Vikas Gattani, founder and chief investment officer of Progress India Opportunities Fund (PIOF) shared his views and outlook on the market from the side-lines of the 14th Annual Motilal Oswal Global Investor Conference.

“There are quite a few reasons why foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have not got so enthused about the Indian market related to the domestic investor. One is that the foreign investor has a lot of choices available in terms of alternate markets and asset classes. If you look, US markets have already been at all-time highs, S&P is up about 7.5 percent for the year, NASDAQ is up about 12 percent for the year. Second is over the last three-four years, India has had one after another areas of concern, which sort of dampens the enthusiasm for the foreign investors. You start with demonetisation, the effect of goods and services tax (GST), renegotiation of the tax treaties, the imposition of long-term capital gains tax, you have the depreciating currency and now you have elections within next 8-9 months. So those are factors which keep the foreign investors a little less interested in Indian markets related with domestic investors,” he said.

“We are absolute return fund. Our fund is catering to the institutional investors, it invests in largecap liquid stocks. So our fund is a fund for all seasons. We strictly believe in the long-term Indian story but at the same time, we also want to deliver steady consistent returns to the investors. So we manage the volatility well in the market. We continue to remain overweight in the Indian markets from a longer-term point of view and we are selectively focused on the right segments in the market,” he added.

“We invest in beneficiaries of what the domestic demographics is all about which is the rise and the spending pattern of the young consumer. To a certain extent it is true that some of the consumer names are richly valued but if you look at the overall space, you can always find selectively good pockets of opportunity,” said Gattani.