Vijay Sridharan, 35, is an investment professional, currently in Muscat. He started as a trader in the Indian market but has realised the importance of being a long-term investor.

Sridharan is currently underweight on India with only 40 per cent of his assets invested in India. Why? “There have been two-three IPOs in a year in the Muscat market and retail investors have made an average return of 30 per cent in the short term and over 50-60 per cent in the long term. In contrast, until last year, Indian markets remained subdued. So, my allocation was less,” he explains.

He has been increasing his allocation towards the Indian market. “It being my home country, investing in India than in a foreign country gives me more comfort. The returns on real estate, equity — direct and through mutual funds — have been enormous over the last 10 years,” he says.

And with the new government expediting the process of economic reforms, he feels the investment climate is turning good, especially for NRIs. His goal is to have 70 per cent of his investments in India in a year.

“I continue to hold the bluechip stocks bought in 2006 and on average they have given six-fold returns,” he says. Sridharan also invests in traditional plans from insurance companies to limit his investment risks and get stable returns.

He also buys gold every year. “On an average I allocate 20 per cent of my proposed investments to gold and will continue to do so,” he says.

This article was published on August 2, 2015, in BusinessLine (The Hindu)