Sankaran Naren to young investors: 'No mega money ahead, only moderate gains likely from here'
Sankaran Naren said that recent FII selling had brought large-cap overvaluation under control. But the future course of the market remains uncertain.


- Apr 22, 2025,
- Updated Apr 22, 2025 6:36 PM IST
After four years of strong equity performance, ICICI Prudential CIO Sankaran Naren is tempering expectations. Speaking on current market valuations and the broader investing climate, Naren, in a podcast with Groww, said investors should brace for only moderate returns in the long term — and definitely not “mega money".
"What Marks says is that you have to think — what are you trying to do? Do you think you're going to make mega money from here? Are you going to try to prevent loss of money from here?” Naren said, referring to investor Howard Marks' philosophy. "I believe we are in a situation where you can make moderate money over the long term from here. You can't make mega money. To make mega money you need very cheap valuations and you need fear. You neither have cheap valuations nor do you have extreme fear."
He stressed that while large-cap valuations have cooled off, mid- and small-cap segments remain significantly overvalued. “That doesn't mean that anything needs to fall,” he said, “but just because a market is overvalued doesn't mean it needs to fall either.”
Naren also said that recent FII selling had brought large-cap overvaluation under control. But the future course of the market remains uncertain. "We don't even know what US government policy is going to be over the next 2 to 3 years," he noted. "Markets are complex things, how they will play over the next few years is not clear."
Asked about young investors who entered the market after 2020, Naren suggested a mindset reset was essential. "I started investing in 1989. 1989 to 1994 was one of the biggest bull markets in Indian capital market history. It is like 2020 to 2024. I was under the impression that markets will always give you big returns. It didn't give from 1994 to 2004. For almost 9 years, the markets gave zero returns.”
He said current investors should be wary of assuming that strong past performance guarantees future gains. “If investors think that equity market is always going to give you mega returns, then they are completely mistaken. They have not seen markets.”
He drew parallels to the US tech market as well. “Certainly it happened in US in '90s. But do you know between 2000 and 2012, US NASDAQ gave zero return virtually?” he said. "Mega money can be made in shorter periods of time. And if too much money is made then you can have a period of subpar returns."
Naren concluded with a message for long-term investors: "Just because you want the market to give big returns doesn't mean the market is going to give you big returns."
After four years of strong equity performance, ICICI Prudential CIO Sankaran Naren is tempering expectations. Speaking on current market valuations and the broader investing climate, Naren, in a podcast with Groww, said investors should brace for only moderate returns in the long term — and definitely not “mega money".
"What Marks says is that you have to think — what are you trying to do? Do you think you're going to make mega money from here? Are you going to try to prevent loss of money from here?” Naren said, referring to investor Howard Marks' philosophy. "I believe we are in a situation where you can make moderate money over the long term from here. You can't make mega money. To make mega money you need very cheap valuations and you need fear. You neither have cheap valuations nor do you have extreme fear."
He stressed that while large-cap valuations have cooled off, mid- and small-cap segments remain significantly overvalued. “That doesn't mean that anything needs to fall,” he said, “but just because a market is overvalued doesn't mean it needs to fall either.”
Naren also said that recent FII selling had brought large-cap overvaluation under control. But the future course of the market remains uncertain. "We don't even know what US government policy is going to be over the next 2 to 3 years," he noted. "Markets are complex things, how they will play over the next few years is not clear."
Asked about young investors who entered the market after 2020, Naren suggested a mindset reset was essential. "I started investing in 1989. 1989 to 1994 was one of the biggest bull markets in Indian capital market history. It is like 2020 to 2024. I was under the impression that markets will always give you big returns. It didn't give from 1994 to 2004. For almost 9 years, the markets gave zero returns.”
He said current investors should be wary of assuming that strong past performance guarantees future gains. “If investors think that equity market is always going to give you mega returns, then they are completely mistaken. They have not seen markets.”
He drew parallels to the US tech market as well. “Certainly it happened in US in '90s. But do you know between 2000 and 2012, US NASDAQ gave zero return virtually?” he said. "Mega money can be made in shorter periods of time. And if too much money is made then you can have a period of subpar returns."
Naren concluded with a message for long-term investors: "Just because you want the market to give big returns doesn't mean the market is going to give you big returns."