Tariff this, tariff that.
Ever since Donald Trump assumed office, there were fears of a potential tariff hike on countries, including India.
Now, it’s official… Trump has fulfilled his campaign promise of implementing tariffs and many of these policies could hit Indian exports and corporate earnings.
The end result of Trump’s announcements, however, was the Indian rupee tumbling to record lows while retail investors rushed to buy beaten-down assets amid the dip.
After disappointing earnings in Q1 and Q2, only a tepid recovery is visible in Q3 so far, with a rebound likely pushed to Q4.
While all this is happening, two famous Indian fund managers are going head-to-head over social media platforms, divided over their views on the Indian stock market.
The first one is Sankaran Naren of ICICI Prudential. He joined ICIC Prudential mutual fund in 2004 and became the chief investment officer in 2011.
The seasoned practitioner of contrarian and value investing is getting a little uncomfortable with the Indian stock market, especially smallcaps and midcaps.
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Last month on the 25th January, at an event organised by IFA Galaxy, an association of mutual fund distributors, Naren advised investors to avoid systematic investment plans (SIPs) in small cap and mid cap mutual funds right now and even consider redeeming their investments in such funds as valuations are ‘absurd’.
His cautious stance, backed by valuation concerns and liquidity risks in these stocks, have stirred the entire industry.
The smallcap index is very close to entering the bear market territory.
Smallcap Index Close to Bear Market Territory
Source: Equitymaster
On the other side of this we have Radhika Gupta, CEO of Edelweiss Mutual Fund.
Amid the debate around Naren’s comments on small and mid-cap valuations and risks with SIPs, Radhika Gupta said “do not fall for the fear-mongering 10-day debates,” on X and LinkedIn.
Gupta said in her social media posts that SIPs are meant to be a simple savings investment instrument for the common person. In her actual words, it is “a fill it,
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