Marcellus Insights
Short read: The Walmart of War
Ask an insider and they would say that one of the biggest challenges to the growth of a homegrown defence industry Is the bureaucracy. Capital and technology are of course major constraints, but sometimes the paperwork and procedures are the real pain. Ukraine, in the middle of a long-drawn war has figured out a way […]
Short read: A Himalayan bird is changing its voice to be heard over us
There was a time when you would endure a 12-hour drive from Dehradun airport to reach a remote Himalayan village for a holiday, hoping to escape the crowds at popular spots like Mussoorie. Others seeking even more quiet would trek high up to camp in serene meadows between snow-clad peaks. Sadly, it is getting tougher […]
Short read: The American coast that refused to let African culture die
When Africans were brought to America as salves, most of what they brought along, in terms of their languages, foods and customs, was slowly absorbed into American life over the generations. One group however retained its culture. This piece in the BBC by Dexter Strong writes about this group, the Gullah Geechee, who, along the […]
Long read: The Numbers Behind the Bond Bear Market (with a Look at Equities)
Our blog earlier this week about multi asset investing referred to the ‘All-weather’ portfolio made famous by celebrated hedge fund manager Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates. Dalio is also known for his books most notably Principles: Life and Work.But his 2021 book on The Changing World Order, popularised the phrase that is often used to […]
Long read: A Nobel for New Keynesian macro, at last!
As the Economist put it in a piece earlier this week, this year’s Nobel prizes for sciences are real life sci-fi. The Economics Nobel was not too far behind for its breakthrough quotient. Critics of macroeconomics have cited its chequered history with it being often very good at explaining events of the past but seldom […]
Long read: Food, Fuel and the Price of an Egg
If you need to understand how the ‘law of unintended consequences’ works, India’s policy-making landscape is a good place to start. Our policies on ethanol blending provide a classic case study. The policy’s big-picture objective, reducing our import dependence for fuel, is well-intentioned. And the emerging public opposition to what higher blending does to the […]
Marcellus Portfolio Updates & Insights – October 2026
From Our CIO’s Desk The Rebuilding of Indian Consumption. As the traditional drivers of mass Indian consumption stall, our core strategy—the Consistent Compounders Portfolio (CCP)—has rewired its allocations toward high-quality pricing-power franchises, private healthcare providers, and manufacturing exporters. Rather than chasing entry-level consumer volume growth, our investment process focuses on resilient, well-managed businesses positioned […]
Great Companies Befriend Time. So Must Their Investors
Everyone wants the returns that come from holding a great company for decades. But not everyone can actually sit through the 50%-plus drawdowns that come along the way. In our new book, The Art of Enduring, we explore why time favours great companies, and why staying invested in them is so hard, but can be […]
Short read: The pioneering women who pushed for gender equality shortly after India’s independence
In their best-selling book, our colleagues Nandita Rajahansa and Saurabh Mukherjea highlighted the rise of the Indian woman as a key theme underpinning India’s economic progress. Whilst encouraging, it has taken its time coming. Not without effort though. Indeed, a blog we featured here a few months ago attributed women’s liberation as one of the […]
Short read: Falcons for status, reptiles for show – how social media feeds the exotic-pet trade
Unless you were hiding under a rock, you would have read about the five infant orangutans recently found in a forest in Odisha. It is suspected they were victims of international wildlife trafficking and most likely destined to become part of someone’s private collection of pets. Behind cases like these sits an entire supply chain, […]
Short read: What is an EV worth after five years? China’s used-car market has an answer
As part of the investment research at Marcellus, we rely on a lot of field work, including meeting customers, preferably at the point of sale, to understand buying behaviour. For the auto sector it invariably involves a visit to a few dealerships. And we come across two recurring drivers of the preference for one brand […]
Long read: The taxman comes for China’s offshore riches
Earlier this week, in a blog titled ‘Big Winners and Losers from India’s ‘Breakpoint’, our colleagues Nandita Rajahansa and Saurabh Mukherjea wrote about how the benefits of productivity boom in the west and in India over the past few decades have largely accrued to capital than labour i.e, returns for business owners and stock market […]
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