On Nov. 16, gurus Mohnish Pabrai (Trades, Portfolio) and Guy Spier were interviewed together on ET NOW, an Indian TV show.
Both have written investment books, "Dhando Investor" and "Education of a Value Investor." Spier said he will allocate up to 10% of his portfolio to India. After that's done, he will look further. Pabrai has virtually no exposure to the U.S. left.
Pabrai bought Rain Industries (RAIN, Financial) at 35 to 45 Indian rupees per share. For years it did nothing. In the last 18 months it went from 50 to 500 Indian rupees. None of that is very relevant, though, for Pabrai. What mattered to him was what he views as the intrinsic value of the business and how that is progressing. He continues to own 10% of Rain Industries.
Spier noted that Pabrai has a certain wiring. He can withstand extreme volatility. Spier does not share that wiring. He tries not to look at the share prices of his stocks. He does not concentrate in positions as much.
Pabrai added that the best things a person can do is save every month and invest in an index fund.
Spier noted that in India, credit is expanding rapidly, and this is putting money into the hands of the middle class. This is important.
Pabrai noted that he lost most money on levered financial institutions. He currently strives to avoid banks and similar institutions. However, from his comments, it appears that he invested in Repco Home Finance (BOM:535322, Financial).
Financial institutions are often black boxes. Much can go wrong and as an investor, you often do not have a lot of insight into it. He solved this by betting on Repco in a very small way.
Both Pabrai and Guy Spier started out cloning (copying behavior and positions) of Warren Buffett (Trades, Portfolio) and Charlie Munger (Trades, Portfolio). Spier continues to clone them.
The two discussed Titan, an Indian luxury goods company. The biggest asset Titan (TITAN, Financial) has is trust. Millions of people trust them. People buying Titan know they will not get ripped off. That is very valuable. He also added taht he has not looked at it in a while.
In earlier interviews, Pabrai disclosed that he is an owner of Sunteck Realty Ltd. (SUNTECK, Financial), an Indian real estate company.
To summarize, it looks as though Pabrai and Spier are interested at least in this set of Indian companies and perhaps others as well:
- Rain Industries
- Repco Bank
- Sunteck
- Titan Industries
Disclosure: No positions.
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