As Dalal Street heads into the New Year, there's a lot to keep tabs on for investors. Globally, supply-chain bottlenecks and ongoing efforts to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, and its variants, are in the spotlight. Here’s a must-watch list for investors heading into 2022.

The market started to correct itself in December 2021. In the past 20 years, this is the first time that the month of December witnessed high correction, paving way for investors to line up their bets for the year ahead.

Here are some of the top stock picks for 2022:

Telecom

Bharti Airtel has witnessed steady growth, and is expected to remain an outperformer in 2022.

Life insurance

HDFC Life, SBI Life and ICICI Prudential Life show immense potential.

Electric vehicles

If you want to invest in the EV theme, any investor should consider Sona Comstar-like stocks in 2022.

Auto

Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra are worth considering, where valuations are extremely attractive.

EPC

Tata Power is showing exponential growth, suggesting the stock has the potential to double in next 2-3 years.

Real estate

DLF, Kolte Patil, Lodha Realty and Sobha can be good real estate buys for the long term in the coming year.

Retail

Correction in the space has opened avenues for investors to go long on stocks such as DMart, Trent and Asian Paints.

Specialty chemicals

These stocks not only have very high future growth potential but also have performed very well in the past. Clean Science and Tech is a top pick in this space, with valuations being the most attractive.

Banking

Banking stocks have fallen despite the economy showing signs of recovery in 2021. However, the banking space has given signs of emerging an outperformer in 2022. Potential investment bets in this basket can be ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

Healthcare

The first two years of 2020s have been all about the pandemic which has affected healthcare stocks in ways that will likely continue for years to come. Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) and Max Healthcare show potential to play this theme.

IT

IT is one among the top sectors contributing to India’s growth. The industry shows steady growth, which is likely to increase in the next 3-4 years. Top picks from the IT space are Wipro, L&T Infotech (LTI), Zensar Technologies, Tata Elxsi, Infosys and TCS. Even in the overall correction in the market, the IT industry is not correcting, which shows strength.

Defence

The government is majorly focused on the defence sector. India has started to export in this segment now. You can consider investing in Mazagon Dock, L&T and Hindustan Aeronautics in defence, which is one sector that has the potential to surprise investors.

--AK Prabhakar is Head of Research at IDBI Capital Markets & Securities, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IDBI Bank. The views expressed in this article are his own.