Union Budget 2015: Need to see basket of reforms, not 1 or 2 steps, says Lim

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Adrian Lim said he was not expecting one or two announcements from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley this Budget, rather a basket of reforms, starting from steps taken to lift infrastructure and quality expenditure in capital competitiveness.

Below is the transcript of Adrian Lim's interview with Latha Venkatesh, Anuj Singhal & Sonia Shenoy.Sonia: It is just a few hours to the Budget, what do you definitely want to see in it and what do you definitely not want to see this time?A: This is the first full Budget by the BJP Modi led government. I don't need one or two specific things, I need to see the whole basket shows, commitment towards being business friendly and committed to reform. I want to see that the money spent would be in the investment of India's infrastructure whether that's in road, rail, freight corridor, educational institutes.I would like to see something that would give back to the economy over the long-term and not just yearly subsidies, these kinds of incentives. I would like to see more expenditure into capital competitiveness of India and not just on short-term measures. Having said that, the Indian Budget is always complicated, many stake holders involved in, I wouldn't be alarmed if I saw some populist measures or some measures that try to cater to the social needs of the country as well. I think it's a balanced process and something we need to look at in totality. The one thing that could be interesting is if they have a strong commitment in the Budget towards the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST). It has taken few years for not this government alone but the previous government to implement and I understand it's a complicated process. So, it will be nice to see a commitment towards a finite timetable there.

Latha: There are two things that people stretch out for. The economists want fiscal stability or fiscal consolidation and there are a lot of people in India Inc or even investors who want investment. Do you think this Budget can deliver both?A: There are plenty of levers that the government can use so I think it is possible. Perhaps it is a little hopeful but it is possible. There are quite a few tools the government has in place and we shall wait to see the details of the Budget itself and how those numbers come together.Sonia: Considering that this ‘Make in India’ theme is gaining popularity would you increase your exposure to sectors like cement or even FMCG? A: I think based on that development we have quite a lot in FMCG and quite a lot in cement as it is. So, we are quite comfortably positioned for the development like that.Latha: I have an old sectoral break up of your assets and it says you had 40 percent in financials. Is it still that high?A: We have over 20 percent in financials, not 40 percent; that is a position that is slightly underweight the Indian MSCI benchmark but it’s nonetheless a substantial weight. It's usually our largest or second largest sector play within the Indian portfolio. Within Financials we like stocks like HDFC, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, very focused and very commercially minded banks with strong capital base and professional management teams. Those are the types that we like within the financial space. I think India given its diverse nature and wide availability of different types of banks and financials institutions these type of stocks are the ones that we like to participate in. I would urge investors to look at being very selective about what they hold within the financial space because there is a broad choice of risk and return profiles out there and in these are ones we are comfortable with holding out over the long-term.

Watch videos for full interview.