Budget stocks to buy: Nirmala Sitharaman's Triveni Sangam throws up over 50 ideas

With the Union Budget aiming at a rare trinity of boosting consumption through tax relief, maintaining fiscal discipline, and continued allocation to capex, albeit some moderation, brokerages see new opportunities for growth in the consumption space, particularly on the discretionary side.

"The budget's emphasis on consumption-oriented measures, coupled with a relatively modest increase in capital expenditure allocation, signals a shift in focus from strengthening fiscal multipliers through capex to prioritizing immediate economic gains. The government is banking on rekindling animal spirits and encouraging the private sector to take the lead in investments by prioritizing consumption growth and strengthening the health of the agriculture sector," HDFC Securities said.

Revving up consumption in the near term would provide additional triggers for both central and private capex to revive in the medium to long term.

The consumption boost comes at a time when the Nifty has corrected 12% from its 52-week high, while the smallcap index has lost around 16% of its value. Largecaps, therefore, are more reasonably valued after persistent selling by FIIs while valuations in the mid and smallcap segments continue to remain high.

"The biggest factors stabilizing the equity markets hereon would be the turn of the monetary policy cycle, bottoming of consumption demand, and peaking of DXY. We expect the India 10-year yield to moderate towards 6.6% by March 2025E and 6.4% by March 2026E," said Garima Kapoor of Elara Securities.

The domestic brokerage is overweight banks and large NBFCs and the prefer new government capex themes such as maritime and ports over roads and railways.

Also read | Modi stocks out, consumer stocks in. How Nirmala Sitharaman changed investing theme in Budget

"We see positive near-term levers for consumption stocks, mainly auto and discretionary consumption. We prefer banks (cheap valuations, turning liquidity cycle, low asset quality risk), large-cap NBFCs, and power plays (fair valuations after correction). We continue to favor select defense plays, especially in component making," Elara said.
Top stock picks after Budget 2025:

Emkay Global

Emkay has retained its tilt toward consumption and added to its overweight position on consumer discretionary as the preferred route to play the theme.

"Incremental growth is sharpest for these sectors, and valuations are still reasonable. The other beneficiaries are staples and financials, but both sectors suffer from a valuation-growth mismatch, and any rally should be short-lived," it said.

The brokerage has tweaked its portfolio to add Maruti Suzuki and Paytm, removing ONGC and trimming BPCL. Top picks for 2025 are: Lupin, Zomato, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, Escorts, Paytm, StoveKraft, Metropolis Healthcare, and Quess Corp.

SBI Securities

Describing the Budget as a consumption-led growth-oriented one in the backdrop of a slowing domestic economy and uncertain global environment, SBI Securities said it remains constructive on sectors such as Auto, Auto Ancillary, Realty, FMCG, Healthcare, Renewables, Railways, Defence, ERW pipe makers and select banks and NBFCs with medium to long term investment horizon.

Top Budget stock picks include ITC, Bajaj Finance, IndiGo, Indian Hotels and Brigade Enterprises.

JM Financial

RIL, TCS, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Bajaj Finance, L&T, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, DLF, HDFC Life, Hindalco, GCPL, Havells, SRF, BHEL and KPIT.

Ventura Securities

NBCC, Genesys, Tejas Networks, Ceinsys, CE info Systems, HFCL, Adani Energy Solutions, Powergrid, Jyoti Structures, TRIL, Shilchar, Skipper, KEC, Kalpataru, HCC, L&T, Walchandnagar, KSB, WPIL, Kirloskar Brothers, Interglobe Aviation, Anlon, SpiceJet, GMR, Gravita, Pondy Oxides, Star, Niva Bupa, Religare, ICICI Lombard, Container Corp, Adani Ports, Shreyas Shipping, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ola Electric, Hyundai, Hero Moto, TVS, Amber, Dixon, Opteimus Electronics, Avanti Feeds, Waterbase, Mukka Protein, Indian Hotels, ITHL, IRCTC, Apollo Hospitals, Fortis.

Bajaj Broking

United Spirits, Dabur India and Exide Industries.

Antique Broking

Within the largecap universe, Antique likes Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, SBI, Ultratech, Titan, NTPC, HAL, Trent, Siemens, Havells, and Mazagon Dock.