Good time for bargain hunting, but buy for long term, say analysts

Investors who picked companies with strong business franchises in the year 2008 or 2012 have seen a multi-fold jump in their portfolio values

A major crash in the broader market offers once-in-a-decade opportunity to accumulate great stocks at historically low valuations. It allows investors to create market beating returns on their portfolio once normalcy returns and economic growth and corporate earnings are back on long-term growth trajectory.

This is what happened in previous market crashes of 2008 and 2012. Investors who picked-up companies with strong business franchises in 2008 or 2012 have seen their equity portfolio grow many times over despite the post-recovery market volatility.

For example, the BSE Sensex jumped two and half times over the next 18-months from the bottom in