillion market cap, single company. So, we are on that growth path. The foreign investors understand that. Obviously, these kind of uncertainties related to tariff situation and daily news-based announcements about US threatening to put new tariffs or taking out old tariffs is going to keep the markets on their toes in the short term, but in the longer term we are going to be pretty okay," says Abhay Agarwal , Piper Serica . And yes, there is a lot of development and developments happening overnight and the markets are mature enough at least Indian markets to digest all of that. But US President Donald Trump has now slapped tariffs ranging anywhere between 25% to 45% on several countries globally. Also, there is a very important statement which has come in where Trump says that he is very close to make a deal with India. How do you see all of these developments for the domestic markets? Abhay Agarwal: From domestic market perspective, I have just got back from a two-week trip to Europe and what I can tell you is that if you just move out of this noisy situation that we are in, as you just mentioned tariff related announcements and the global uncertainty around that, the good news is that India is seen as a bright spot of growth not only for the short term but for next 5 years 10 years. So, the good news is that there is a lot of foreign capital that is looking to come into India, invest in India for the long term. These are not short-term traders. The timing of the entry remains a question mark because there are worries about Indian markets being overvalued, but at the same time there is this belief that the market cap and the GDP growth will continue to inch up. So, I would say that our markets on a global scheme of things are still quite small. We are at $5 trillion market cap where you have companies in US which are close to $4 trillion market cap, single company. So, we are on that growth path. The foreign investors understand that. Obviously, these kind of uncertainties related to tariff situation and daily news-based announcements about US threatening to put new tariffs or taking out old tariffs is going to keep the markets on their toes in the short term, but in the longer term we are going to be pretty okay. So, your house is actually known for capitalising on market fear. Now, on those lines I just want to know what is the kind of cash holding that is present and you have been a fan of pharma since very long time. So, if we talk about key sectors which are on your radar and is pharma still a part of it and also a few pockets in BFSI , what is your take? Abhay Agarwal: So, right now, we are about 8% cash and we are not looking to increase cash holdings because we continue to see good opportunities in some sectors and even in a raging bull market there is always a bear market also going on in some sectors or some specific stocks because of various reasons. Live Events So, we would like to focus on those situations, those opportunities. We are seeing enough of them. So, our average cash holding is about 5% to 6% that we like to maintain. In terms of pharma, yes, for last two years we have seen a lot of recovery in pharma companies' earnings and that has been because of five years of solid investment by large pharma companies in their business, a very friendly US FDA that is trying to make bridges with India to make sure that India is a very solid supply chain partner for US pharmaceutical business. And also, the Indian companies overinvested to their credit in building a very strong list of new launches and some of the Indian companies like Dr Reddy's if you look at it, they have like 150 potential new launches over next 18 months in the US. So, the analysts have not given the Indian pharma companies enough credit. Hopefully that will reverse. But we are very hopeful that just like last year the pharma sector was the best performing sector amongst all sectors in last calendar year, we are expecting a similar performance this year and probably next year also because some of the spaces like CDMO are still emerging. So, we are very bullish on the pharma sector continuing to do well because of very strong tailwinds there. On banking and financial services, we are seeing recovery. I think the bottom has been made as far as NPA cycle, credit cycle was concerned, collections were concerned. The self-regulatory body of small finance banks and microfinance companies has done a good job of taking away the froth by building in the guardrails. So, we see recovery now in microfinance companies as well as small banks which are trying to become universal banks now. So, this is a sector that we are now overweight in. We were zero weight for last two years, but we have increased our weightage. So, these are the two sectors that we are quite bullish and the third one is EMS which is again a space that we expect to continue to do well. We are in an ambiguous state as far as trade deal is concerned. We do not know whether or not trade deal is happening or a mini deal is happening or a final deal will happen in next three to six months. In this scenario, what should one do? Should wait and watch, just sit on cash, or deploy money in sectors which may not be impacted by this. Abhay Agarwal: Yes, if you are an investor, you are sitting on cash and you have a buy list, it is a good strategy to keep nibbling in a systematic way and that is what we are also doing. All the new money that we are getting, we are not deploying it at one go. So, we have a buy list in form of our model portfolio. But what we are doing is we are averaging out the buying over next six months. The problem is that this is such a news-driven market and the news changes every day. The sentiment changes every day. Every half an hour there is a new announcement. My personal view is that India and US will conclude a trade deal. However, it will not be a kind of a final deal. It will have nuances. There will still be moving parts. There will still be sectors which will not be covered by this trade deal. So, there will not be 100% certainty for a long period of time. But even if you get to 50% certainty, it will be a good sign for the market. It will show intent from US and India both to conclude this deal. But it may take time. So, no country is going to back off easily. So, a good strategy for any investor sitting on cash would be to deploy over next six months in a systematic manner rather than doing it all at once. That conviction gives a lot of confidence and when you say to deploy money in a staggered manner and create a strategy yes, results and earning season is around the corner. So while we define and draw the strategy considering the result and earning season, what is your take, what all sectors should one keep an eye on and once we get an opportunity get into it? Abhay Agarwal: Overall, I am quite hopeful that this result season will be a good result season because we are coming off a smaller base and we are coming off two if not three result seasons which kind of were underwhelming, though the last one I would say was not underwhelming, it was probably neutral. But my expectation from the current earning season which is just going to start now is that, we will have some outperformance by companies that have turned their business model to take care of new product launches both in India as well as overseas. I am expecting better results from banking and financial services industry than analysts are expecting from pharmaceutical, from EMS companies, from insurance companies I am expecting positive guidance. But at the same time there are some sectors that will continue to drag a little. The leading one is IT services. We will see cautious commentary again and an underwhelming growth guidance from IT services industry. Also, from large FMCG companies, I am expecting that the numbers will not be good, the margins will still be under pressure, but the guidance will be better. Similar for auto industry, the numbers may underwhelm a little but the guidance will be pretty positive because we have had a good monsoon a pick-up in rural income, rural consumption. So, overall, I would say this result season will be good. I would also suggest to astute investor not to punt on results. Let the results come out. Even if there is a stock reaction, make use of it rather than pre-empting the result before it is announced. ETMarkets WhatsApp channel )
Time of India
09-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Small finance banks and NBFCs to recover, realty benefit post rate cut: Abhay Agarwal
Abhay Agarwal , Founder & Fund Manager, Piper Serica , says small finance banks and NBFCs are expected to recover following the Reserve Bank of India's push for rate cut transmission. This is expected to initiate a positive economic cycle involving consumption, private capital expenditure , and job creation. The real estate sector stands to benefit significantly from these rate cuts . You have been liking the financial space and you were vouching for some of these small ticket financial counters from the NBFC sides. The recent news flow gives us some sense about how this news flow can be a big booster to these companies. Abhay Agarwal: This is a great example of walking the talk. Since early this year, we have been hearing about the government's intent and the government's intent has never been in doubt to promote growth in a way that percolates to the bottom part of the pyramid. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo What we have seen since the budget is that there were tax cuts and liquidity thereafter brought in by RBI and today's front-loaded rate cuts. This is a great example of walking the talk, giving a lot of confidence to market participants that the government means business. Last year, the RBI had tightened liquidity. I think it was a mistake that has been corrected now. So, our bet was that because of very stringent credit control actions by RBI last year, a lot of small banks, SFBs and unsecured lenders, who are good lenders and meet a very critical need of the bottom of the pyramid borrowers, but who do not have assets to secure, but have cash flows to pay back their loans got locked out of the market completely. There are a lot of small ticket borrowers, who are ready to pay, and are not wilful defaulters. But because of delayed payments, they were treated as NPAs. I thought that was an accounting thing that will correct itself. I think that is where we are headed. A lot of these small finance banks, small NBFCs that got beaten down because of poor results in the March quarter will now come back because the credit flow will start. There is push from the RBI governor to transmit the rate cuts and not for the banks to make all the margins. All in all, our investment thesis has become stronger. Regarding the five or six banks that we added to our model portfolio a couple of months back, we are very happy that we did what we did then and I am very hopeful that this rate cut will now start a very virtuous economic cycle of consumption, and then private capex, leading to employment and further consumption. All markets are cheering for the same thing. Live Events You Might Also Like: Why did RBI move from an accommodative to neutral stance? R Gandhi answers What is your view on the real estate sector? What kind of move are you seeing going forward in the real estate sector? If demand increases like you were mentioning, consumption is expected to get a boost. So, if demand increases for the real estate space, is there also going to be an uptick when it comes to the industrial and manufacturing space? Abhay Agarwal: The real estate sector is one of the most rate sensitive sectors for two reasons. One, the builders themselves borrow to build and they are always leveraged. So, any rate cut is a very positive situation for their balance sheet and their P&L statement. It gives them the ability to borrow more and build faster and it helps on the consumer side also. You were making a very interesting point on the real estate pack highlighting that it is one of the most interest rate sensitive sectors/ How do you see the move ahead, given a day wherein these counters are anywhere up between 6% and 7%, do you believe there is further headroom and now is a fresh leg of runoff we can anticipate? Abhay Agarwal: The markets on the whole will go towards new highs. There is no reason for them not to. A lot of problems, a lot of issues that we had earlier this year fundamentally and technically are behind us. In the real estate sector itself, there is a gigantic pent-up demand. I mean, as a developing country for the kind of number of people that we have, number of families they have, number one aspiration is to own your own home and you can be different strata. You may want to build a home in a small city, you may want to buy a condominium or a penthouse in a large city – it is everybody's dream and aspiration. So, this is a sector that has not really got its dues because it is infested by archaic government policies related to regulations which are most of them are unnecessary approvals, high costs of approvals, high transactional costs. It is about time that the government takes a very sharp look at this whole sector and starts making sure that there is less regulation and it is faster for developers to build, it is easier for customers to buy cheaper for customers to buy. I am very hopeful that this government. particularly with their awas yojana schemes, will support that. I am quite hopeful that we will see more announcements related to the real estate sector going forward and that will continue to drive the real estate stocks also. You Might Also Like: Uday Kotak hails RBI's MPC decision to cut 50 bps repo rate, 100 bps CRR as 'bold and strategic'
