Stillness as strategy: How Pulak Prasad built Rs 50,000 crore the quiet way

Indian Express

9 hours ago

Last week, we explored how Parag Parikh built an investment philosophy centered around discipline, patience, and investor behaviour.
There is another investor who takes this idea even further.
His name is Pulak Prasad. He manages over Rs 50,000 crore through his fund, Nalanda Capital. He invests in a small set of listed Indian companies and holds them for years. He avoids thematic fads, stays away from frequent trading, and maintains a portfolio turnover ratio of less than 5% annually.
One of Nalanda Capital's earliest and most successful investments is Page Industries, the company behind the Jockey brand in India. It first invested in 2008 when the stock price was around Rs 420, adjusted for corporate actions. As of 2025, the stock trades above Rs 46,000. Nalanda still owns close to Rs 3,600 crore worth of Page Industries. Although the fund has trimmed its stake from around 10% to 7%, the return remains exceptional.
In annual terms, that is a 32% compounded return, turning the original investment into a 100x gain. Few investors achieve such results, especially at this scale. Even fewer do so by holding quietly for over 15 years.
At the core of Prasad's philosophy is a simple idea: avoid harm, choose carefully, and let time do the work. His investing lens is shaped by Charles Darwin, not stock market cycles.
And this mindset holds lessons for every retail investor, especially those who want to grow wealth steadily, with clarity and patience.
Prasad's entire philosophy starts from the idea that avoiding destruction is the first rule of wealth creation.
In evolution, most species do not die because they fail to grow fast. They die because they cannot survive shocks such as weather changes, habitat loss, and new predators. Survival is the base condition for all progress.
Prasad applies this thinking to investing.
He does not try to maximise upside first. He tries to minimise irreversible damage by avoiding poor governance, uncertain business models, fragile balance sheets, and sectors where he has no control over outcomes.
At Nalanda Capital, this shows up clearly: they avoid highly leveraged businesses, they stay away from financials, and they do not invest in anything they cannot explain in one paragraph.
Most investors focus on return potential. 'Can this become a multibagger?' is the first question.
But they ignore the more important one: 'What can go wrong, and will I survive it?' That is why people hold a collapsing stock from Rs 800 to Rs 200, hoping it will bounce back. The capital is not just lost, but the compounding engine is broken.
Build your portfolio with strong foundations first. Avoid companies where accounting is questionable, or where you do not understand how they make money.
Prasad's fund holds 10-15 companies, and it has done that while managing Rs 50,000 crore. This is very similar to how Parag Parikh Asset Management Company also operates.
This is intentional focus. Prasad also seems to believe that every additional holding weakens the clarity of thought. If you do not know why something is in the portfolio, it should not be there.
His investment in Page Industries is a case in point. Nalanda studied the company deeply, including its pricing power, its category leadership, and the promoter's capital allocation, and then committed large capital with conviction. The result: a holding that compounded at 32% annually for over a decade.
Most people over-diversify out of fear. They add another stock, another fund, another NFO, thinking it reduces risk. But it often does the opposite. It hides underperformance, spreads attention too thin, and leads to a portfolio without a centre.
Worse, when something fails, there is no learning. The investor says, 'It was only 2% of my capital,' and moves on. But Prasad would ask, 'Then why did you own it at all?'
Own fewer funds. If you pick stocks, stick to companies where you would be confident putting 10% of your net worth. If that feels too risky, it may be a sign you do not understand the business well enough. Fewer, better decisions – that is what leads to clarity and conviction.
Prasad often says investors should be 'very lazy.' It sounds quirky, but it is deeply rooted in behavioural science.
When people feel uncertain, they reach for action as a coping mechanism, such as checking prices, switching funds, or watching market news. And stock prices tend to feed that, and it feels like control, but it usually leads to poor decisions.
Nalanda Capital avoids this trap. The fund's portfolio turnover is below 5%, year after year. Again, very similar premise to what PPFAS follows to the core.
These funds do not reallocate due to temporary underperformance. They do not chase sectors. They do not respond to other fund managers' trends. They only act when the investment thesis has structurally changed.
Retail investors often measure involvement by activity, not just in terms of buying and selling, but by mirroring signals they assume are credible.
They think:
Each of these is an attempt to stay engaged. But most of this activity is based on cues or actions, not actual understanding. Prasad avoids this entirely. His decisions are not shaped by what others are doing. He trusts his filters, waits patiently, and does nothing if there is no clear reason to act.
Build a system where you act only when your logic tells you to and not because someone else acted. Choose investments that make sense to you. Once selected, allow them time. Remember that your job is not to match others' moves. Your job is to grow your capital slowly and steadily.
Prasad does not believe in timing the market. He says: nobody knows what will happen next quarter. So instead of trying to be early or clever, he lets time reveal the real nature of a business.
His investment in Page Industries or Berger Paints was not done for next year's results. He invested because Nalanda believed these businesses could grow, evolve, and survive over a 10-15 year period, even if the stock price did not reflect that in the short term.
Most investors waste years trying to find the 'right time to enter.' But while waiting for a correction, they miss the very asset that could have compounded quietly in the background. Or they panic and exit after three bad months, possibly just before the bounce happens.
Prasad's philosophy flips this. If the business is good and the future looks healthy, then the only timing that matters is how long you are willing to wait.
Stop trying to find the perfect entry. Invest regularly. Let valuations average out. And once invested, stop looking at monthly performance. Your edge is not in the entry point. Your edge is in how long you can stay.
It is easy to believe that if everyone is buying something, it must be safe. That is exactly what Prasad avoids.
Over decades in markets, he has seen how popular narratives collapse together, whether it was the K-10 stocks of the late 1990s, the infrastructure boom of 2007, or the tech IPO rush of 2021.
When retail flows were pouring into companies like Zomato, Paytm, and Nykaa, Nalanda stayed away. Possibly because these businesses lacked consistent profitability, had unclear moats, and were priced for perfection.
Just because the market celebrated them did not make them long-term bets for Nalanda Capital.
Retail investors often use popularity as a proxy for safety.
They assume:
But most of these signals reflect past attention, not future strength. When too many people crowd into the same idea, the downside grows larger than it seems.
Make decisions based on business logic, not market buzz. Ask: Does this company have earnings power? Is its balance sheet strong? Is it reasonably priced? If yes, stay with it even if no one is talking about it. If no, walk away even if everyone else is buying it.
Prasad does not claim to know the future. He does not predict markets. He does not rely on momentum or moods. His strength lies in stillness. The ability to observe, act selectively, and then wait without anxiety.
It comes from years of watching how companies behave, how cycles unfold, and how investors often act too soon.
Prasad's method is not built for thrill, and for anyone who wants to build wealth with peace, it remains one of the most useful philosophies in Indian investing today.
Note: We have relied on data from the annual reports throughout this article. For forecasting, we have used our assumptions.
Parth Parikh has over a decade of experience in finance and research, and he currently heads the growth and content vertical at Finsire. He has a keen interest in Indian and global stocks and holds an FRM Charter along with an MBA in Finance from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. Previously, he has held research positions at various companies.
Disclosure: The writer and his dependents do not hold the stocks discussed in this article.
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