Latest news with #ShridattaBhandwaldar
Mint
29-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Canara Rebeco AMC's Shridatta Bhandwaldar expects market consolidation ahead, remains bullish on these 2 sectors
Shridatta Bhandwaldar, Head Equities, Canara Robeco Asset Management Company, believes that the ongoing earnings season signals recovery to double-digit growth in FY26 and FY27. However, he believes, amid lack of valuation comfort, the Indian stock market is likely to undergo consolidation. He is bullish on two sectors -- consumer discretionary and financials -- over the next few years. Edited excerpts: Some of the global macro and domestic geopolitical situations have turned relatively more benign in the last few weeks. Indian macroeconomic environment has been good for some time now with low inflation, low leverage and controlled current account deficit. Cyclical challenge is of the corporate earnings growth (Nifty), which has slowed down in FY25 to high single digits from a healthy 20+% growth in FY24. This slowdown was an outcome of meaningful public capex deceleration accompanied by a relatively tighter domestic liquidity environment over the past 4 quarters. These factors are reversing gradually – 1) Domestic liquidity has moved from deficit into surplus in the last few quarters, 2) The public capex has normalised back to budgeted numbers, 3) There is a pivot towards mass consumption in state and central budgets and 4) Further improvement in Private capex / Real estate, supported by a healthy banking system remains a reasonable expectation. This is already visible in Q4FY25 corporate earnings season, where the earnings have turned out better than estimated, indicating possible cyclical recovery to double-digit earnings growth in FY26E/27E. However, with fair valuations in large caps and above-average valuations in mid/small caps, we expect the market to undergo consolidation as cyclical recovery plays out and then starts rolling over based on earnings growth outcomes. Given that the strategy has a tilt towards predominantly mid-caps, we are focused on medium-term risk-adjusted returns. Given India's diverse listed space and strong underlying nominal GDP growth rate, we believe that there are enough well-run and scalable businesses available from a medium-term to long-term perspective. We are focused on identifying superior earnings growth profile companies for the Canara Robeco Emerging Equities portfolio on a bottom-up basis, and we believe that there is enough scope to do that despite broader valuation challenges in the mid-cap space. We tend to assess governance-related risks based on due diligence of the past track record, which is embedded in our investment process. We evaluate financials and the past track record of the management to assess both the ability to execute business better than peers and the intent to share outcomes with the minority shareholders. Liquidity risks are managed by having a limit and control structure on illiquidity criteria on mid and small caps. We are constructive on Consumer Discretionary and Financials from the next 3-5 year view. Under-allocation to equity at a younger age tends to be a common mistake. This is invariably followed by an inability to re-look at asset allocation when the margin of safety erodes in parts of the owned portfolio. Seeking professional advice on investment decisions and asset allocation at the initial stage of investment journey, can help to avoid such mistakes and contribute towards long term wealth creation. We can't talk about stocks, unfortunately. But sectors like Industrials, Hospitals, Hotels, Telecom and Aviation are good examples over the last 3 years of our bottom-up stock selection strategy to understand differentiated earnings growth leading to sizable contribution to alpha. Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Mid & smallcaps will consolidate till earnings recover, says Shridatta Bhandwaldar
Shridatta Bhandwaldar , Head of Equities at Canara Robeco AMC, believes India's equity story needs a more balanced, professionally managed asset allocation approach. In this interview, he breaks down the rationale behind launching the Canara Robeco Multi Asset Allocation Fund and his outlook on small and midcap stocks. Edited excerpts: What was the core insight or market gap that inspired the launch of the Canara Robeco Multi Asset Allocation Fund—why now, and why this mix? Investors and households are persistently making asset allocation choices between – equities, fixed deposits, real estate, fixed income, precious metals etc. Fundamentally when you look at current asset allocation in a typical Indian household, it's skewed towards Fixed deposits and real estate. When you look at this skew – you know that there is a need for a professional approach to asset allocation to find a balance between risk and returns. Also, we observed that investors are either hyperactive or passive in their asset allocation approach. Fundamentally, Canara Robeco Multi Asset Allocation Fund will help investors to professionally manage asset allocation between equity & equity related instruments, debt instruments and Gold and Silver Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). We believe that there is a need for this product and as CRAMC, we can add value to investors through this category. Gross equity of 65% is chosen to ensure superior risk adjusted returns over period and equity taxation benefits. This apart, on 'why now'; in our opinion, Multi Asset Allocation Fund, being an all-weather category, timing the launch of the product has low relevance. Multi-asset strategies sound like the new black in a volatile world. How does your fund navigate the current global uncertainties—be it sticky inflation, shifting central bank tones, or geopolitical jitters? Canara Robeco Multi Asset Allocation Fund will be an interplay of equity (net equity of 30 %-80%, Gross equity of 65%), debt (10-25%) and precious metals (10-25% of Gold ETF/ Silver ETF). These assets have low or inverse co-relation with each other – thus reducing volatility of outcomes through cycles. While optimal equity allocation would help in enhancing returns through cycles; Gold ETF/Silver ETF and fixed income will enhance downside protection and act as a hedge against inflation / economic or geopolitical uncertainty respectively. This product is a good way to manage volatility and generate optimum returns across cycles. Investors love returns, but they hate surprises. What kind of risk-adjusted performance or consistency can investors realistically expect from this new fund? Based on category returns – one should expect returns in excess of fixed income with much lower volatility than any single asset class may generate. What's your call on equity valuations , especially in mid and small caps? Current valuations of mid and small caps are between 22-25x FY27 consensus earnings. This is 10%-15% higher than historical valuations and thus we expect consolidation in them till corporate earnings improve meaningfully. It is to be noted here that FY25 earnings growth has been low single digit so far. Are Indian markets priced for perfection, or do you still see underappreciated sectors where the story is just beginning? Large caps are largely in the fair value zone whereas mid and small caps continue to be expensive as highlighted in the previous question. Markets at all points in time have sectors which are expensive and others which are under-appreciated. We think pockets in discretionary consumption, financials and global cyclicals, building materials, etc. are under appreciated in the current market. Domestic SIP flows are holding the fort even when FIIs get cold feet. How sustainable is this retail resilience and can it shield us in the event of a global risk-off? Indian household's equity allocation through SIP has been resilient. If corporate earnings revive in FY26 from the current low single digit in FY25; this trend might continue for a longer period. These flows help in increasing our markets' resilience against global events. If you had to bet on just one theme for the next 12-18 months - be it consumption, manufacturing, AI, or energy transition—where would you place your chips? We don't think one should bet on one theme. We see markets in the next 12-18 months to be more bottom-up than top down and thus one needs to find out good opportunities across consumption, manufacturing and energy transition. There are limited plays on AI transition in India. One might find more bottom-up ideas in consumption over next 12-18 months against the other themes.
