Pharma will remain an underperformer: Daljeet Singh Kohli

The telecom department is releasing bank guarantees of Rs 20,000 crore, and it’s again very positive for both these companies. We have Bharti Airtel in one of our portfolios. We do not recommend Idea because of many other reasons, but Bharti is definitely there. For telecom as such have a positive view. Reliance is also one of our top picks in various portfolios. So that is not just because of telecom, but telecom is a major part of Reliance. These stocks are not a part of my personal or my family’s portfolio. But all of these are recommended to our clients and are part of some or the other portfolios.

In terms of pharma names, what is the one that you like? Do you think the two-quarters pressure in terms of pricing was only Covid-related?
Pharma will remain an underperformer as a broad package. Within that, some companies that can perform, especially companies with exposure to the US market, are seeing a lot of pricing pressure.

Many companies mentioned that for certain products, the selling price is lesser than their cost of production. So that is a dire state of pricing generic in the US. The companies that will do well in India will be probably the ones with domestic formulation and a well-established distribution system. In healthcare, maybe hospitals will do well. We are positive about Apollo Hospitals, Max Healthcare, Fortis. All three of them are of interest to us.

The only pharma stock which is right now in the portfolio is Gland Pharma because of its differentiated product portfolio in injectables. These injectables are used in operation theatres. So critical requirement and their next leg of growth will come from biosimilars. Fosun Pharma, their parent company in China, could be a big help for them. Otherwise, we have a little cautious view on the overall sector.