Equity Strategy With Jyotivardhan Jaipuria | Macro, Sectors & Growth Themes

In a year-end market discussion, Jyoti Varadhan Jayapuriya, founder of Valentis Advisors, expresses cautious optimism for Indian equities in 2026 after a painful 2025 dominated by large-cap outperformance and sharp mid/small-cap underperformance. He anticipates better days for mid and small caps, driven by reduced valuations, diminished euphoria, and an expected earnings recovery with double-digit growth benefiting smaller companies more. Fresh deployments will focus on undervalued, underowned sectors, adding to banking on weakness, entering cement post-poor December numbers, and selectively buying chemicals impacted by US tariffs. Valentis remains underweight on IT due to long-term growth concerns from AI disruption and consumer staples owing to high valuations. Jayapuriya sees improved FII flows ahead as India's relative valuations normalize, with the base case pointing to a better, broader market in 2026.