Jio BlackRock's 2026 Vision: Differentiated Funds, Data-Driven Edge in Crowded Market

Sid Swaminathan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of JioBlackRock Asset Management Company, said the joint venture's core focus is to provide Indian investors access to strategies that are still underrepresented in the domestic market.

"It is beyond just the brand names. What we are trying to do here is ensure that investors in India are getting access to differentiated strategies. A lot of the funds that we're bringing to market are different ways of investing in the market," Swaminathan said while speaking with ANI on strategies for 2026.

He pointed to the firm's FlexiCap fund and the upcoming sector rotation fund, which is set to launch its new fund offer next week, as early examples of this approach.

"Providing Indian investors with easy access to differentiated strategies is one of the core value propositions for Jio BlackRock. That's what we're looking forward to in 2026," he added.

With more than 50 asset management companies currently operating in India, Swaminathan acknowledged that standing out will require a clear value proposition for every product launched.

"Every fund that we launch has to have a value proposition for a certain segment of the market whether it's institutional, retail or HNI clients," he said.

Beyond traditional mutual funds, JioBlackRock is also exploring international opportunities through GIFT City in Ahmedabad and expanding into newer investment vehicles.

"We're looking at differentiated vehicles like SIFs and ETFs. We've just launched a model portfolios offering that provides simplified, pre-curated asset allocations. Providing investors with choice and differentiated offerings is what will really set us apart," he added.

On portfolio construction and market volatility, Rishi Kohli, Chief Investment Officer of JioBlackRock Asset Management, said the firm follows a fully data-driven and systematic investment process designed to be scalable and resilient.

"We take fundamental, macro and technical data together to decide portfolios. Our process looks at alpha scores, risk scores, impact cost and liquidity analysis for every stock," Kohli said.

He explained that this framework, internally referred to as ARC (Alpha, Risk and Cost) feeds into an optimisation process that determines stock selection and weightages.

"Depending on the type of fund, the tilt changes. In the systematic FlexiCap fund, the focus is on stock-specific idiosyncratic alpha, whereas in the upcoming sector rotation fund, the analysis and optimization happen at the sector level," he said.

Kohli added that the use of BlackRock's Aladdin platform allows the firm to scale its investment processes efficiently as assets and fund offerings grow.

"We think a data-driven systematic approach is the most scalable way to increase both the number of funds and their capacity, especially given how fast Indian markets are growing," he said.

Looking ahead to 2026, Kohli highlighted opportunities on both the passive and active investing fronts.

"On the passive side, ETFs and index funds are seeing a lot of incremental flows, and we plan to launch ETFs in the coming months to capture that," he said.

He also sees scope for innovation in index construction. "There is room to create new indices or improve existing ones to global standards. We are geared up with index service providers to offer some of these newer products," Kohli added.

On the active side, JioBlackRock plans to focus exclusively on systematic strategies aimed at addressing gaps in the Indian market.

"Sector rotation is one such gap. There are not too many funds in India that capture sector alpha in a clean, systematic manner," he said. "We also see opportunities in factor-based strategies and standardised products like dynamic asset allocation or balanced advantage funds."

According to Kohli, these offerings are intended to play a more defined role in investor portfolios.

"From an asset allocation perspective, these products can fill gaps that exist today, and that's where our focus will be as we move towards 2026," he said.

- ANI