India has ingredients for sustained growth in quant investing: WorldQuant

WorldQuant's Nitish Maini says India's deep technical talent pool and strong technology infrastructure offer a foundation for sustained growth in quantitative investing

India's deep pool of technical talent and strong technology infrastructure are creating the conditions for sustained growth in quantitative investing, according to Nitish Maini, chief strategy officer at WorldQuant, a US-based quantitative asset manager.

 

"India has the ingredients for sustained growth in quantitative investing: a deep technical talent base, and a strong technology infrastructure," he said in an email interaction with Business Standard. He cited the sharp rise in Indian entries for WorldQuant's International Quant Championship (IQC), which crossed 54,000 in the recently concluded edition, from around 15,600 in 2024.

 

Quantitative investing uses mathematical models, statistical techniques and algorithms to identify market patterns and generate investment signals. WorldQuant, founded in 2007, is a global quantitative asset management firm that develops and deploys systematic investment strategies across markets.

 

 

According to Maini, the next phase of quant investing would be driven less by access to more data or automation and more by sophisticated research practices. The opportunity for Indian researchers lies in developing investment ideas that are differentiated, robust and economically meaningful, he said.

 

In India, while asset managers continue to rely predominantly on fundamental research, quantitative models are increasingly finding their way into investment strategies. In mutual funds, there is a dedicated quant-oriented scheme category, which together manages around ₹10,000 crore. Several other actively managed funds also use quantitative tools to varying degrees.

 

Maini said artificial intelligence (AI) was making quantitative research faster and more accessible by helping researchers analyse information, generate hypotheses, test variations of ideas and automate parts of the research process. However, wider access to technology does not necessarily translate into a sustainable investment edge.

 

“Speed isn’t the same as insight,” he said, adding that the quality of questions, discipline in the research process and judgement used to evaluate results would become more important as access to AI tools widens.