Investing
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The Index Is Flat. The Market Isn’t.
Markets rarely behave the way we expect them to. From a Covid low of <26k in March 2020, the Sensex crossed 70k in December 2023, and peaked around 86k in September 2024. Many believed the party would never end. But since then, the index has stayed in a range of 73-86k for almost two years.… Continue reading
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Fully Charged. Fully Priced?
In the last few years, India has significantly ramped up Capex in the power sector, be it solar, grid connectivity, transmission and distribution infra, and more. Total power generation capacity more than doubled from 248 GW in 2014 to 520 GW today. Within this, solar has jumped from 2.8 GW to 110 GW. The transmission… Continue reading
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Your Moat Has an Expiry Date
Warren Buffet and other gurus have long argued that the best businesses have “moats” or durable competitive advantages. But moats too, have a shelf life, especially with technology disrupting every industry. In an earlier article, we saw how the powerful distribution advantages of large FMCG companies are being breached by D2C players leveraging e-commerce and… Continue reading
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Banks Are Not Dinosaurs — Yet
I recently read an article claiming that fintechs and NBFCs will use AI to dominate lending, while traditional banks fade into irrelevance. It sounded plausible at first. But the more I thought about it, the less convinced I became. The essence of the argument is as follows: Today’s consumer wants speed and convenience (i.e. instant… Continue reading
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Ignore the Noise
One of the hardest lessons (for me) as an investor has been how to ignore unsolicited investment advice, especially at chaotic times like this. As the US-Israel vs Iran war grinds its way into Week 3, the world is facing an unprecedented energy shock. Large supplies of oil, gas, aluminium, and fertilisers cannot move because… Continue reading
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So much noise. So little clarity.
Back after a short vacation, the headlines suggest the world has been reinvented – again. Before we could digest the India-EU FTA, the Budget was announced. Then, out of the blue, came the India-US trade deal. The Sensex didn’t like the Budget, but loved the deal, expressing its emotions in no uncertain terms. In the… Continue reading
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Devyani and Sapphire – merging to survive?
Desi cuisine strikes back Some years ago, foreign-branded quick-service restaurants (QSRs) were hot favourites among investors, including institutions. The hypothesis was simple: Under-penetration, a growing middle class, and proven international brands. Initially, the hypothesis appeared to play out – and these companies expanded rapidly, opening hundreds of outlets across India. However, in recent years, same-store… Continue reading
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An inflection point for e-commerce and quick-commerce
Quick commerce redefined Indian retail in 2025. Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto delivered explosive growth, pushing incumbents like Flipkart and Amazon to (reluctantly?) launch rival formats. Blinkit, Instamart and Zepto all doubled revenues in FY25, with momentum continuing through 2025. In a single quarter (Q2FY26), Blinkit delivered a net order value of ₹11,679 crores, up 137%… Continue reading
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Opportunities in disorganized industries
Why fragmented, unorganized sectors often produce the biggest long-term winners One of the challenges of doing business in India is the intensity of price competition. No matter what your price is, someone will under-cut you – often, by a large margin. Almost every product or service has innumerable competitors, many from the loosely defined “unorganized”… Continue reading
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Are IPO investors really that irrational?
In recent weeks, much has been written about the great IPO frenzy of 2025, with analysts and fund managers warning retail investors not to take undue risk. The latest trigger has been the Lenskart IPO, which many wise men have termed as being excessively overvalued. Yet, when I read most of the doomsayers and experts,… Continue reading
