Contrarian Investing on WebNotes

Contrarian investing at PPFAS

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Contrarian investing at PPFAS is the deliberate willingness of the PPFAS Mutual Fund investment team to build and hold portfolio positions in sectors and securities subject to negative broader-market sentiment, when the disciplined fundamental analysis and intrinsic-value estimation supports the underlying business thesis. The doctrine is closely related to, but conceptually distinct from, the margin of safety discipline and the owner-mindset doctrine: contrarian positioning is the specific behavioural willingness to act against prevailing sentiment when the analysis supports doing so, with attendant tolerance for extended periods of category-relative underperformance and willingness to accept the discomfort of holding out-of-favour positions through their sentiment cycle.

ITC at PPFCF

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Lead

ITC Limited is among the most studied and most discussed domestic holdings of the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund (PPFCF). The position is widely treated as the canonical illustration of PPFAS contrarian investing on the Indian side of the portfolio: a multi-year build during a period of consumer-staples underperformance and persistent environmental, social and governance (ESG) scepticism around cigarettes, followed by a sharp re-rating that lifted ITC into the top three weights of the scheme.

PPFAS view on Indian PSUs

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The PPFAS view on Indian PSUs is the body of investment reasoning through which PPFAS Mutual Fund has periodically built and maintained substantial positions in Indian Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) equities at the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund , including the long-running positions in Coal India , Power Grid Corporation of India, NTPC and ONGC, together with periodic positions in additional PSU names. The PSU view is structurally consistent with the broader PPFAS investment philosophy of value investing , margin of safety and contrarian investing , and has been articulated continuously through monthly factsheet commentary by Chief Investment Officer Rajeev Thakkar and at the PPFAS Annual Unitholders’ Meet by the broader investment team.

Contra mutual fund

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A contra mutual fund in India is an open-ended equity scheme that must follow a contrarian investment strategy – investing in stocks and sectors that are currently out of favour with the broader market, on the thesis that the market has over-discounted bad news and that mean reversion will generate superior returns. SEBI ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular defined contra funds as a distinct category, requiring each AMC that wishes to offer either a contrarian strategy or a value strategy to choose one: an AMC may not operate both a value fund and a contra fund simultaneously.

Sankaran Naren

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sankaran Naren (commonly referred to as S. Naren) is the Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer of ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company , one of India’s two largest mutual fund houses by assets under management. He is widely regarded as one of the most consistently articulate advocates of value and contrarian investing within the Indian mutual fund industry. Naren is the lead fund manager or co-manager of several of ICICI Prudential AMC’s largest schemes, including ICICI Prudential Value Discovery Fund, ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund, and ICICI Prudential Multicap Fund. His philosophy of buying assets when they are unloved and avoiding assets when they are euphoric has made him a reference point for value-oriented investors in India across multiple market cycles.