Pursuit of Permanence: Siddharth Balachandran on wealth, wisdom, and giving back

The session titled 'Dare to Dream Big' at the sixth edition of the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters, featured Siddharth Balachandran, an India-born UAE-based entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist who serves as the Executive Chairman and CEO of Buimerc Corporation along with Sabin Iqbal, the MBIFL curator and festival director.

The session gave insights on Siddharth's journey and philosophy, which emphasized the 'pursuit of permanence'. Siddharth highlighted the importance of connecting with excellence to achieve stability in a volatile world. He recounted his early investment in the Bombay Stock Exchange, which grew 40 times over 17 years, attributing this success to a blend of good fortune, research, and a well defined investment techniques.

Siddharth also reflected on his failures, describing them as crucial learning experiences. He shared how a significant market collapse taught him to act decisively in future crisis. Despite challenges posed by modern algorithms, his investment approach remains consistent, although he executed them through different methods. The unconventional methods including avoiding social media, helped him maintain focus and clarity in his investment decisions. The session underscored the value of resilience, strategic thinking, and staying true to one’s own principles in the pursuit of success.

He shed light on his perspectives on excellence, investment strategies, and India’s economic trajectory. Defining excellence as a concept with measurable parameters, he emphasized the importance of a company’s stability, management quality, and alignment with his values. He revealed that the youngest company in his portfolio is 38 years old, underscoring his preference for established firms over unstable startups. Siddharth also highlighted humility and sustainability as key traits he seeks in companies, avoiding those that experience rapid, unsustainable growth.

He stressed the importance of understanding a company’s fundamentals and the broader economic landscape before investing. When discussing India’s growth potential, Siddharth expressed optimism, citing the country’s human capital and rapid adoption of artificial intelligence as key drivers. He noted that India’s GDP growth, projected at 7.5%, which  positioned it well to achieve its ambitious target of becoming a $30 trillion economy by 2047. 

He also highlighted India’s proficiency in English, making it a global hub for skilled labour.

As a leader, Siddharth identified himself as an 'Omega leader', prioritizing respect, collaboration, and the collective journey of his team 'Give respect and do not expect respect back, earn it back' this was one of his main philosophies to be a good leader. He credited how his engineering and management background aided him for shaping his analytical and problem solving approach to investments. 

"You make money so you can give, so you can make more..." was his idea of philanthropy, which centered on empathy, empowerment, and impactful giving.

He concluded the discourse by addressing the  misconceptions about Kerala, he argued that the state is often misunderstood in terms of its business potential. Sidharth underscored that Kerala’s true potential lies in its people who withhold values of generosity and empowerment, which can drive both personal and collective growth. He remains hopeful about Kerala’s potential as an investment destination, envisioning a Kerala centric private equity fund in the future.