The two golden rules of Equity Investing are

1) Buy Stocks Like You Buy Grocery: Experts advise that one should buy stocks like one buys grocery ie buy stocks from all categories. Your stock portfolio or your basket in this case should consist good stocks from all top categories. The lesser you diversify the higher is the risk. On the other hand, diversifying into several categories may lower your returns in some instances, but will protect your investments during a severe meltdown of markets.

2) Buy Low Sell High: Warren Buffett - The golden rule of equity investing is to "buy low & sell high". Although it is easier said that done, we have found through our own experiences that patience & suppressing your urge to buy stocks when markets are peaking or selling when the markets have crashed go a long way in growing your wealth through stocks. One needs to check the PAT growth/ de-growth or top line growth/de-growth vis-a-vis the previous year & compare it with the stock price increase/decrease, before investing in those stocks. Even when the markets are peaking, there will be a few sectors or a few quality stocks whi are facing temporary issues. This is the best time to invest in those stocks.

Based on the above two rules of equity investing, please find below the ideal composition of a stock portfolio

1) Defensive Stocks: Stocks which give comparatively give lesser returns, but are better at protecting your investments during market crashes are called as defensive stocks. These stocks are BSE - 100 stocks, who are generally from FMCG, Pharma & IT categories. Ideally one should allocate 40% -60% of their investments to defensive stocks. ex. HUL, RIL, ITC, TCS, Infosys, Cipla based on their risk appetite. It has been observed that defensive stock prices perform better in bearish market conditions.

2) Mid-Cap Stocks & Large Cap Stocks from Other Categories: Mid cap stocks ie stocks which are not listed on Nifty or Sensex. They have a market capitalization of INR 50 billion to INR 200 billion. Although riskier than large cap stocks, mid-cap stocks give much better returns than large stocks. Large cap stocks have limited scope for growth as compared to mid-cap stocks & hence mid-cap stock returns tend to be higher than large cap stocks. Large cap stocks from PSU banks, finance, real estate categories too have given decent returns over the years & should be a part of your portfolio. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, DHFL, LIC HFL etc are good stocks from the mid-cap segment.