Delete Investing Apps Now, Says Parag Parikh's Rajeev Thakkar. Here's Why

Investors chase past winners while ignoring what lies ahead, warns Rajeev Thakkar, CIO and Director at PPFAS Asset Management, urging a shift from emotion-driven decisions to disciplined, long-term strategies.

In a conversation on the INDMoney podcast, Thakkar criticised the herd mentality of Indian investors. “People look at the last three years, last five years, and invest,” he said, likening it to driving a car using only the rearview mirror. “In investing, they just look at the rearview mirror. Whatever has done well in the past, they want to chase that and overallocate to that.”

He compared this behavior to buying gold only after prices spike, while ignoring it when prices remain flat. The same flawed logic, he said, drives mutual fund and stock investments. “People buy a home and live in that home for 20–30 years… people subscribe to Employees' Provident Fund or NPS, and it gets accumulated over decades, no one even looks at it,” Thakkar explained. “But the moment they buy a stock or a mutual fund, it goes into the popular apps… just delete those apps,” he added, laughing.

Thakkar advocates for an autopilot approach to investing. “If there's something automatic and you don't think about it, I think that's the best way to do investing,” he noted. This means treating investments with the same long-term indifference that most people apply to their pensions or jewelry locked away for generations.

Turning to sector preferences, Thakkar pointed out that the financial sector remains undervalued despite strong fundamentals. “Banks, housing loan companies, car loan industry… the banking sector looks good,” he said, emphasizing attractive valuations and healthy balance sheets.

On manufacturing, he acknowledged recent investor enthusiasm but urged a selective approach. “Manufacturing covers a whole host of companies… we have been selectively investing in things like automobiles,” Thakkar noted, citing a revival in demand following GST reforms and changing consumer preferences from sedans to SUVs.

As for IT, he expressed cautious optimism. “This is a long-term trend that we are in the beginning of right now,” he said, indicating that while the sector isn't booming, it remains integral to future growth.