Siddhartha Bhaiya’s global playbook: Top sectors in the US, China and Europe

Fund manager Siddhartha Bhaiya, who recently passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest, had turned cautious on Indian equities in his latest views while spotting selective opportunities in global markets. He remained bullish on non-tech themes in the US, consumption-led developments in China and defensive sectors in Europe, which he said offered better risk-adjusted opportunities.“As I said, we are not finding valuation comfort in the Indian markets at the moment. However, we do see some good opportunities in the international markets,” Bhaiya told PMSBazaar in an interview. He was bullish on defensive sectors in Europe, non-tech themes in the US and consumer-oriented developments in China.

He did not elaborate on the details of the statement.The maverick fund manager died on Wednesday, December 31, after suffering cardiac arrest while on holiday in New Zealand. His untimely death has sent shockwaves through the investment community.

A value investor and big believer in gold, Bhaiya was a renowned small-cap multibagger hunter known for his contrarian mentality. In recent months he had reduced a significant portion of his equity exposure and reallocated his capital to gold. As per November data, the Rs 4,000-crore fund had as much as 81.5% of its assets invested in gold ETFs.

The former managing director and CIO of Aequitas Investment Consultancy had said three factors influenced his decision to sell shares: high valuations, widespread market euphoria around specific regions, sectors or stocks, and corporate governance concerns.

“We continue to pay close attention to market trends and note that current valuations appear quite rich. Regardless of market corrections, our approach remains bottom-up: focused on individual companies, valuation comfort and growth prospects. This disciplined approach has helped manage downside risks to investor capital while generating good returns,” he had said in the interview. According to Bhaiya, the overall price-earnings ratios in the market were less relevant than the valuations of one’s own portfolio. He believed that Indian small-cap stocks were trading at premium valuations and, amid the growing frenzy in Indian capital markets, saw little reason to stay invested.

The chartered accountant-run PMS was the best performer in 2025.

Among his most celebrated stock moves, Avanti Feeds stood out, with a return of nearly 100x. He also posted 50x gains in Apar Industries and Sanghvi Movers. Small-cap stocks such as JSL, GAEL, HEG, Finolex Cables and TIIL emerged as 20-baggers, while other holdings that generated more than 10x returns included HIL, Garware, CCL Products, Cosmo First, Maithan Alloys, Nilkamal and Power Mech Projects.

(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions expressed by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)