Saurabh Mukherjea cautious on smallcaps, sees decisive foreign inflows from next year

With better clarity on US interest rates, and political visibility in India after the state elections, Saurabh Mukherjea, Founder and CIO of Marcellus Investment Managers expects solid price action particularly in largecap stocks for a year or two.

"The economy is solid, earnings compounding is mid to high teens for good companies, and we are looking forward to that over the next couple of years," he told CNBC-TV18.

However, while large caps have gained only around 14-15% he is worried about small caps where hundreds of stocks have doubled or tripled in the last couple of years.

Mukherjea is optimistic about foreign investment inflows into India, as enquiries have been rising from sovereign wealth funds and pension funds. "I reckon 2024 will be somewhere between $20 to $40 billion of foreign inflows."

Diagnostics players such as Dr. Lal Pathlabs, Metropolis Healthcare and Vijaya Diagnostics are among his preferred picks apart from Hyderabad-based pediatric and maternity care chain Rainbow Children's Medicare.

Mukherjea recommends looking at companies involved in building materials to opt for an indirect investment in real estate. Among other sectors, he prefers companies that manufacture paints, pipes, and sanitaryware.