Fund manager Siddhartha Bhaiya passes away at 47: Here's why he recently said 'Indian equities in a bubble of epic proportions'

Aequitas founder Siddhartha Bhaiya passes away at 47 due to cardiac arrest

• Siddhartha Bhaiya, MD of Aequitas, passed away at 47 due to cardiac arrest
• He warned of an "epic bubble" in Indian equities at a recent summit
• Aequitas praised Bhaiya's vision and commitment to strong values

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Popular PMS fund manager Siddhartha Bhaiya has passed away after suffering from a cardiac arrest. The Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer at Aequitas was aged 47.

Aequitas confirmed the news, stating that Bhaiya passed away on December 31 while on a family vacation in New Zealand.

Bhaiya's sharp warning on Indian equities: 

In December, Bhaiya attended Moneycontrol Deserv Wealth Summit in Mumbai. He had sounded a sharp warning on Indian equities, calling the current market a “bubble of epic proportions” rather than a healthy bull phase.

He said that headline valuation comfort around the Nifty trading near 20 times earnings is misleading and hides far richer valuations beneath the surface. He argued that a large part of the Nifty’s low multiple is driven by heavyweight public sector stocks such as SBI, ONGC, NTPC, Coal India and Power Grid, names that most retail portfolios barely own. "Exclude these, and the effective PE multiple of what people actually hold is well above 40," he said. In midcaps and smallcaps, he noted that multiples have climbed beyond 50.

On the current SIP driven market dynamic, Bhaiya described it as "not SIP, but SWT, a Systematic Wealth Transfer from India’s middle class to the rich". According to him, steady retail inflows have coincided almost perfectly with promoter selling. "The SIP amount has been matched with promoter offloading."

"What I am seeing is not a healthy bull market, it is not a healthy capital market. We have been peddling this story of India growth story for the last 18 months, everybody cribs about last one year returns because maximum money came in the last 18 months," he said.

Aequitas on Bhaiya's death:

Aequitas added that the market expert was the driving force behind the company. "He was not only a visionary investor, but also a builder of institutions - deeply committed to intellectual honesty, disciplined decision-making, and long-term thinking," the firm said.

Aequitas further said that Bhaiya's ability to combine rigorous analysis with clarity of purpose shaped the firm into a "distinctive organization grounded in strong values, robust processes, and a culture of accountability". "Many of us were privileged to learn directly from him, and his influence will continue to guide how we think, act, and invest,” it added.

“While we mourn this immense personal and professional loss, we remain united in our commitment to the principles Siddhartha stood for and the organization he built. The team at Aequitas continues to work closely together, fully aligned with the firm's philosophy and long-term objectives, and remains focused on delivering for our investors in the manner Siddhartha envisaged,” it further said.

Before joining Aequitas in 2012, he worked as one of the youngest fund managers at the PMS division of Nippon India Mutual Find till 2011.

Samir Arora, founder of Helios Capital, mourned the loss. "Very very sorry to see the news of Siddhartha Bhaiya - Uffffffffffffff. Oh God," he wrote in a post on X.

Very very sorry to see the news of Siddhartha Bhaiya - Uffffffffffffff. Oh God.

— Samir Arora (@Iamsamirarora) January 2, 2026

A Chartered Accountant with over 25 years of experience in equity research and fund management, Bhaiya had founded Aequitas in 2013 and grew it into a boutique asset management firm catering to ultra-high-net-worth individuals (ultra-HNIs). Under his leadership, the firm adopted a multibagger approach, focusing on bottom-up stock selection, small-cap undiscovered companies, and investments across market capitalizations to generate outsized returns. As of Jan, 2026, Aequitas Investment Consultancy has assets under management (AUM) of approximately Rs 7,700 crore.