New Delhi, Oct. 14 -- Every morning, most of us have the urge to check the prices of stocks we have bought.

Farmers though, usually start the morning thinking about their land, not the price of what they're growing. They watch the soil, the sky, and wait for the right season to do its work. Investors eyeing a 100,000 Sensex can benefit from thinking the same way.

The goal is not to predict every market swing, but to understand which parts of the economy have the right soil, sunlight, and staying power to keep yielding over time. Some will keep giving good harvests; others will dry out when the global winds change.

To see where the next great crop of returns might come from, it helps first to look at how the market is currently tilled a...