Infosys, L&T are top picks of most brokerages for Samvat 2078

Public sector banks, information technology companies, cement makers, and consumption plays are among other picks

Despite unprecedented levels of uncertainty in Samvat 2077, investors have little to complain about on the returns front. The BSE Sensex delivered returns of 38 per cent in this period, while the Nifty registered a return of over 40 per cent. As is the case in bull markets, companies in the small- and mid-capitalisation basket outperformed the benchmarks, with returns almost twice those of frontliners.

What dominated the returns charts over the past year were realty, metal, and public sector undertaking (PSU) bank indices which doubled shareholder value. Brokerages believe some of these themes - such as realty and banks