Moneycontrol Global Wealth Summit 2026: Rethinking buy-and-hold in a disruptive market

Veteran investors Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman & Co-Founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Sanjoy Bhattacharyya, Partner at Fortuna Capital, and Ramesh Damani, Veteran Investor, Member, BSE, took the stage to discuss what long-term investing means today, and what it must look like in the future.

• Patience and deep business knowledge key for long-term investing
• Buy-and-hold works, but investors must stay alert and reassess
• "Forever" holding is less realistic amid rapid market changes

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India’s stock markets have always rewarded patient investors. The real edge in investing comes from staying invested, thanks to compounding. A Rs 5 lakh investment at 12% can grow to Rs 48 lakh over 20 years, without any additional input. At the Moneycontrol Global Wealth Summit 2026, the big question on everyone’s mind wasn’t just whether “buy and hold” still works; it was how long-term investing fits into a world where disruption, rapid valuations, and shifting market cycles are the new normal.

Veteran investors Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman & Co-Founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Sanjoy Bhattacharyya, Partner at Fortuna Capital, and Ramesh Damani, Veteran Investor, Member, BSE, took the stage to discuss what long-term investing means today, and what it must look like in the future.

Raamdeo Agrawal began by grounding the conversation in first principles. Wealth, he said, doesn’t come from constantly buying and selling. It comes from holding the right businesses. “You don’t create wealth by churning your portfolio; you create it by sitting on the right businesses.” But he didn’t romanticise holding either. “The key is to know what you own and why you own it.” Without that clarity, holding is just inertia, not conviction.

That conviction is getting harder to maintain. Businesses don’t enjoy the same long runways they once did, and that’s changing how investors think. Sanjoy Bhattacharyya made that point clearly. Buy-and-hold has worked, but the reasons have shifted. “The durability of businesses is getting shorter,” he said. In other words, you can’t just buy and forget. “You can’t be passive anymore; you have to keep checking if your original thesis still holds.” Staying invested now also means staying alert.

And then there’s the part most people underestimate: temperament. Markets test that more than strategy ever will. Ramesh Damani brought it back to that reality. “Losing money is never fun. it doesn’t get easier,” he said. However, reacting to every fall rarely helps. What matters is whether the business still makes sense. “Don’t speculate on price, understand the business and whether it will be worth more in the future.” That’s easier said than done, especially when markets swing, but that’s where the real discipline lies.

The speakers agreed that long-term investing still has a place. But in a world of fast-moving markets and new-age business models, “forever” holding is less realistic than it once was. What matters more today is a blend of patience, deep understanding of businesses, and an ability to stay invested through cycles, not just in them.

Explore more insights from the summit at https://www.moneycontrol.com/msite/global-wealth-summit