'Value strategy will continue to deliver good experience to a patient investor'

Sankaran Naren is the executive director (ED) and chief investment officer (CIO) at ICICI Prudential AMC. Known for his conviction to take the road less travelled, he has a knack for value investing. A veteran in the true sense, he currently oversees more than Rs 1.90 lakh crore of active investors' money spread across equity and hybrid funds. In this interview, he shares his views on the market, the performance of AMC's flagship Value Discovery Fund, and more. Here is the edited excerpt of the interview. After nearly a decade, the 'value' style of investing came back in vogue after the COVID crash, and it continues to do well. What's your near-term outlook on this style? India is perceived as a growth market; hence, people believe that value investing does not have much of a role in a growth market like India. We believe value investing does not depend on whether it is a growth market or otherwise. Our experience over the past two decades shows that value as a strategy largely worked well for Indian investors, except in two tranches of three years each. We firmly believe this strategy will continue to deliver a good investment experience to a patient investor, as value investing may not work well in all market phases. For those investors who are ready to stay invested with a long

This article was originally published on March 22, 2024.