Strategy Series

Our articles specific to the six investment strategies we offer. Whether you invest with us or are looking to invest, these
articles can you give you an insight into why we make the decisions we make.

Asset Allocation
Volatility underscores diversification benefits

Since inception 15 months ago, Marcellus Multi-Asset PMS (MAP-Balanced) has outperformed its benchmark by 2.44% points and Nifty 500 TSR Index by 4.57% points (annualised, net of fees and expenses). At that time, Indian equities had run up significantly and seemed overvalued when macro growth had slowed, the earnings cycle had already peaked and risk […]

DEC 13 . 8 MIN READ READ MORE
Asset Allocation JUN 04 . 2 MIN READ
Marcellus India Wealth Survey 2025
Indian Affluents & HNIs – So Near, Yet So Far….
Asset Allocation
Volatility underscores diversification benefits

Since inception 15 months ago, Marcellus Multi-Asset PMS (MAP-Balanced) has outperformed its benchmark by 2.44% points and Nifty 500 TSR Index by 4.57% points (annualised, net of fees and expenses). At that time, Indian equities had run up significantly and seemed overvalued when macro growth had slowed, the earnings cycle had already peaked and risk […]

Dec 13 . 8 MIN READ READ MORE
Asset Allocation
Marcellus India Wealth Survey 2025
Indian Affluents & HNIs – So Near, Yet So Far….

India’s wealthy aspire to retire early, start businesses, and fund children’s futures, but lack the roadmap to get there. Marcellus, in collaboration with Dun & Bradstreet, conducted the ‘India Wealth Survey 2025’—an in-depth study capturing the evolving financial behaviours, asset preferences, aspirations, and preparedness of affluent and high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) across India. The survey was […]

Jun 04 . 2 MIN READ READ MORE
Consistent Compounders
Diversification in a Concentrated Portfolio of Compounders

In an uncertain macroeconomic environment shaped by AI disruption and shifting global geopolitics, the Consistent Compounders Portfolio (CCP) strategy has evolved significantly. While maintaining a concentrated portfolio focused on good-quality businesses, we have diversified our top holdings across uncorrelated sectors such as healthcare, auto components, and export-led manufacturing. This deliberate shift away from our historical […]

APR 16 . 8 MIN READ READ MORE
Consistent Compounders DEC 06 . 13 MIN READ
Navigating India’s Structural Shifts
Consistent Compounders JUN 24 . 8 MIN READ
Earnings Growth in India: Sliding Nifty vs Rising CCP
Consistent Compounders FEB 18 . 7 MIN READ
CCP’s Earnings Have Compounded at 18% Per Annum
Consistent Compounders
Diversification in a Concentrated Portfolio of Compounders

In an uncertain macroeconomic environment shaped by AI disruption and shifting global geopolitics, the Consistent Compounders Portfolio (CCP) strategy has evolved significantly. While maintaining a concentrated portfolio focused on good-quality businesses, we have diversified our top holdings across uncorrelated sectors such as healthcare, auto components, and export-led manufacturing. This deliberate shift away from our historical […]

Apr 16 . 8 MIN READ READ MORE
Consistent Compounders
Navigating India’s Structural Shifts

Our core philosophy in Marcellus CCP remains anchored in finding consistent compounders with clean accounts, deep moats and disciplined capital allocation. However, the drivers of that predictability have evolved over the past five years (after GST and Covid-19). Traditional moats, such as distribution in FMCG, are being disrupted by digital democratization. India’s K-shaped economic evolution […]

Dec 06 . 13 MIN READ READ MORE
Consistent Compounders
Earnings Growth in India: Sliding Nifty vs Rising CCP

Nifty50’s EPS growth moderated to 6% YOY in FY25 (from 24% CAGR over FY21-24) whilst valuations remain elevated (21x FY26 P/E for Nifty50). In stark contrast, Marcellus’ CCP portfolio’s earnings growth rate has been in the range of 17%-18% CAGR until FY24 and held firm at 14% YoY in FY25. Amidst a growing earnings growth […]

Jun 24 . 8 MIN READ READ MORE
Consistent Compounders
CCP’s Earnings Have Compounded at 18% Per Annum

Marcellus’ CCP Portfolio has delivered 17.8% EPS CAGR over FY19-24 (computed using reported earnings of annual rolling portfolio cohorts), which is the primary driver of the portfolio’s 17.4% (pre-fees) portfolio performance over FY19-24 (15.35% net of fees and expenses). The changes made to the portfolio over time have enhanced its earnings profile. Additionally, in early […]

Feb 18 . 7 MIN READ READ MORE
Global Compounders
Global Compounders: Why have we underperformed the S&P500 in 2026?

Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) strategically invests in ~40 deeply moated global companies aligned with megatrends, with an aim to provide steady earnings growth and shareholder wealth compounding. Our underperformance vs S&P500 in 2026 has played out in two parts – in line until Feb’26 and underperformance post that. Two factors explain the underperformance: 1) […]

AUG 06 . 12 MIN READ READ MORE
Global Compounders JUL 27 . 9 MIN READ
Isaac Newton and the Madness of Men
Global Compounders NOV 20 . 12 MIN READ
Three Years In: Staying Objective Through Market Extremes
Global Compounders JUL 11 . 10 MIN READ
Global Compounders: Greatness and Value Capture
Global Compounders
Global Compounders: Why have we underperformed the S&P500 in 2026?

Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) strategically invests in ~40 deeply moated global companies aligned with megatrends, with an aim to provide steady earnings growth and shareholder wealth compounding. Our underperformance vs S&P500 in 2026 has played out in two parts – in line until Feb’26 and underperformance post that. Two factors explain the underperformance: 1) […]

Aug 06 . 12 MIN READ READ MORE
Global Compounders
Isaac Newton and the Madness of Men

Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) strategically invests in ~40 deeply moated global companies aligned with megatrends, with an aim to provide steady earnings and shareholder wealth compounding. Over the last few years, we’ve seen the world get increasingly intoxicated with the AI narrative. While we certainly see long-term merit in this technology and what it […]

Jul 27 . 9 MIN READ READ MORE
Global Compounders
Three Years In: Staying Objective Through Market Extremes

The Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) is Marcellus’ Global Equities strategy launched in October 2022. It invests in 30-40 deeply moated companies across developed markets—businesses that combine high returns on capital with prudent reinvestment and disciplined capital allocation. The aim has always been straightforward: to deliver long-term compounding of capital through ownership of exceptional franchises, while […]

Nov 20 . 12 MIN READ READ MORE
Global Compounders
Global Compounders: Greatness and Value Capture

Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) strategically invests in 25-35 deeply moated global companies aligned with megatrends which aid the delivery of mid-to-high teens compounding of free cash flow/earnings. To identify such compounders, one of the markers that we look for is the amount of value companies are able to capture from broader opportunities. This is […]

Jul 11 . 10 MIN READ READ MORE
Kings of Capital
Indian Banks Don’t Need More Regulation, They Need More Leverage

Indian banks are often criticized for maintaining higher net interest margins (NIMs) compared to their global peers. However, despite higher NIMs, Indian banks’ average RoE of 6.9% over the past decade lags the average RoE of G7 countries’ banks of 9.2%. More importantly, Indian banks have one of the lowest excess return (RoE less 10-year […]

JUL 21 . 9 MIN READ READ MORE
Kings of Capital APR 19 . 8 MIN READ
The Kings Stand Tall as the Storm Approaches
Kings of Capital DEC 14 . 10 MIN READ
Slowing Growth + Rising Risks = Quality Lenders finally Outperforming
Kings of Capital AUG 06 . 7 MIN READ
Prudent Corporate: The tollbooth for Indian SIPs
Kings of Capital
Indian Banks Don’t Need More Regulation, They Need More Leverage

Indian banks are often criticized for maintaining higher net interest margins (NIMs) compared to their global peers. However, despite higher NIMs, Indian banks’ average RoE of 6.9% over the past decade lags the average RoE of G7 countries’ banks of 9.2%. More importantly, Indian banks have one of the lowest excess return (RoE less 10-year […]

Jul 21 . 9 MIN READ READ MORE
Kings of Capital
The Kings Stand Tall as the Storm Approaches

Over the last 3M/6M/1Yr/2Yrs KCP has been able to consistently outperform both Nifty and Bank Nifty. Whilst our investment approach remains long term, we believe it is prudent to analyze the drivers of this outperformance. As  we look back at the performance of KCP, note that the period from ‘Nov’21-Mar-23’ was a major drag on portfolio […]

Apr 19 . 8 MIN READ READ MORE
Kings of Capital
Slowing Growth + Rising Risks = Quality Lenders finally Outperforming

Loan growth for the banking sector has slowed down to 12% YOY from a peak of 16% and slippages for the higher risk retail lending segments are up anywhere between 2x – 6x vs FY24 levels. The increase in NPAs is a result of: (i) oversupply of credit in the post- Covid retail lending frenzy, […]

Dec 14 . 10 MIN READ READ MORE
Kings of Capital
Prudent Corporate: The tollbooth for Indian SIPs

Prudent Corporate, India’s third-largest mutual fund distributor, has grown revenues and EPS by 29% and 46% respectively over FY19-24. During this period, Prudent has risen from being the 7th largest distributor to being the 3rd largest in FY24, surpassing giants such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank in terms of mutual fund commissions earned. Prudent’s success can […]

Aug 06 . 7 MIN READ READ MORE
Little Champs
Little Champs: Rising Again on its Sixth Anniversary

After enjoying a splendid run in the first three years of its inception, Little Champs portfolio’s (LCP) returns and earnings growth deteriorated from September 2022 – March 2024. On LCP’s 6th anniversary we focus on what went wrong during this period, the lessons learnt and the course correction we undertook around 18 months ago. The steady […]

SEP 01 . 8 MIN READ READ MORE
Little Champs MAR 28 . 6 MIN READ
Navigating the portfolio amidst SMID challenges
Little Champs OCT 01 . 6 MIN READ
Little Champs: Spotlighting Godrej Agrovet
Little Champs JUN 21 . 14 MIN READ
Spotlighting Eureka Forbes
Little Champs
Little Champs: Rising Again on its Sixth Anniversary

After enjoying a splendid run in the first three years of its inception, Little Champs portfolio’s (LCP) returns and earnings growth deteriorated from September 2022 – March 2024. On LCP’s 6th anniversary we focus on what went wrong during this period, the lessons learnt and the course correction we undertook around 18 months ago. The steady […]

Sep 01 . 8 MIN READ READ MORE
Little Champs
Navigating the portfolio amidst SMID challenges

The BSE500 index companies (especially the bottom 250 market cap companies in the index) have witnessed significant moderation in their earnings in recent quarters. This together with their elevated valuations (especially for the smaller cap stocks) represents a formidable challenge for most smidcap portfolios in India. In this difficult environment, the Little Champs portfolio companies’ […]

Mar 28 . 6 MIN READ READ MORE
Little Champs
Little Champs: Spotlighting Godrej Agrovet

This month we delve deeper into Godrej Agrovet Limited (GAVL) which we added to the Little Champs portfolio earlier this year. GAVL is a diversified agri-focussed company present across animal feed, palm oil, crop protection, dairy and poultry businesses. The Company witnessed muted earnings growth over FY18-23 due to volatility in commodity prices (inputs as well as […]

Oct 01 . 6 MIN READ READ MORE
Little Champs
Spotlighting Eureka Forbes

In this month’s newsletter, we delve deeper into Eureka Forbes Limited (EFL) one of the new additions to the portfolio. We see several earnings growth levers for EFL over the next 5 years: (a) Increase in the water purifiers (WP) category penetration backed by improved tap water supply, and initiatives taken by the WP companies […]

Jun 21 . 14 MIN READ READ MORE
Marcellus Erudite
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 […]

OCT 15 . 13 MIN READ READ MORE
Marcellus Erudite SEP 10 . 13 MIN READ
Marcellus Portfolio Updates & Insights – September 2026
Marcellus Erudite AUG 12 . 13 MIN READ
Marcellus Portfolio Updates & Insights – August 2026
Marcellus Erudite JUN 12 . 10 MIN READ
Marcellus Portfolio Updates & Insights – June 2026
Marcellus Erudite
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 […]

Oct 15 . 13 MIN READ READ MORE
Marcellus Erudite
Marcellus Portfolio Updates & Insights – September 2026

  marcellus.in From Our CIO’s Desk How Does Kings of Capital Beat the Benchmark with Boring, Well-Managed Companies? Over the past 1, 2, and 3-year trailing periods, our financial services strategy—the Kings of Capital Portfolio (KCP)—has outperformed its benchmark. Our investment process avoids chasing short-term market momentum, focusing instead on well-managed businesses that allocate capital […]

Sep 10 . 13 MIN READ READ MORE
Marcellus Erudite
Marcellus Portfolio Updates & Insights – August 2026

  From Our CIO’s Desk Is Quality Investing Making a Comeback in India? Over the last five years (FY21–25), high-quality businesses—companies with clean accounting, strong management, and high returns on capital—lagged the broader market. The reason was simple: a post-COVID surge in household “revenge spending” and government infrastructure capex created a rising tide that lifted […]

Aug 12 . 13 MIN READ READ MORE
Marcellus Erudite
Marcellus Portfolio Updates & Insights – June 2026

  From Our CIO’s Desk What Goes into the Making of a Data Center? Two global headlines have dominated the financial landscape in recent times: Alphabet is executing a record-breaking $85 billion equity raise to fund its AI infrastructure and global compute footprint. SpaceX is setting the stage for the largest IPO ever recorded, targeting […]

Jun 12 . 10 MIN READ READ MORE
MeritorQ Advisory
MeritorQ: Profiting from the Dislocation in Indian Megacaps

Although India’s 20 most profitable listed companies (the ‘Megacaps’) account for around 50% of the profits generated by the BSE 500 companies, these Megacaps account for just 34% of the BSE500’s market cap (down from 41% a decade ago and 45% nearly two decades ago). Indian retail investors’ fascination with small caps seems to be […]

APR 19 . 6 MIN READ READ MORE
MeritorQ Advisory FEB 21 . 7 MIN READ
Rebalancing and the Value Effect
MeritorQ Advisory NOV 21 . 9 MIN READ
The Risks of Owning an Individual Stock
MeritorQ Advisory OCT 10 . 6 MIN READ
Why Fundamentals and Valuations Matter
MeritorQ Advisory
MeritorQ: Profiting from the Dislocation in Indian Megacaps

Although India’s 20 most profitable listed companies (the ‘Megacaps’) account for around 50% of the profits generated by the BSE 500 companies, these Megacaps account for just 34% of the BSE500’s market cap (down from 41% a decade ago and 45% nearly two decades ago). Indian retail investors’ fascination with small caps seems to be […]

Apr 19 . 6 MIN READ READ MORE
MeritorQ Advisory
Rebalancing and the Value Effect

In this newsletter, we quantify the contribution of rebalancing to overall returns by breaking down the portfolio returns into sub-components. We find that periodic rebalancing drives most of the returns of systematic relative value strategies. Selecting quality, undervalued companies, as we do in MeritorQ’s selection step, is effective only when the portfolio is regularly rebalanced. […]

Feb 21 . 7 MIN READ READ MORE
MeritorQ Advisory
The Risks of Owning an Individual Stock

The majority of the listed companies in India fail to beat the market cap weighted index. In this newsletter, we discuss why the odds are stacked against an individual investor owning a small set of stocks. Over a longer investment horizon, returns of benchmark indices as well as the net wealth created in stock markets […]

Nov 21 . 9 MIN READ READ MORE
MeritorQ Advisory
Why Fundamentals and Valuations Matter

MeritorQ’s strategy of picking high-quality undervalued companies delivers better risk adjusted returns by taking advantage of mispricing associated with erroneous investor expectation. Such a strategy also delivers positive excess returns (i.e., returns in excess of the benchmark, in this case the BSE 500) around earnings dates further reaffirming the mispricing hypothesis. In fact, a significant […]

Oct 10 . 6 MIN READ READ MORE
MeritorQ PMS
MeritorQ: Low-Risk Investing with Sound Fundamentals

In this newsletter, we discuss the so called “low-risk” anomaly which posits that high beta (or high risk) stocks underperform low beta or (low risk stocks) over the long term i.e. there is NO extra return to be earned from owning riskier stocks. We show that this low-risk anomaly works in India as well. In this context, […]

AUG 25 . 6 MIN READ READ MORE
MeritorQ PMS JUN 11 . 5 MIN READ
MeritorQ: Quality Matters
MeritorQ PMS APR 14 . 7 MIN READ
MeritorQ: Minimizing Risk by Focusing on Errors of Commission
MeritorQ PMS JAN 15 . 4 MIN READ
MeritorQ: Rebalancing Bonus
MeritorQ PMS
MeritorQ: Low-Risk Investing with Sound Fundamentals

In this newsletter, we discuss the so called “low-risk” anomaly which posits that high beta (or high risk) stocks underperform low beta or (low risk stocks) over the long term i.e. there is NO extra return to be earned from owning riskier stocks. We show that this low-risk anomaly works in India as well. In this context, […]

Aug 25 . 6 MIN READ READ MORE
MeritorQ PMS
MeritorQ: Quality Matters

Investing in a portfolio of value and cyclical stocks in India would have delivered comparable returns to portfolio of quality & consistently profitable companies respectively over longer term with value and cyclicals outperforming in the post-Covid period. However, an advantage of the quality style lies in its ability to delivers less volatile fundamental growth and […]

Jun 11 . 5 MIN READ READ MORE
MeritorQ PMS
MeritorQ: Minimizing Risk by Focusing on Errors of Commission

Balancing the trade off between errors of commission and errors of omission in stock picking is essential to any investing process. In this newsletter we explain why these two errors are NOT created equal and usually portfolio hit rate is more sensitive to errors of commission. MeritorQ‘s rigorous rules-based screening steps in which we reject […]

Apr 14 . 7 MIN READ READ MORE
MeritorQ PMS
MeritorQ: Rebalancing Bonus

We have previously highlighted in  MeritorQ: The Moneyball of Quality Investing the key reasons to rebalance in the context of MeritorQ’s investment rules. In this newsletter, we delve into how rebalancing between uncorrelated equity styles like Quality and Value, which forms the basis for selecting stocks in MeritorQ, further enhances MeritorQ’s returns. We call this the […]

Jan 15 . 4 MIN READ READ MORE
Rising Giant
Navigating our Rising Giants through the SMID Meltdown

The BSE500 index companies (especially the bottom 250 market-cap companies in the index) have witnessed significant moderation in their earnings in recent quarters. This together with their elevated valuations (especially for the smaller cap stocks) represents a formidable challenge for most smidcap portfolios in India. In this difficult environment, the Rising Giants portfolio companies’ earnings […]

MAR 31 . 6 MIN READ READ MORE
Rising Giant OCT 01 . 6 MIN READ
Rising Giants: Spotlighting Godrej Agrovet
Rising Giant JUL 08 . 14 MIN READ
Rising Giants: Spotlighting Eureka Forbes
Rising Giant NOV 18 . 14 MIN READ
Stress Test for Rising Giants
Rising Giant
Navigating our Rising Giants through the SMID Meltdown

The BSE500 index companies (especially the bottom 250 market-cap companies in the index) have witnessed significant moderation in their earnings in recent quarters. This together with their elevated valuations (especially for the smaller cap stocks) represents a formidable challenge for most smidcap portfolios in India. In this difficult environment, the Rising Giants portfolio companies’ earnings […]

Mar 31 . 6 MIN READ READ MORE
Rising Giant
Rising Giants: Spotlighting Godrej Agrovet

This month we delve deeper into Godrej Agrovet Limited (GAVL) which we added to the Rising Giants PMS portfolio earlier this year. GAVL is a diversified agri-focussed company present across animal feed, palm oil, crop protection, dairy and poultry businesses. The Company witnessed muted earnings growth over FY18-23 due to volatility in commodity prices (inputs as well […]

Oct 01 . 6 MIN READ READ MORE
Rising Giant
Rising Giants: Spotlighting Eureka Forbes

In this month’s newsletter, we delve deeper into Eureka Forbes Limited (EFL) one of the new additions to the portfolio. We see several earnings growth levers for EFL over the next 5 years: (a) Increase in the water purifiers (WP) category penetration backed by improved tap water supply, and initiatives taken by the WP companies […]

Jul 08 . 14 MIN READ READ MORE
Rising Giant
Stress Test for Rising Giants

Marcellus’ Rising Giants portfolio (RGP) aims to discover companies with a high probability of entry into benchmark Nifty50 index over the next 3-5 years thus capturing the outsized returns that typically accrue to potential Nifty50 entrants. Over the past year, some of the RGP stocks have faced temporary headwinds mainly on account of Covid-19 demand normalization, […]

Nov 18 . 14 MIN READ READ MORE

For more content on our strategy, visit the archives

GO TO ARCHIVES

LET’S GET ACQUAINTED

New to Marcellus?
Watch this video to know more about us

4 MIN WATCH WATCH VIDEO

The Gold List

The best collections from the Marcellus Library

FEATURED PODCAST

Demystifying the Security of Clients’ Monies in PMS & Mutual Funds
Nov 20, 2025 READ MORE

FEATURED VIDEOS

WEBINAR
Demystifying the Security of Clients’ Monies in PMS & Mutual Funds
Nov 20, 2025
WEBINAR
The Global Compounders: AI, Valuations, and the Road Ahead
Nov 13, 2025

FEATURED newsletter

Consistent Compounders
Portfolio Performance and Update on Fundamentals July

  Consistent Compounders Portfolio (CCP) Fundamentals of CCP companies have delivered healthy progress in FY23, with weighted average PAT (profits after tax) growth of 20% YoY in FY23, backed by a revenue growth of 19% YoY in FY23. 1QFY24 results reported so far have exhibited exceptional strength, representative of market share gains from competitors and […]

Aug 16 . 5 MIN READ READ MORE
Consistent Compounders
Modern Utilities Operating on a Global Scale Make for Lucrative Investments.

Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) focuses on investing in 25-30 highly fortified global companies listed mostly in developed markets. These companies align with global megatrends and possess robust moats built around process capability, research and development, and capital allocation. These factors play a pivotal role in driving the consistent compounding for GCP companies. Over time, […]

Jul 09 . 12 MIN READ READ MORE
Consistent Compounders
When ‘Loss Aversion’ Meets ‘Time Horizons’ in Equity Investing

Investors’ decision making is often underpinned by a key psychological trait – loss aversion. As explained by  Noble laureate Daniel Kahneman, the result of ‘loss aversion’ is that our pain from losses is more than twice  the joy from equal amounts of gain. Juxtaposing this idea to the CCP investing approach discussed in our  book […]

Feb 06 . 8 MIN READ READ MORE

FEATURED BLOGS

Outsourcing 2.0: The Global Capability Centre Boom in India
Oct 26 . 7 MIN READ READ MORE
Busting Popular Macroeconomic Myths
  • BEHAVIOUR
  • CULTURE
Feb 21 . 5 MIN READ READ MORE
Asian Paints vs Sherwin Williams: Different Paths to Dominance
  • BEHAVIOUR
  • CULTURE
Jan 25 . 10 MIN READ READ MORE

Recommended Reads

Some of our best reads you shouldn’t miss on Marcellus

Marcellus Portfolio Updates & Insights – October 2026
Oct 15 . 13 MIN READ READ MORE
Marcellus Portfolio Updates & Insights – September 2026
Sep 10 . 13 MIN READ READ MORE
Marcellus Portfolio Updates & Insights – August 2026
Aug 12 . 13 MIN READ READ MORE

Curated Collection

HANDPICKED ARTICLES FOR OUR ACTIVE INVESTORS

Interested in more financial news?
Check out our blog for weekly updates

Interested in non-financial news?
Check out our 3 long, 3 short page
to know more