'Mark Mobius Saw India's Rise Before Other Investors'

'Mark Mobius's life was dedicated to investing.'

Mark Mobius, the veteran emerging market guru, passed away on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.

Raamdeo Agrawal, chairman and cofounder, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, met the legendary investor several times over the years.

Agrawal, in a telephone interview with Puneet Wadhwa/Business Standard, speaks about his interactions with the market guru.

How do you remember Mark Mobius?

Mark Mobius was a very iconic investor, especially with his Yul Brynner hairstyle. I met him at a forum a few years ago. He was a brand on his own. More importantly, he put emerging markets on investors' radar.

Mark Mobius was way ahead of his time. He could see the rise of India, Brazil much ahead of other investors. I don't remember any other person who dedicated his life only to the emerging markets.

Have you incorporated any of his investing habits into your stock picking?

He was more of a mutual fund investor. That said, firstly, he believed in meeting companies personally -- visiting plants and understanding operations firsthand. That's something I also strongly believe in.

Second, he had a very independent mindset. He would invest based on his own conviction -- buying during crises, investing in unpopular or ignored stocks.

He wasn't driven by market sentiment but by his own assessment of value. That independence of thought was probably his biggest strength.

'Mark's life was dedicated to investing'

Do you see any similarities between Mobius, Warren Buffett, and the late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala?

I think Mark Mobius was more like Peter Lynch. However, there's a structural difference between Rakesh, Mark and Buffett.

Mobius was a mutual fund manager handling public money, while Buffett and Jhunjhunwala were proprietary investors. That gave them the flexibility to hold investments for very long periods.

In mutual funds, once a stock performs, there's often a need to book profits and redeploy capital.

That's why Mobius was such a prolific traveller -- constantly searching for new opportunities across geographies. His life was dedicated to investing.

Mobius once said that if you see light at the end of the tunnel, it's too late to buy. How do you interpret this?

Well, that's correct. It means you should buy when a stock is ignored, hated or unpopular. Once it becomes widely accepted and popular, most of the gains are already behind you.

Do you think that investors have forgotten the magic of compounding and picking long-term winners as they chase instant gratification?

No, I would not say that. There are still many investors who believe deeply in long-term investing. However, the problem is noise.

The conversation today is dominated by short-term thinking -- what I call the '10-month dialogue'.

That dialogue still exists but it's much quieter. In reality, meaningful wealth creation happens over 10 years, not 10 months.

'Oil prices remain a key variable'

How do you evaluate the market situation amid the West Asia turmoil?

Many excesses have already corrected, and some are still correcting at the stock level. At around 20-21x P/E [price-to-earnings] multiples, the market looks more reasonably priced than it did a couple of years ago.

It's not a 'bet the house' market but it's certainly more balanced.

That said, geopolitical risks -- especially oil prices -- remain a key variable.

Have markets priced in the possible effects of high oil prices on the Indian economy and earnings?

Not entirely but I believe oil prices will moderate over time because the global economy cannot sustain $100 oil for long.

At such high levels, consumption drops, economies slow and inflation rises sharply.

Many industries -- especially petrochemicals -- face cost pressures.

In the short term (next 12 months), this can be inflationary and disruptive.

But over time, economies adjust -- even to higher oil prices. And that is not the end of the world.

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Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff