Manufacturing, Real Estate, SaaS & More: Hurun India's Founder on Where to Invest Now

India’s investment sphere is shifting, with new sectors offering fresh opportunities for wealth creation. In an exclusive interaction with Republic Business, Anas Rahman Junaid, the founder of Hurun India, shed light on manufacturing being the next wave of wealth creation and also offered insights into the strategies followed by billionaires and early investors.

Next wave of wealth creation

Junaid was candid when discussing the key sectors driving India’s next wave of wealth. “For the first time in the last 12 years, the top wealth-creating sectors are in manufacturing, chemicals, pharma, and industrial products,” he shared. This marks a notable change, with manufacturing taking centre stage, a stark contrast to the previously dominant software and services sectors.

His analysis of the top 20 sectors over the past 12 years further highlights the dominance of manufacturing, which has shown high growth, with most sectors producing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 10% only.

“It’s inspiring to see such progress in manufacturing,” Junaid remarked. Furthermore, he said the real estate sector’s surge contribute significantly to the influx of new market entrants in recent years.

Investing in what you believe in

When asked about his personal investment approach, Mr. Junaid was clear: “If I like a sector, I would go deep into it. I’d focus on finding the most interesting entrepreneurs.” His bullish stance on nearly every sector indicates thriving future. However, he did express caution about sectors like SaaS, which might be vulnerable to disruptions from AI technologies.

Hurun India's Founder on ‘The Billionaire Mindset’

As someone who has closely observed India’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, Junaid shared insights into how billionaires approach investing. “They are extremely focused on their businesses and have high confidence in the returns they would generate by investing in their own ventures,” he said.

According to him, the common thread amongst billionaires is an unwavering focus on their businesses until they scale to a certain point. Once they reach a certain level of wealth, the focus shifts to protecting capital and ensuring it beats inflation, rather than taking on risky investments.

Junaid also shared his observations on the financial portfolios of wealthy individuals. “At a certain level of wealth, individuals tend to have a mix of assets, often with the help of wealth managers or family offices,” he explained. According to a recent survey by Hurun India, the top allocation of wealth amongst millionaires was in their own businesses, followed by real estate and stocks. This suggests that for many billionaires, reinvesting in their own ventures remains the primary strategy for growing and preserving wealth.

Building wealth as an early investor

For early investors aiming to build a corpus, Junaid said its important to learn from successful communities and do thorough research. “Look at annual reports and do your homework before making investments,” he advised.

He also said that investors should only allocate money they can afford to lose when engaging in high-risk asset classes.

He said one should always have a cautious approach towards debt-backed investment. When discussing debt-backed investments—taking loans to invest in wealth-creating opportunities—Junaid was clear about his conservative approach. “I don’t do that,” he stated, acknowledging that while some investors have seen success with this strategy, it is a risky route he prefers to avoid