Are you worried about the turbulence in the stock market Ace investor Samir Arora thinks shorting can keep you in safe waters. “This year, our short book made 28 per cent return,” said Arora, founder and fund manager, Helios Capital. Helios Capital shorted some NBFCs to hedge long exposure.

However, he acknowledged that it is difficult to find shorts these days because things have already gone down so much. Biggest wealth, according to Arora, has been created in select big companies this year, including TCS and Reliance Industries.

“Reliance has the ability to go beyond telecom and converted into an Internet company like Netflix and Amazon,” said Arora. Volatility in Indian equity markets will continue for some more time, Arora told ETNow during an interaction. He observed that India has not done very badly in terms of outflows on a year-to-date basis.

Domestic flows have kept the index higher in rupee terms.

The BSE Sensex is up over 3 per cent in 2018 so far.

However, the BSE Dollex-30, a dollar linked version of the Sensex, lost 10 per cent during the same period. “On a year-to-date basis, redemption in India is not as bad as other emerging markets,” said Arora.

He doesn’t see further depreciation in the rupee.

“The big oil shock is absent for the rupee,” he said. The local currency has plunged over 14 per cent this year following a rise in crude oil prices.

Of late, oil prices have surpassed $85 per barrel in the global market.

Crude is now trading at around $73. “I think if the currency will remain in this range for the next 2-3 weeks, people will become more comfortable and that itself will bring more cheer to foreign investors,” said Arora. He predicts a strong positive performance in equities in 2019 and also believes that inflows by foreign portfolio investors will only rebound from hereon. Overseas investors pulled a massive Rs 38,900 crore from the capital markets in October, the steepest in nearly two years, on elevated oil prices, a depreciating rupee and worsening current account deficit. With this, the total outflow from the capital market -- equity and debt together -- has hit over Rs 1 lakh crore so far this year. Helios Capital is upbeat on private banks, insurance companies and NBFCs in the financial space.

The money manager has shuffled NBFC names after absorbing the recent pain.

It is also bullish on consumer and pharma in the defensive space.