Envision’s Nilesh Shah says realty story still in early days, check out his top bets

The ace investor added that the residential property market and home improvement sector are witnessing a boom and strong demand for home loans as further reasons for investment in the sector

In an interview with CNBC TV18, Nilesh Shah, MD and CEO of Envision Captial, doubled down on his bets in the real estate sector reasoning strong returns from the industry. “The real estate is one of the few spaces that is coming out of a long slumber,” said Shah.

He added that the residential property market and home improvement sector are witnessing a boom and strong demand for home loans as further reasons for investment in the sector. The ace investor explained some of his investment tips and the rationale behind the picks.

“On the home improvement side, we’ve been owning Polycab now for maybe three years or so and that’s been a great ride so far. They continued to deliver, gain market shares, grow volumes and manage margins really well,” said Shah.

The shares of Polycab have risen by 95.31 percent in the last year.

Shah said one of their recent additions was Stylam Industries. The laminated sheet manufacturer largely focuses on export markets and is trying to make inroads in the domestic markets, he added.

Stylam Industries stock has gained 46.91 percent in the past year.

He added that they are invested in the mortgage finance segment through Home First, and the company has been growing at 30 percent and has managed its asset quality, spreads, yields and net interest margins (NIM) really well.

Home First Finance’s shares have surged 14.48 percent in the last six months.

Shah also talked about his investment in Kolte Patil. The Pune-based real estate developer also has businesses in Bangalore. He said that these cities have been “big hubs in terms of demand for middle-income housing.

Shares of Kolte Patil increased 60.87 percent in the past year.

The ace investor said that “we’ve been positioning ourselves and participating in this great story we just think that it’s still kind of early days, the journey has just begun”.