Why India's famous multibagger hunter Vijay Kedia is now chasing tortoise stocks

Synopsis
Renowned investor Vijay Kedia is adopting a cautious approach, favoring 'tortoise stocks' like PSU banks and even Chinese ETFs over his usual 'cheetah stocks'. He believes the current market, despite record highs, lacks genuine excitement and offers limited opportunities for quick gains.
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Known to have made the fortune of a lifetime by hunting for multibagger smallcap and midcap stocks that run up quickly like a cheetah, Dalal Street's top investor Vijay Kedia is now playing it safe with tortoise stocks even as Sensex and Nifty are at all-time high levels.
"I have invested in tortoise stocks till the time I find my cheetah stocks," Kedia said in an interview with ET Markets when asked about how he has positioned his multi-million dollar portfolio as we step into the new year 2026. "If I sit on cash, then I will be inactive. I want to be in the game, keep following the market and be ready to invest any time."
While asking retail investors to not play the dangerous game of finding multibaggers in this market, he said there are not enough opportunities in the market now and therefore it’s the time to save your capital and invest in safe ideas which will not fall much.
In the last one-and-a-half years, Kedia has pivoted to "liquid shares”, which are safe and secure. “Just to give you an example, I think PSU bank stocks have a lot of value in them. They are a no-brainer. PSU banks are safe and secure. But they are slow and investors want to make a fast buck."
The disconnect, he argues, is glaring. "People are buying brainless IPOs which are coming at 200-500 times PE. It seems that investors are ignoring simple solutions but looking for hard solutions."
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His thesis on PSU banks rests on India's growth trajectory. "We are now at 12-13% credit growth. If India's economy is going to pick up pace and become a $5 trillion economy, then it won't happen without credit growth. If economic growth increases, then credit growth will increase to 14-15%. In that case, their balance sheets will also improve further."
The Tortoise Portfolio
Beyond PSU banks, Kedia has also made an unlikely bet: Chinese ETFs. "China is the first wonder of the 21st century," he declared, adding that he believes in investing in sunrise industries at any cost. “I'm looking for sunrise industries. Till I find them I am invested in PSU banks and some Chinese ETFs. Once I have my cheetahs, then I will shift money from tortoise stocks.”
Despite the time and price correction that the Indian equity market has seen since the September 2024 peak, Kedia sees limited opportunity. "The froth is not yet fully gone from the broader market. Valuations were obnoxious, stocks crashed but as the earnings have not gone up enough to justify valuations, many stocks remain expensive."
He's particularly concerned about IPO euphoria. "We can see signs of euphoria in the IPO market. Once this euphoria cools down, then only the market will start recovering in a meaningful way. People who made money in a momentum market earlier think that the same playbook will work even now."
For now, Kedia's advice is unequivocal: "Stay put on the pitch. Don't try to hit fours and sixes. Play defensive."
"Whenever a new meaningful bull market happens, then you can invest," he said. Until then, the man who built his fortune on cheetahs is content to ride with tortoises.
The Phantom Rally
Kedia offered a blunt diagnosis of why the Nifty's record highs feel hollow to most investors.
"Nifty is at an all-time high but there is no excitement this time in the market because there's no excitement in the portfolio," he said. "This record high is not meaningful. It is just a technical adjustment as only a handful of shares are up. This new high doesn't make much sense."
Midcaps and smallcaps, which fell 30-40%, are now only "reasonably valued and not undervalued," he noted. Kedia also sees a permanent transformation in how India's markets behave. "Since 2003, I have noticed a major change in the Indian economy and markets. The cyclicality element has ended," he said.
"Earlier, bull markets used to end in just 12 months and bear markets used to last for 3 years. Since then, the economic cyclicality has ended. Now for the first time in history, the bull market ran for 5 years."
The 2008 crash and the recent correction from September 2024's peak both saw the index bottom out in just nine months. "There has been a structural change in India. Our long-term story is intact," Kedia said, though he warned the index may correct again before a meaningful bull market begins.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times).
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(You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)
(What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips, Budget 2025, Share Market on Budget 2025 and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .)
Subscribe to ET Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today.
Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price
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