Unable to sell some of my smallcap holdings, hoping for bull market in 2030: Shankar Sharma

Shankar Sharma and Samir Arora face off: Who will win?

Shankar Sharma, ace market investor and founder, GQuant Investech on March 7 said he's unable to sell some of his smallcap holdings and is waiting for another bull market.

Often touted as the perma-bear of Indian markets, Shankar Sharma and Samir Arora, founder of Helios Capital, faced off in a fiery round at the Moneycontrol Global Wealth Summit 2025.

During this debate, Shankar discussed the state of his small-cap holdings. “I still have investments in India by the way because they are un-exitable. That's the beauty of small caps,” he said.

“Un-exitable, so you are stuck,” retorted Arora.

“It's not possible to exit. T2T, GSM, ASM, these are all reasons,” quipped Sharma. "I am hoping for bull market in 2030 to be able to exit my stuck position. So, whatever was saleable, I sold between July and September," he added. "More or less everything that I could sell, I sold. And that was it. But whatever is non-saleable, I am still stuck with it," Sharma said.

However, Sharma believes that the markets will likely see flat returns over the next five years. "You will see next to zero returns from the highs of September 2024 till for the next 4-5 years. You may see sharp bear market rallies. It is inevitable part of a bear market. But on a point-to-point basis, on a 5-year basis, I do not expect positive returns," he added.

These negative returns will be in both, rupee and dollar terms.

Decrying the domestic investor attitude, Sharma said, "Our biggest fault lies as a market, which is not mature enough for the investor community to accept that a market is going to be cyclical. It is cyclical. Who says markets are not cyclical? When I say that the cycle has peaked and is normally heading down, people say to me, 'You're a bad boy.'"

The Moneycontrol Global Wealth Summit 2025 is a flagship, premier platform that brings together leading Indian and global investors, titans of Indian business, policy-makers and other important mover and shakers in the financial market ecosystem to decode the puzzle of wealth creation in India.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.