“Absolutely. If you look at Nifty Bank, it has made an all-time high after a long time, so clearly that leadership is being shown by financials right now,” Tibrewal said, highlighting that large-cap financials are leading the current market momentum.
He pointed out that metals are another sector drawing attention, calling it a “contra call” that could turn into a strong leadership theme. “Globally, we believe for the first time we have seen inflows in commodity-led funds which has not happened for, I do not know, how many years and that is a very important sign because most of the metal commodity prices are at a level where they are just waiting for a breakout to happen on a technical basis.”
According to Tibrewal, structural changes in China — including the shutdown of lower-end production capacities across steel and polysilicon — are supporting the global commodity upcycle. “Many of the commodity names in India and globally are looking good and hence our belief is the commodity cycle, led by China, is looking good. That is the second sector which can show leadership.”
Turning to domestic trends, he noted a brewing revival in consumption. “Over the last three-four years, five years if you look at, we were looking at the BSE industrial index that is almost about 5x from 2020 to 2025 and consumption index is just 1.5 times. So last five years have been all about industrial, capex, and that trade has worked out well. But the way government and RBI and regulators have moved in the last eight-nine months, it is all providing money in the hands of consumers… all point up towards a revival in consumption in our view.”
Tibrewal believes this shift signals a new market rotation. “There is a trade moving on from capex to consumption as you move ahead in the next 12 to 18 months, so that is an important theme as well.” He is also optimistic about auto ancillaries, which he said are evolving beyond traditional roles. “We are very positive on auto ancillaries which are pivoting themselves from being a pure auto anc to an industrial space.” These companies, he added, could benefit from emerging opportunities in aerospace, semiconductors, and defence. “Aerospace, for example, is a very large space which has both civil as well as defence. In India, if you look at Boeing and Airbus, they have roughly about 14,000-15,000 vendors across the world. In India, they have only 250-300 vendors and they are looking to replace their supply chain as you move ahead in the next few years.” Tibrewal suggested that many Indian precision engineering firms could be well-positioned to enter this ecosystem over the coming decade.
Rounding out his view, Tibrewal said he is constructive on the chemicals sector. “We believe that the worst in chemicals globally is behind us for the last three years which was led by destocking. I think restocking has started to take place. Softer commodities, agri commodities have started to also do well and that should bode well on the agrochemicals as well as speciality chemicals as you move ahead.”
Summing up, Tibrewal underlined that the Indian market is entering a phase of diversification in leadership. “Many themes which created value till $5 trillion market cap, when you move from 5 to 10, there will be many new sectors, new stocks, new ideas which probably are non-existent today.”
As India’s market matures, the baton of leadership may pass from industrial and capex-heavy names to consumption, commodity, and innovation-driven sectors — setting the stage for the next phase of growth.