Foreign investors fled Indian equities in 2025 at a scale never seen before, pulling out a record Rs 1.6 lakh crore (USD 18 billion) as volatile currency movements, global trade tensions, especially potential US tariffs, and stretched valuations eroded risk appetite, though flows are expected to turn sustainably positive in 2026.
Largecap equities are less volatile than mid- and smallcap stocks, making them suitable for risk-averse investors.
New projects fell 6.3 per cent in the December quarter compared with the September quarter. The value of new projects in the just-concluded quarter was Rs 2.1 trillion, according to the data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), which was lower than the Rs 2.2 trillion seen in the September quarter. It is, however, higher than Rs 1.5 trillion recorded for the quarter ended December 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. This data ties in with the November data for core sector growth, an index of eight core industries, which grew at its slowest pace since early 2021.
While mid-cap and small-cap funds have given category average returns of 73.3 per cent and 89.8 per cent respectively over the past year, large-cap funds' returns have been lower at 53.9 per cent, points out Sarbajeet K Sen.
Young investors could allocate in the proportion of 70:20:10 to equity, debt and gold.
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