Stocks to buy for long-term: Brokerage house InCred Research has reiterated its bullish stance on India’s equity markets, maintaining an Overweight view on the Nifty 50 as the economy continues to surprise on the upside. A sharp rebound in personal consumption, an upbeat festive season and better-than-expected GDP data for Q2 FY26 have strengthened confidence in India’s growth trajectory.
Against this backdrop, InCred has updated its high-conviction stock list for December 2025, highlighting strategic portfolio adjustments and key opportunities across large-caps, mid-caps and small-caps.
Portfolio Changes: Shriram Finance Exits High-Conviction List After Strong Rally
The headline change in InCred’s December update is the removal of Shriram Finance from its high-conviction basket. The stock delivered an impressive 28% gain over the last two months, prompting analysts to book profits. InCred noted: “We book profit as its stock price rose by impressive 28% in last two months.”
No new stocks were added to the model portfolio this month, as analysts preferred to retain their existing high-conviction ideas, many of which have meaningfully outperformed since the inception of the series in September 2022.
The brokerage continues to see strength in large-caps, citing attractive valuations relative to historical averages and supportive government policy actions that could cushion risks from currency depreciation. As the report states: “We reiterate Overweight rating on Nifty-50, with the index target at 28,433, as forward P/E valuation is just above the 10-year mean level and government policy actions seem to be helping revive personal consumption.”
InCred’s High-Conviction Stock Picks
InCred’s conviction list spans large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap ideas, each backed by company fundamentals, sector positioning and relative value.
Large-Cap Conviction Picks
The large-cap bucket includes established leaders with strong earnings visibility:
HDFC Bank (ADD) – Target price ₹1,180, implying 18% upside.
TCS (ADD) – With improving demand trends in IT, the target price of ₹3,663 offers 15.2% upside.
Bajaj Finance (ADD) – A high-quality lender with long-term secular growth, offering 22.4% upside.
Maruti Suzuki (ADD) – Target ₹17,677, or 9.9% upside, as personal mobility demand remains robust.
Axis Bank (ADD) – Also expected to deliver 18% upside.
Tata Steel (ADD) – One of the strongest upside calls in the large-cap group, with a 34.2% return potential.
Lupin (ADD) and GE Vernova T&D (ADD) further strengthen the portfolio with 15.4% and 46.5% upside respectively.
Mid-Cap Conviction Picks
Among mid-caps, InCred highlights three companies:
Container Corporation of India (Concor) – At 53.2% upside, this is the strongest mid-cap idea.
Apollo Tyres – Beneficiary of auto demand recovery, with 9.4% upside.
Ajanta Pharma – Offers 18.9% upside, backed by favourable technical trends.
Small-Cap Ideas
Small-caps dominate the high-upside list:
Deepak Fertilisers (ADD) – A robust 56.6% upside.
Clean Science (REDUCE) – The only Reduce call, with –15.6% expected downside.
Thyrocare Technologies (ADD) – A standout with 223% upside potential, the highest across categories.
Camlin Fine Sciences (ADD) – Another multibagger-potential idea at 199.9% upside.
Globus Spirits, TCPL Packaging and VRL Logistics also feature with upside targets ranging 19–78%.
Macro Backdrop
InCred highlights that India’s Q2 FY26 GDP growth of 8.2% significantly exceeded expectations, supported by strong private consumption growth of 7.9%. A successful festive season and ongoing outperformance of large-caps over mid-caps and small-caps further reinforce the favourable market backdrop. IT, automobiles and pharmaceuticals led gains in November, while realty, commodities and FMCG underperformed.
However, the brokerage cautions that rupee depreciation remains a concern, even as domestic drivers such as government spending and consumption revival help offset external pressures.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
