NEW DELHI: Pandemic has not only forced companies to evolve their business models, but also triggered a ‘value’ shift, and the market is giving a thumbs up to that trend, says Safir Anand, a Dalal Street veteran.

Indian stocks have surged in tandem with many other global markets, completely detached from the pain showing up in the broader economy. The Sensex is thus far up some 50 per cent from the lows of March 24.

“What one should be focusing on is the value migration that is at play. You are migrating away from offline to digital, you are migrating away from office work to work from home, you are migrating away from urban to rural,” Anand told ETNow in an interview.

This is why real estate, infrastructure, NBFC and a lot of PSU stocks are not performing in this market while those from IT, pharma, consumer — what are called platform businesses – are having a good run, Anand said.

Changing face of businesses

As more and more companies adopt the work from home culture even after the virus is brought under control, experts around the world are raising doubts over the viability of cities themselves, and consequently business models formed around them.

Anand said this migration is not limited to India alone. A glimpse of it can be seen from the kind of personal vehicles people are buying now.

Along with the migration, innovation is also changing the landscape. “Tesla has proven what e-vehicles can do. At the same time, people are using motorcycles and scooters to commute a lot because of the migration to rural areas. In some European countries, for reasons of social distancing, people are buying scooters and motorcycles,” he said.

Business models are getting changed not just because of social migration, but also due to rising health concerns. This will create to a new breed of businesses, which would tackle these problems in innovative ways, mostly combining pharma with technology.

Anand gave the example of a company that makes pollution monitoring devices.

“Instead of focusing on just selling that, it is installing them in localities to track pollution levels and collect data. On the basis of that data, pharma companies will be able to predict if people in that particular area will suffer from chronic diseases in 10 or 15 years from now. The same things could be built into cars and other areas, where you get exposed to pollution. Then you are talking about a very large opportunity,” he said.

The lawyer-cum-investor also gave the example of change in business model of Tata SATS, which caters to airlines. As in-flight food was barred, the company developed an app to deliver food into people’s homes.

Chemicals space looks bright

Anand, who has large holdings in SRF and Atul from the chemicals space, said he regrets not buying Rossari Biotech on the day of listing. Rossari debuted on the exchange last week amid much fanfare.

He said there is a huge opportunity for companies in the chemicals space and only a select few will be able to avail this.

“A lot of these people now have safety mechanisms. They have upskilled in terms of quality, and many of them are innovating for the first time as opposed to being just commodity businesses, As India’s share in the API market is just 3 per cent of the global market, there is a humongous opportunity to take that to say 4 or 5 or 6 per cent,” he said.