Discretionary consumption, digital ads, and travel to lead market themes in 2H2025: Paras Bothra

Economic Times

6 days ago

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In this edition of ETMarkets Smart Talk, Paras Bothra, CIO – AIF at Ashika Investment Manager Pvt Ltd, shares his outlook for the second half of 2025, highlighting key themes and opportunities amid ongoing market volatility.According to Bothra, discretionary consumption digital advertising , and travel-related segments are well-positioned to outperform, supported by lower interest rates, a festive-heavy season, and structural tailwinds.While geopolitical concerns and primary market supply may cap near-term upside, he remains constructive on the long-term India story, urging investors to stay disciplined with SIPs and focus on sectors offering compelling growth and valuation comfort. Edited Excerpts –A) Yes, the volatility we are seeing is because of the geopolitical tensions emerging in the middle east and crude spiking up creating jitters in the markets.A) The rest of the year will see the surge in supply of papers in the primary market and the plethora of QIP and promoter block deals absorbing liquidity and capping market upside.Also, on the other hand there will be buoyancy in the market based on improved fundamentals because of interest rate cuts and ample supply of liquidity, normal monsoon boosting the economy and more specifically consumption.A) Discretionary consumption is a theme which might gain momentum with lower interest rate and festive heavy second half.Themes like clean water, convenience services, airlines, govt policy supportive industries, digital advertising, hotels, tours & travels, selective industrial products & services, cooling products, financialization of savings, hospitals etc., seem to be riding on structural tailwinds and opportunities can be tapped in these segments when the market turns volatile and the valuation starts looking compelling.A) Crude oil movement in the near future is more to do with war in the middle-east. But it may be short lived till the time tension between Israel and Iran is resolved.How long the skirmish continues is a fluid situation to predict. But any sign of restoration of normalcy will see supplies easing and crude oil prices coming down.Crude oil price spike has an impact on Indian GDP and current account balance, but the dependency has reduced a lot with the passage of time and with the adoption in alternate sources of energy.A) We are looking at companies more from bottoms-up and sectors like financials/NBFCs, capitals goods, pharma, discretionary consumption, defence, tours & travels, hospitality, hospitals, manufacturing/electronics, speciality chemicals are few sectors which look good.A) FII's will certainly look at India positively given what is happening in the developed market.Increasingly the emerging market is becoming attractive with rising/elevated bond yields in the US and given other macro headwinds in developed markets. Though we are yet to see a surge in India dedicated foreign funds.A) If anybody has a 30-40 years horizon of asset allocation, I think rather than timing the market, it is the discipline of uninterrupted SIP which will work wonders in compounding wealth.Equity as an asset class can be seriously looked at, because for such a long horizon, it will be for the younger generation in their twenties and having a risk appetite to digest volatility.A) Yes, it seems rate cut is frontloaded and with the boost in liquidity it will support consumption.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)