How To Find 'Pockets Of Value' For Wealth Creation? This D-Street Expert Outlines His Top Picks

The Indian stock market has been oscillating in a narrow range in the last two months. Investors seek a positive trigger, which may come from the India-US trade deal with tariffs on India pegged at around 20%.

However, experts doubt whether even the trade deal can trigger a sustained rally in the market.

According to analysts, a sustained market rally needs earnings support. The two big segments of the market — IT and FMCG — are struggling with tepid earnings. While FMCG shows green shoots of recovery, IT continues to struggle. So, experts suggest investors to be stock-specific, focusing on sectors where growth prospects and earnings visibility are bright.

To be able to identify such sectors that can become '"pockets of value" for wealth creation, Vinay Jaising, chief investment officer of ASK Private Wealth, spoke to NDTV Profit in an exclusive interview and outlined his top sectoral picks in the current global and domestic market scenario.

Jaising is more constructive on stocks rather than the frontline indices. The rupee-USD movement, crude oil price correction, foreign inflows into Indian equities and the Reserve Bank of India's liquidity push are the reasons behind his constructive stance.

Additionally, Jaising believes that the Indian market is far more resilient compared to other emerging markets. "Despite valuations not being attractive in India right now, India's resilience is clearly great." he said.

According to the expert, India is adding 10–20% incremental GDP to the world based on the "global growth being 1–2%", which he believes is a "very good sign".

He outlined the three major positives of the Indian market's growth story. Firstly, foreign investors still under-own the country. Secondly, India's GDP growth looks to rise, and thirdly, India's 10-year interest rate is far better compared to the rest of the world.

"Take the US for example," he adds, saying, "India's differential interest rate with the US was 6% around six years ago. Today, it is as low as 1.8%, so India's risk premium has come down substantially."

Since the RBI has started interest rates, which has increased liquidity in the banking system, the D-Street expert said the affordable housing sector, banks, NBFCs, cement and the construction sector could benefit from the same. He added that his top sectoral picks are from the 'Make in India' theme, which benefit from the economic growth and local supply.

Jaising's ASK Private Wealth is overweight on the healthcare sector. "Export CDMO suppliers are seeing a strong jump in leads. The domestic CDMO market is small with a long runway of growth. Both domestic and global CDMOs are of key importance among our top picks," Jaising told NDTV Profit.

Coming to chemicals, the market expert said he bets more on chemicals used in the pharmaceutical sector, rather than chemicals used in the industry, due to early rains in India and the positive demand outlook of pharmaceuticals.