J.P. Morgan India FTM 6 Aug 26 RBI expectedly on hold and strikes a relatively dovish tone; India Equity Strategy; Avalon Technologies; Bharti Airtel Limited and More

Research evidence excerpt

Asia Pacific Equity Research

India First to Market

06 August 2026

Top Stories

RBI expectedly on hold and strikes a relatively dovish tone (Sajjid Z Chinoy)

Meeting reinforces our baseline call for a prolonged hold

The RBI kept policy rates on hold at today’s review, as was widely expected. Importantly, the tone was relatively dovish,

bucking expectations of a hawkish hold. Today’s developments reinforce our longstanding call of the RBI staying on a

prolonged hold in contrast to market pricing of about 60 bps of hikes over the next year, including significant pricing of a 25 bps

hike in October.

India Equity Strategy (Rajiv Batra/Rushit Mehta/Mixo Das/Arfi Khan)

Factor Investing – Aug’26: Stay Long Momentum as QMI recovers

In July, Quality was the standout outperformer in the Nifty 500, on both long/short and long-only bases. Momentum, by contrast,

was the worst-performing factor, in line with the global MOMO selloff. This led to our All-Weather composite giving back some

ground even as it continues to perform well across timeframes and cycle regimes. India Composite Momentum corrected

~3.8% peak-to-trough (Jun 22-Jul 8), but recovered by month-end. Momentum in India looks reassuring on both its own trend

and valuation. On trend, Composite Momentum still sits well above its 12-month average, so the usual pre-selloff warning is

absent. On valuation, the Long vs Short spread is at its historical average levels, with none of the crowding that drove the

global move. We therefore stay constructive on Momentum, especially where price strength is backed by earnings

revisions. We pair this with Quality discipline, while avoiding Value. On cycle, the QMI has continued to recover following

March’s downturn, typical of mid-cycle dynamics. Improvement is broad across components, alongside recent macro

resilience. Consistent with mid-cycle patterns, small- and mid-caps continue to outperform large caps (YTD: small caps +9.9%,

mid caps +4.6% vs Nifty 50 -5.8%).

Avalon Technologies (Bhavik Mehta, CFA) (AVALON IN, N, PT Rs1,650.00)

Another strong print, guidance upgrade should follow, US ops breakeven

1Q print was a beat across the board.…