Equirus Core Equity
Equirus PMS | Equity | | PMSIME's View on Equirus Core Equity
Strategy
Investment Fund
Equirus has been one of the best-performing small-cap specialists in India. Equirus Core Equity is a new strategy that is outside of Equirus' historical preference towards small-cap. We would wait for the strategy to age before recommending the same.
Fund's Strategy View
The investment objective is to generate capital appreciation predominantly through investments in equities across market capitalization curve with a long-term perspective.
Fund Performance
We refrain from evaluating the fund since it is yet to mature (less than 5 years).
IME's View on Equirus PMS
View on AMC
Equirus PMS had a strong start with its initial small-cap strategy, which aligned well with the group’s core strengths. However, over the past two years, the platform has faced significant investment-team churn, with two CIO-level exits in quick succession. This instability has coincided with a deterioration in performance, raising concerns around continuity, consistency of the investment approach, and execution
AMC's Pedigree
Equirus PMS, founded in 2016, is part of the fast-growing financial business of the Equirus group. They have established niches in other businesses and are becoming known for strong performance in small-cap investments, making them a strong AMC for investors seeking specialists in this area.
AMC Team
Equirus has seen significant churn in its investment leadership over the past two years. In 2024, Viraj Mehta exited and was replaced by Sahil Shah (ex-Edelweiss MF), who himself left the firm in November 2025. The CIO role has now been taken over by Ashutosh Tiwari, a long-tenured Equirus resource. The repeated churn in senior leadership over the past two years is a clear red flag and raises concerns around the stability and consistency of the investment team. The founder, Ajay Garg, is more directly involved in the InnovateX AIF, as compared to the PMS funds.
Investment Philosophy
Equirus PMS focuses on buying growth at the right price (GARP) and specializes in investing in smaller companies, aligning with their broking expertise.
Investment Strategy
- Core Longs (80%): High-quality companies, high-conviction long-term positions, low turnover | 2-5 year horizon
- Tactical Plays (10%): Lower quality usually when compared to Core Longs, enhanced price discipline
- Opportunistic (10%): Special situations, price undervalued/oversold opportunities, undiscovered/low-coverage opportunities
EXIT STRATEGY
- Partial Selling: when fundamentals start to deteriorate | weightage is high
- Complete Exit: investment thesis might not play out | argument changes due to changes in environmental or company-related factors
PREFERENCE
Equirus Core Equity looks for companies that require less capital to grow and have a large room for growth and a durable competitive advantage with a tilt towards promoter-run companies, disruptors or beneficiaries of disruption and businesses seeing positive changes.AVOID
PSU except in a few cases, companies susceptible to large-scale disruptions and companies with poor governance.Investment Process
- Step 1 Universe: Listed Indian equity space with businesses that offer high growth, existing or potential market leadership driven by competitive advantage, proven management, track record, turnaround cases, corporate action, and under-ownership.
- Step 2 Screening, Research & Analysis: Screening for businesses with superior/improving future profitability at reasonable valuations and strong BS.
- Step 3 Formulation of Investment Rationale: Evaluate stocks based on 3yr CAGR potential.
- Step 4 Accepting ideas from 25-50 Stocks: Accepting stock ideas and inclusion in portfolios and continually monitoring investment thesis and weightage.
- Step 5 Selection of 20-25 Stocks
AMC Background
Equirus PMS is the portfolio management arm of the Equirus Group, a financial services platform founded in 2007. The group began with investment banking, expanded into institutional equities in 2010, and launched its PMS offerings in 2016. Equirus Wealth has notable strategic shareholders, with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Federal Bank holding approximately 13% and 20% stakes respectively.
Investment Philosophy & Process
Equirus PMS follows a blended quality and value approach, with the objective of investing in relatively under-researched businesses that possess strong long-term growth potential but are available below intrinsic value. The philosophy is best described as GARP (Growth at the Right Price).
Investment Framework
- Growth: Earnings growth driven by a combination of revenue expansion and margin improvement.
- Financial Strength: Preference for companies with low or no debt, including deleveraging situations with improving coverage ratios.
- Profitability: Focus on businesses delivering high ROCE, supported by improving margins and/or asset turnover.
- Management Quality: Emphasis on integrity, promoter skin-in-the-game, and prudent capital allocation practices.
- Attractive Valuations: Targeting companies with low analyst coverage and institutional ownership, where the market underappreciates long-term potential.
Focus on Small & Mid-Cap Opportunities
While the framework itself is broad-based, the strategy has a natural tilt towards smaller companies, reflecting the AMC’s institutional broking expertise and the core strengths of the fund manager, Viraj Mehta. This positioning has also been supported by the strategy’s performance since inception.
Suitable For
Investors seeking exposure to a small- and mid-cap–oriented asset manager with a disciplined GARP-style investment approach.
Trailing Performance
| 1yr | 3yr | 5yr | Since Inception | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equirus Core Equity | ||||
| S&P BSE 500 | ||||
| Alpha over Broad Mkt BM |
Performance as of: 30-Nov-25 | Inception Date: 27-May-22 | Performance are post-fees, pre-taxes. Global funds denominated in USD or fund currency.
Investment team
Ajay Garg | 4-star rated FM
Managing Director | 32 yrs Experience | 18 yrs at current firm
Past Experience: DSP Merill Lynch (VP), Mape Advisory Group (Co-Founder), Kwench (Director), CRIF India (Director)
Ajay Garg is the founder of Equirus Capital. He is a veteran investment banker, with over 22 years of experience in Investment Banking. He is acknowledged as being amongst the top dealmakers in the country. He started his career with DSP Merrill Lynch where he was involved with several landmark deals during his stint there between 1996–2002. Prior to setting up Equirus in 2007, he was the group CEO of a leading investment bank which he co-founded. Ajay holds a first degree in engineering and is a postgraduate in management from IIM, Ahmedabad.
Ashutosh Tiwari | 3-star rated FM
CIO | 21 yrs Experience | 16 yrs at current firm
Ashutosh Tiwari has over 16 years of capital-markets experience, having been with Equirus Securities since 2009 - starting as an analyst and rising to Head of Research and later Managing Director & Head of Institutional Equities. Prior to Equirus, he worked as an analyst at KR Choksey.
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