Rs 4.1 trillion fund manager is betting big on cyclical stocks in India

The ICICI Prudential Opportunities Fund directly managed by Sankaran Naren has returned 36% year-to-date, beating 96% of its peers.

Shares of some lenders, telecom firms and utilities are among the top picks for India’s second-largest asset manager, as it bets on the economy to gradually emerge from the world’s worst Covid-19 outbreak.

With India sticking to localized curbs instead of a nationwide lockdown amid the deadlier second coronavirus wave recently, the impact on economic activity and businesses has been much lower, according to Sankaran Naren, chief investment officer at ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. The firm oversees about 4.1 trillion rupees ($56.6 billion) in assets.

“India is yet to see a cyclical economic recovery and the business cycle is