EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

India is a vibrant and diverse emerging market country of enormous potential, although execution has often been difficult to achieve for governments, companies, and investors alike. As an investment manager of Indian equities during the course of a decade, outperforming against the benchmark has offered a host of lessons and opportunities. India may have traversed political, economic, and corporate cycles during the intermittent period, yet the underlying investment philosophy toward portfolio management has remained unchanged.

Quality business models with predictability in earnings constitute the foundation of holdings. However, a valuation filter for reasonable prices is essential for risk management, so as not to seek quality at any price in portfolio weighting. It is also important to be close to the consumer, observing their wants and needs, and their consumption patterns to find companies that understand their consumers and have clear strategies in place to monetize them.

Portfolio management is a relay race where different parts of the portfolio are exposed to different economic drivers. In addition, having companies at different stages of their respective investment theses can also contribute to greater consistency of return over time.