Devina Mehra on Global VS India Investing, Asset Allocation & Portfolio Construction in Stock Markets | The India Opportunity Show with Shrishti Sahu
2 Lucknow girls discuss their love for stock markets and learnings from decades of investing
Hello everyone, welcome to The India Opportunity Show where you get a front-row seat to people building India’s future. We talk about unlocking the potential of the country with founders, investors, creators, and successful leaders from different fields to bring you real-life stories and behind-the-scenes of what it takes to be at the forefront of building the India Story.
Episode 19, Season 3 of The India Opportunity Show is out now! You can watch it on YouTube or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Devina Mehra is one of the few investors in India who combines deep quantitative thinking with long-cycle market experience. As the Chairperson and Managing Director of First Global, she has spent decades studying how capital actually behaves—not in theory, but across cycles, geographies, and regimes. What distinguishes her is not bold prediction, but disciplined probability-based thinking.
In a market often dominated by narratives, Devina brings data. She is deeply skeptical of popular stories, fashionable themes, and linear projections. Instead, she focuses on base rates, historical patterns, and the often-uncomfortable truth that most outcomes in markets are driven by factors investors prefer to ignore—risk, mean reversion, and the limits of forecasting.
In our conversation, she challenged several deeply held assumptions about Indian equities, global diversification, and the tendency of investors to confuse recent success with structural superiority. Her perspective is particularly valuable in moments of optimism, when capital tends to forget that discipline matters most precisely when things seem obvious.
Devina represents a school of investing that is calm, evidence-led, and unapologetically rational. In the context of India’s capitalist moment, her voice serves as an essential counterweight—reminding us that while India’s opportunity is real, capital must still be allocated with humility, rigor, and respect for uncertainty.
⏱️ Chapters
0:00 How to think about asset allocation?
03:36 Building global diversified playbook
11:29 Why asset allocation matters most?
16:55 Are Indian markets actually expensive?
19:13 Should investors stop SIPs now?
20:52 How often should stocks be sold?
26:29 When to sell underperforming winners?
40:27 What to ask fund managers?
48:53 Which sectors look risky today?
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Disclaimer: The content presented in this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Viewers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.