When the Adani group was losing support of investors, one asset management firm saw an opportunity. It purchased stakes in four Adani businesses: Adani Ports, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises. The deal cheered Adani stocks, pushing up their net worth to $42.7 billion in just a day. Since then, flagship Adani Enterprises and two other Adani group firms have more than doubled the price the asset management firm paid.

The firm was GQG Partners and the person leading the deal was its co-founder Rajiv Jain. And, it turns out, the Adani bet wasn’t his only well-timed trade.

Over the past year, GQG has significantly scaled its India investments, which have given Jain massive returns. According to Bloomberg, GQG’s India bets, across six funds, more than doubled to $9.9 billion from $4.4 billion a year ago. The report compiled the data from the latest regulatory filings and GQG’s disclosures but added that the firm’s India exposure was higher, though portfolio details of some of its funds were not available. In fact, as of October end, GQG had a total of 9 funds with investments worth $14.5 billion in India. This is about 20% of GQG’s total assets under management, according to Bloomberg's analysis.

GQG’s investments in the Adani group alone have shot up to $7 billion. Jain’s move to acquire $1.9 billion worth shares in the company in March and then adding more despite US short seller Hindenburg Research’s accusations came as a surprise to many.

But the total market value of the companies controlled by the Gautam Adani-led group has risen by nearly $80 billion since GQG’s bet.

Jain’s bid and eventual doubling down on Adani stocks turned many heads because the conglomerate was reeling from a market rout that wiped off around $150 billion of its value after the Hindenburg report. But Jain defended his investment, telling Bloomberg in April that while Hindenburg’s accusations look messy “from a Western point of view”, they were less problematic in the Indian business context. For him, the Adani investment made for a good strategic bet at a price far lower than its peak. “Adani companies own and operate some of the largest and most important infrastructure assets throughout India and around the world,” Jain had said in a statement at the time of announcing the deal.

Besides the Adani buy, Jain’s other investments in India too have reaped significant gains, with several of its invested stocks surging over 50% as maskets bask in exuberance.

This year, its largest fund, GQG Partners Emerging Markets Equity Fund, invested in many Indian companies across key sectors like energy, tobacco, healthcare and banking—in line with Jain’s usual mix of investments. It picked up stakes in JSW Energy, Patanjali Foods, Macrotech Developers, Max Healthcare Institute and IDFC First Bank. It also added ITC and State Bank of India to its portfolio. The fund’s biggest stake is in ITC.

Meanwhile, it exited holdings in Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and IT bellwether Infosys. It also exited Cipla and Bajaj Finserv this year. Interestingly, these companies have underperformed against the benchmark BSE Sensex through the year.

What stands out in GQG’s portfolio is not just the fact that Jain has been a smart investor with prolific timing and picks but also that he has chosen well-placed industries instead of sectors like technology, which critics believe could be highly overvalued. According to a Forbes report, he is known to put more emphasis on companies’ earnings than following market trends when planning investments. The only tech company the publication found in GQG’s disclosures was chipmaker TSMC.

“Our core valuation philosophy creates an investment style that we describe as buying high-quality, sustainable businesses at reasonable prices,” Jain had said in an interview with Toronto-based Bridgehouse Asset Managers last year. “We do not focus our analysts on macro factors such as interest rate directions or GDP growth; rather, we focus on the quality of our companies and invest in companies that we believe can perform in adverse macro environments,” he said.

Jain seems to pick safe stocks and then make big bets on them. And he clearly has eyes on the infra space, calling it a “new story” that is “still under-appreciated”.

According to Forbes, if not for the rout in Adani stocks in January, Jain’s bet on a ports-to-power conglomerate is absolutely in line with GQG’s typical investments.

Jain, also a billionaire, co-founded GQG with Tim Carver in 2016. Its assets under management have grown to $92 billion. Its funds hold large positions in energy giants ExxonMobil and Petrobras, as well as tobacco giants Philip Morris and British American Tobacco.