Quant Mutual Fund's Sandeep Tandon Picks Top Sectoral Themes

Quant Mutual Fund remains focused on India despite rupee depreciation and expects it to be a theme that will play out amid risks in global markets.

“We are very much India-centric despite rupee depreciation. We have not built a portfolio which is export-centric, rather domestic-centric economy we have built,” Sandeep Tandon, chief investment officer at Quant Mutual Fund, told BQ Prime.

This decade belongs to Asia and Asia-centric emerging markets and within that, particularly India, Tandon said. Highlighting the risks in global markets, Tandon said that India-centric or India-dependent companies will be the theme that will play out.

Quant Mutual Fund, with Rs 11,155.48 crore worth of assets under management, is bullish on value as a thesis, said Tandon.

It focuses on emerging markets rather than developed markets, as emerging market is a value theme. India fits very well in this global theme, Tandon said.

Key Themes

Manufacturing

The fund house likes manufacturing as a "big call, a decade call for India” in terms of generating alpha, Tandon said.

India-dependent companies with export capabilities in the manufacturing sector would be a "bonus", Tandon said.

The fund manager is bullish on sectors that revolve around manufacturing such as banking, capital goods, infrastructure, industrials, metals, and allied sectors including housing and real estate.

Real Estate

Tandon highlighted the allied sectors which could come into play. Cement could be the biggest beneficiary among materials, along with metals, he said.

Irrespective of the mismatch in demand-supply of commodities in the global markets, Tandon expects domestic-centric firms to do well.

Public Sector Banks

Tandon is bullish on public sector banks more than stocks in the defence and energy space. This is because the former have more listed names, while defence and energy have very limited names, he said.

While Tandon does not hold a "negative" view on private banks, he said that PSU banks have the potential to outperform.

"This rally has more legs and I think they have big runway," Tandon said, highlighting that the sector is traversing through the initial phase of an upmove.

Watch the full conversation here: