Stocks to buy for long term: The Indian stock market has been rangebound for the last many sessions as investors remain cautious amid persistent uncertainty over a potential US-Iran peace deal, crude oil price volatility, and foreign capital outflow.
Experts believe a final peace deal between the US and Iran may trigger a fresh wave of strong buying in the market. However, they caution that the rally may not sustain for the long term as apprehensions are growing about the impact of elevated crude oil prices on the Indian economy and corporate earnings. Oil prices have been up since the US-Iran war started on 28 February.
Most experts believe this is a stock picker’s market. While the benchmark index may not see a runaway rally this year, many quality stocks can potentially deliver strong returns.
Vinit Bolinjkar, the head of research at Ventura, recommends eight such stocks, based on six structural themes that he believes will define India’s investment landscape over the next five to ten years: financialization of the economy and capital market deepening; infrastructure buildout and roads monetisation; India’s energy transition to renewables; two-wheeler market evolution and rural consumption recovery; premiumisation of consumer spending; and global manufacturing and export competitiveness in specialised industrial products.
“India’s structural growth story – anchored in a multi-decade infrastructure buildout, the energy transition, rising consumption, and deepening financial markets – offers investors a compelling multi-year compounding opportunity. The following eight stocks are selected on the basis of business quality, earnings visibility, competitive moat, and alignment with India’s long-term structural themes,” said Bolinjkar.
Stock picks for the long term
Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) | Previous close: ₹23.21 | Target price: ₹50 | Upside potential: 115%
Bolinjkar pointed out that is a high-conviction turnaround story that combines a deeply specialised, irreplaceable engineering capability with a balance sheet that has undergone a genuine and measurable transformation.
The company’s core expertise in technically complex infrastructure- tunnels, underground metro works, hydro power projects, nuclear plants, bridges, and coastal roads – is not replicable by generic EPC contractors. This specialisation creates a durable, defensible position in segments of India’s infrastructure market where the bidder pool is inherently narrow, said Bolinjkar.
As per Bolinjkar, the investment thesis is fundamentally about the distance between where the balance sheet is today and where it can realistically be in three to four years.
“After years of financial stress driven by delayed project payments and legacy debt, HCC has executed a meaningful deleveraging – significantly reducing total debt through capital infusion, arbitration realisations, and an oversubscribed rights issue. With debt falling, interest costs declining, and an order book that is healthy and growing, the operating leverage on the path to normalised earnings is substantial,” Bolinjkar said.
“HCC is not a comfortable stock – it is an asymmetric risk-reward opportunity for investors willing to underwrite a credible recovery thesis at a time when the market still prices in the legacy stress rather than the emerging strength,” said Bolinjkar.
IRB Infrastructure Developers | Previous close: ₹21.69 | Target price: ₹46.4 | Upside potential: 114%
is India’s largest integrated roads and highways developer and the dominant player in the toll-operated transfer segment.
“The core investment thesis is simple: IRB is no longer a construction-risk business. The overwhelming majority of its asset portfolio is already operational, which means revenues are driven by predictable, inflation-indexed toll collections rather than project execution uncertainty,” said Bolinjkar.
Management has guided for strong double-digit toll revenue growth ahead, supported by new project commissioning and organic traffic growth on existing corridors.
The government’s significantly enhanced road sector monetisation target over the next several years dramatically expands IRB’s addressable opportunity.
“For investors seeking infrastructure exposure without construction risk, IRB offers a rare and compelling risk-reward profile,” Bolinjkar said.
HDFC Bank | Previous close: ₹758.65 | Target price: ₹1,446 | Upside potential: 91%
Bolinjkar pointed out that is India’s most formidable private sector banking franchise and the most direct, high-conviction play on the long-term financialisation of the Indian economy.
The bank has navigated a deliberate phase of balance sheet consolidation following its merger, moderating loan growth to strengthen its deposit franchise and rationalise its credit-to-deposit ratio. It is now firmly positioned to re-enter a phase of accelerated, above-system growth in the coming years, said Bolinjkar.
The investment thesis rests on three pillars.
First, the merger integration overhang is behind us, and the combined franchise is larger, deeper, and more diversified than either entity was independently, said Bolinjkar.
Second, credit penetration in India remains well below global peers, meaning the runway for sustained loan book expansion over the next decade is structural, not cyclical, Bolinjkar said.
Third, the bank’s asset quality, return ratios, and deposit franchise are best-in-class, Bolinjkar said.
Management has guided for above-system loan growth ahead, marking a meaningful and long-awaited inflection point in the HDFC Bank growth narrative.
Welspun Corp | Previous close: ₹1,372.90 | Target price: ₹2,057 | Upside potential: 50%
Bolinjkar pointed out that is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of large-diameter pipes and represents a rare Indian industrial company with a genuinely global competitive position, supplying to oil and gas, water infrastructure, and energy transition projects across six continents.
The investment thesis is built on the convergence of two powerful long-term demand drivers: the global push to upgrade ageing energy and water infrastructure, and the accelerating energy transition that requires vast new pipeline networks for hydrogen, carbon capture, and renewable energy integration, said Bolinjkar.
“A large and diversified global order book spanning multiple years provides strong revenue visibility and significantly reduces the lumpiness typical of industrial order cycles. Welspun is an underappreciated global industrial champion in a portfolio context,” said Bolinjkar.
United Spirits | Previous close: ₹1,302.50 | Target price: ₹1,804 | Upside potential: 39%
According to Bolinjkar, , India’s largest spirits company and a subsidiary of global spirits giant Diageo, is the most direct and highest-quality way to own India’s structural premiumisation wave in alcoholic beverages.
Bolinjkar pointed out that as Indian consumers rise up the income ladder, spending patterns in discretionary categories shift predictably toward premium and aspirational products, and in spirits, United Spirits is the undisputed incumbent with the deepest brand portfolio, the widest distribution network, and the strongest parent backing to capitalise on this shift.
“The Prestige & Above segment — the company’s margin-accretive, high-growth engine — is compounding steadily as consumers trade up from economy variants. The balance sheet is debt-free with a net cash position, reflecting the exceptional capital efficiency of a brand-led, asset-light business model,” said Bolinjkar.
Hero MotoCorp | Previous close: ₹5,075 | Target price: ₹6,915 | Previous close: ₹36%
Bolinjkar highlighted that is the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer and holds an entrenched, near-unassailable position in India’s commuter motorcycle segment – the backbone of personal mobility for hundreds of millions of Indians.
“Hero is the rare combination of a cash-rich defensive compounder today and a genuine structural growth story for tomorrow,” said Bolinjkar.
The business generates strong cash flows, pays consistent and growing dividends, and has demonstrated the ability to defend and grow market share even in competitive cycles. This makes it one of the most reliable compounders in India’s consumer discretionary space, said Bolinjkar.
Bolinjkar highlighted that Hero is executing a well-capitalised pivot toward electric vehicles under the Vida brand, premium motorcycles, and international markets – three vectors of growth that have not yet been meaningfully priced into the stock.
Rural India’s consumption recovery, supported by improving agricultural incomes and government transfer programmes, provides a structural tailwind for core commuter volumes. Export expansion into new geographies adds a diversification premium, said Bolinjkar.
BSE | Previous close: ₹4,248.40 | Target price: ₹5,282 | Upside potential: 24%
Bolinjkar highlighted that has undergone one of the most remarkable structural transformations in Indian financial markets in recent memory- evolving from a primarily cash equity platform to a dominant derivatives exchange, powered by the explosive success of its Sensex and Bank index options.
“This is not a cyclical volume story; it is a structural market share gain story in one of the highest-margin business models in financial services,” Bolinjkar said.
The investment thesis is built on operating leverage at scale.
Bolinjkar underscored that exchange businesses are largely fixed-cost- once the technology and regulatory infrastructure is in place, every incremental rupee of transaction volume flows disproportionately to the bottom line.
“As India’s retail investor base continues to deepen, as SIP culture spreads to smaller cities, and as derivative participation grows, BSE sits at the centre of every one of these flows,” said Bolinjkar.
“The mutual fund distribution platform adds a high-growth, recurring revenue layer on top of the trading business. BSE is a capital-light, high-margin, structurally growing business-precisely the profile that deserves a premium long-term valuation,” Bolinjkar said.
Larsen & Toubro | Previous close: ₹4,047.50 | Target price: ₹4,775 | Upside potential: 18%
“L&T is the most complete, most durable, and most defensible way to own India’s infrastructure decade,” said Bolinjkar.
Bolinjkar underscored that from roads, metros, airports, and smart cities to defence platforms, nuclear facilities, data centres, and green hydrogen infrastructure – order book is a mirror of the nation’s infrastructure ambitions.
The investment thesis has three compounding layers.
Bolinjkar underscored that the core EPC business benefits directly from India’s sustained government capex push, with an order book that provides multi-year revenue visibility.
The defence vertical is at the early innings of a structural multi-decade growth cycle driven by the government’s indigenisation mandate, and L&T is one of the few Indian companies with the engineering depth to participate meaningfully in complex defence platforms. The technology services arm provides recurring, high-margin, globally diversified revenues that buffer the portfolio against EPC cyclicality, Bolinjkar said.
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Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. The views and recommendations expressed are those of the expert, not Mint. We advise investors to consult with certified experts before making any investment decisions, as market conditions can change rapidly and circumstances may vary.