Insurance: “A steady theme, not a sprint”
Commenting on SBI Life Insurance’s latest earnings, Aggarwal noted that the management’s guidance of 13-14% APE growth and 26-28% VNB margins reflects a stable outlook.
“Insurance is a very steady theme. You cannot expect insurance companies to suddenly start growing or changing gears, it is a very-very steady sort of industry,” he said.
While SBI Life’s performance in the latest quarter has been “reasonably good,” he pointed out that the decline in the share of SBI as a banca partner has been a concern. Aggarwal remains constructive on the broader insurance space but sees better opportunities in other names:
“We are constructive on the insurance space for the longer term, but at this point of time we are more positive on names like Max Life and HDFC Life.”
Banking: Kotak’s mixed quarter, long-term promise intact
Discussing Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Q2 results, Aggarwal described the performance as a “mixed bag.”
“Your NIMs were under pressure as expected. Overall credit growth at around 15% remains good. But they have increased provisions significantly,” he said.
He added that some segments need to pick up pace, though NIM pressure should ease in coming quarters.
“In the longer term, yes, the balance sheet seems to be in a good space and the outlook from the long term looks good. If they can sustain this kind of a credit growth with steady credit costs as well as asset quality, then there could be more scope in the stock going forward.”
Infrastructure: NCC remains a solid bet despite order slowdown
Within the infrastructure basket, Aggarwal highlighted NCC as a steady performer.
“NCC is one of the better names if you look at past few years where company has been very steadily it has been growing well,” he noted.
However, he acknowledged that there has been “slackness in orders” coming from NHAI and the road segment. Still, Aggarwal remains upbeat on the long-term potential:
“If you look at the overall infrastructure spend… we need massive amounts of infrastructure and NCC is one of the majors which should gain over a period of time.”
Defence: PTC may ride the domestic manufacturing wave
While refraining from a detailed call on PTC Industries, Aggarwal acknowledged the company could benefit from India’s rising defence capex.
“The way the overall spending on defence has been increasing, the way the geopolitical context is, some of these domestic defence companies they should continue to do well and PTC should also be a gainer of that,” he remarked.
EVs: Ola Electric needs to show renewed momentum
With Ola Electric announcing a ₹1,500 crore fundraise, the focus has returned to the EV maker’s turnaround.
“Their sales from the peak have corrected significantly and they have now started stabilizing a bit,” Aggarwal said.
He believes the company must ramp up sales to compete with TVS and Bajaj, which have expanded aggressively in the two-wheeler EV space.
“We might have seen the bottom as it seems on the face of it, but both the verticals — battery energy as well as two-wheeler EVs — need to see momentum picking up from here on,” he explained.
Aggarwal added that the stock remains one to “keep on the radar” rather than buy aggressively at this stage.
Renewable Energy: Solar to complement, not replace thermal
On India’s growing solar energy ambitions and Crompton Greaves’ ₹445 crore rooftop solar order, Aggarwal was optimistic but pragmatic.
“Solar taking over thermal is something which is ruled out at least in the foreseeable future,” he said, citing India’s lower plant load factors (PLF) in solar compared to thermal power.
He emphasized that while solar’s long-term potential is bright, its scalability challenge remains.
“The prospects are bright because we are a tropical country. Rooftop solar has seen a lot of government promotion and subsidies. All these things are going to play out. It is more like a long-term kind of a thing and whichever company is playing in these segments will gain.”