Why Jio BlackRock's CIO feels the road ahead for equity investors is not easy

Equity markets have been extremely volatile for the last 12 months amid trade and tariff related uncertainties in 2025 and then the conflict in West Asia now. Despite the volatility, Rishi Kohli, Chief Investment Officer of Jio BlackRock Asset Management is not taking any cash calls. Rather, the fund house's strategy is to remain fully invested.

"We have the purest approach that we want to be fully invested. because we believe that asset allocation call is an advisor or client call. If I also start taking cash calls, then it is affecting their asset allocation," explained Kohli. He said, the client may have already decided to sit on some cash, if the fund also decides to hold cash, it will only add to it.

The fund house though does try to neutralise style or factor exposures when it comes to portfolio management over time.

"So, if momentum or value exposures are going above a certain number on my risk screens, then that is what we will try to curtail, because we don't want any one thing to be over influencing the portfolio," Kohli told BT.

Jio BlackRock is a joint venture between Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Financial Services and BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager.

No one-way street

Equity returns in India have lagged those in many global markets, amid massive selling by foreign institutional investors amid the uncertainty and investors chasing AI-related opportunities. Year-to-date, the NSE Nifty50 is down over 7 per cent. Kohli personally believes, the worst may be over, but still the road ahead is not going to be easy.

"It's not going to be a one way like it was between 2021-2024, there are going to be pockets of sectors and stocks that give you opportunity," he noted.

Earnings recovery delayed

One reason Indian markets underperformed many other markets was due to lacklustre earnings over a year. Things were beginning to turnaround as was seen in corporate earnings in recent quarters, but the disruptions caused by war will further delay a broad recovery, opined Kohli.

"Last two quarters, uptick was there. I was expecting, and largely consensus expectation was that going forward it will further accelerate. But this (conflict) has sort of pushed it away 3-6 months; definitely one quarter, may be two depending on how it lasts. So, again the next 2-3 quarters are going to be tough," stated Kohli.

Concensus estimates were that earnings growth would be in the 14-16 per cent range in the current financial year ending March 2026. But Kohli feels one must now be "realistic" and sees it lower at around 10-12 per cent.

Jio BlackRock is launching its specialised investment fund (SIF) soon and the uncertainty is a reason, it decided to launch its first product in the hybrid category, he said.

Kohli expects markets will remain uncertain over the next few months, given one still doesn't know when the war will end and things will return to some sort of normalcy.