Just a few weeks ago, Prime Minister Modi was celebrating India as having recovered from Covid19 and saving the world from economic disaster. But the virus is like that man-eating zombie in movies that doesn't die, and keeps getting back up even after you thought you killed it.  

As cases rise, India needs to ramp up on vaccinations and caution. The biggest case increase has been in Maharashtra, and CM Uddhav Thackeray was back on TV this weekend asking people and businesses to follow distancing and masking rules. 

Markets reacted to these worries by falling sharply. Everyone is hoping to avoid more lockdowns, which would severely impact business recovery, especially in segments like restaurants, hotels, movie theatres and FMCG. The rapid rollout of vaccinations is one positive - the Indian government has picked up the pace and is vaccinating over 1.3 million people per day. 

Outperformance Screener: Stocks that added several zeroes to the bank balance

Traders and short term investors swing the market back and forth, as they react to various headlines. But how many investors have the patience to hold a stock for ten years, through the highs and lows, the good and bad news cycles?

Having nerves of steel pays off. This relative outperformance screener tracks index outperformance over ten years, and tells the story of investors who put money on strong players early in the game, and then waited - and waited, and waited. 100 rupees invested in 2011 in a stock like Avanti Feeds, Vaibhav Global,  Alkyl Amines  or  Deepak Nitrite  among others, would have multiplied into the thousands by 2021. In the case of Avanti Feeds, that's a cool Rs. 2+ crore now if you had Rs. 1 lakh to spare in 2011. 

Analysts take a closer look at Jubilant Ingrevia

Newly demerged business Jubilant Ingrevia faced questions from analysts on a call ahead of its listing in stock markets. Aditya Khemka and Dheeresh Patil quizzed the management on issues such as the company's small revenue share at a per customer level - averaging Rs. 2 crore per customer - and its late entry into key chemicals such as ketene derivatives.  

The management was upbeat on the company's prospects, estimating double digit growth in revenue over FY21-23E, and capex spending of Rs. 900 crore across its specialty, nutrition and LSI verticals over the next three years.

It is worth noting however, that products that are a major source of revenue for Jubilant Ingrevia - including pyridine derivatives in specialty chem, and vitamin B complexes in the nutrition vertical - are seeing pricing pressures, and the business is counting on Chinese firms to raise prices to aid its own recovery. 

In other news

• Trendlyne's analysis of the Anupam Rasayan IPO concluded that in the specialty chemical space, the company is a backbencher.

• Britannia Industries saw some strong results early in the lockdown, but later quarters missed estimates. The company is now trying to win back volume growth.

• One unexpected outcome of the pandemic? Far fewer babies, according to a Bloomberg study. This is risking future pensions, especially for ageing populations in Europe and East Asia. 

Stay safe in volatile markets.

This is part of the newsletter series that goes out to users who have created a login. Sign up to get this newsletter in your inbox.