'We aim to not lose money. And that's 60-70 per cent of the battle won.'

This year marked the re-entry of Kenneth Andrade, the king of mid caps, to the mutual fund industry. In January this year, he launched his company Old Bridge Mutual Fund's first equity fund, Old Bridge Focused Equity Fund. With a reputation for delivering remarkable returns in his previous stints as a fund manager, the CIO provides insights into his maiden fund's strategy and also shares his outlook for 2024. Old Bridge's investment strategy focuses on 'valuation' and 'margin of safety'. With the market facing headwinds recently, do you expect 2024 to be a challenging year? While 2022 was negative for most participants, 2023 was positive, with the market essentially playing catch up. Normally, over long market cycles, the following year is usually quiet after a period of growth and upside volatility. Opinions are divided on how 2024 may pan out for the markets. While some are bullish on the Indian economy, others argue that markets are overvalued and thus, expensive. I believe a quiet market in 2024 would actually benefit investors. However, my initial impression is that the current corporate growth and momentum, based on headline numbers, is so strong that they would need a big bolt to slow down. Currently, certain market areas have run way ahead compared to their underlying fundamentals, ignoring execution risks. Additionally, some businesses are being assigned high P/E (price-to-earnings) multiples, which ideally should not command such high multiples. Simply put, not every company generating a profit of Rs 5-10 crore deserves a high P/E. This exact scenario unfolded in the first quarter of 2024. Everyone extrapolated P/E multiples and growth expectations for businesses generating Rs 1-10 crore in profits despite the significant mortality risk hidden in these businesses. With talks of Fed rate cuts in 2024, how do you analyse its impact on the economy and the markets? I am not good at predicting what will happen in the US or India. My broad thesis remains that, for multiple reasons, markets will continue to be inflationary towards the end of this decade. Even if there are rate cuts, the cost of borrowing, compared to 2022,