Jefferies’ India portfolio has come up with certain changes for the markets as Jefferies’ Greed & Fear note dropping three names and bringing in three others as it leans further into the domestic growth story.
HDFC Bank, PolicyBazaar and REC Limited have been removed from the portfolio. Wood noted that the REC stock has still delivered a 228% return in rupee terms since it was added in December 2022.
Notably, the foreign investors have kept Indian equities at arm’s length for most of 2026, with year-to-date outflows but things are turning.
Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) and eyewear retailer Lenskart Solutions replace HDFC Bank and PolicyBazaar. Further, Bajaj Finance replaced REC Limited.
Led by Prakhar Sharma, the Jefferies’ India research team has published a note on MCX flagging product and penetration opportunities as reasons to stay positive on the stock.
Wood points out this is not the fund’s first stint with the NBFC.
Bajaj Finance was also removed from the portfolio in January 2024 and is up 49% since, while an earlier holding period between May 2015 and March 2020 saw the stock appreciate by 551%.
Eternal’s (formerly Zomato) weighting rises by one percentage point, funded by trimming Bharti Airtel.
Wood continues to position India as his preferred market within Asia Pacific ex-Japan, running a 12% weighting against a benchmark weight of 11.4%, a modest but deliberate overweight.
Bank credit growth has accelerated to a 17-18% range, the fastest pace in more than a decade, with corporate lending running at 20% year-on-year, ahead of agriculture loans at 17% and retail loans at 16%.
Since the foreign investors have kept selling in the markets, the global brokerages have closely watched to see whether that selling pressure would ease.
July has offered the first real sign of a turn, with foreign portfolios turning net buyers again after months on the sidelines.