There are two common themes which we have got in our Diwali programming when we spoke to experts. One is energy transition. Second is pharma. Let us start with your thoughts on energy transition. What is the best way to bet on it — EVs, solar, wire companies, meter companies? How can one maximise the real energy transition shift happening in the world?
Nilesh Shah: First, we will have to keep our ears and mind open. There are lots of things happening in the world and we never know which one will be successful. For example, in the laboratory in California, they have created the sun. This is like a Spider-Man movie where Dr Octavius with those four steel arms tried to create sun in the laboratory. What happened in the movie is now happening in real life. The creators of those technologies believe that they will be able to commercialise it by the end of this decade. Today, markets are not even discounting that. But if that materialises where energy produced is more than energy consumed, then we are looking at a completely different set of transitions.
When it comes to automobiles, there is a technology which captures carbon in the environment, and then mixes it with hydrogen produced through electrolysis and then creates methane to run an ice engine, leaving carbon in the world to be captured. Now, if this technology becomes commercial, then we can stagnate at current carbon emission through automobiles and ice engines can come back. Electric engine, everyone knows.
Hydrogen fuel cells are something people are talking about. We never know in technology what will happen, how things will shape up and hence, we should keep our bets as diversified as possible. It is not going to give you maximum return, but certainly it will minimise the risk. Keep mind and ear open, read a lot and look at the trends which are happening in the world and see how they are shaping up.
Second thing, this is the world where software is getting commoditised and hardware might become the future. There are so many equipments, hardware, which will be needed to bring in the era of internet over things, which will require connectivity with artificial intelligence, which will require security for artificial intelligence and I believe companies which are engaged in hardware, companies which are engaged in robotics, precision engineering, they can also be a good bet for riding this wave of disruptive technology.
Finally, to an investor, keep your eyes and ears open outside of India as well. There are many funds which are available, which go and invest in innovative companies around the world. Undoubtedly in India, there are many industries and many technologies where we are not at all present. Those opportunities are available outside of India. So, part of your allocation should be invested in global technology companies as well. Put together, we as fund manager will try to keep our mind open, try to read as much as possible and keep our bets diversified till such time we get the conviction that this is the way forward. This will definitely not give us maximum return, but this will minimise the risk.Now, you are talking and I am quite curious to know what are those opportunities outside India and which are the funds that one can invest in via you guys?
Nilesh Shah: Unfortunately right now, we have a $7-billion cap on overseas investments by mutual funds. My sincere request to the policymakers will be, look, we as a country cannot put our FX reserves into such disruptive technologies, but we as Indians can certainly put some amount into such disruptive technologies. What if some Indian would have gone and invested into Nvidia when it was available at just a billion dollar valuation?
There is huge risk, but there is huge payoff. It is certainly not suitable to the government and the state of India, but it is certainly suitable to individual Indians who are willing to take risks. I just hope and pray, one day this $7 billion limit increases and then this kind of funds, this kind of opportunities will be made available.