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Summary India is one of the most popular emerging market destinations. Indian stock markets offer great opportunity for investors looking to diversify geographically. Investors need to embrace the ‘reactive’ nature of these markets. Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are one of the best ways to access stocks listed on Indian stock exchanges. The Modi government has ushered in an era of ‘investor confidence’ in India by ending the period of policy paralysis. The one-year old government has taken initiatives on various issues, which include foreign direct investment, direct transfer subsidies and streamlined tax regimes, among other things. These steps have been complemented by the disciplined monetary policy management by the Reserve Bank of India. Tamed inflation has given room to the central bank to lower interest rates. In addition, internationally low oil prices are coming in handy for India which is hugely dependent on oil imports. A lower import bill and better fiscal management will help reduce India’s deficit problems. Notably, the International Monetary Fund estimates a 7.5% growth rate for India’s economy this fiscal. The country’s economic environment augurs well for investing in Indian stock markets. Exchange traded funds are one of the best ways for investors to access Indian land and diversify their portfolio geographically. While Indian stock markets offer great opportunity, they tend to be over-reactive. The graph below shows the annual performance of MSCI India Index, MSCI Emerging Market Index and MSCI ACWII Investable Market Index. The MSCI Index India has performed better than the other than during upward trend, but has dipped more during market fall. Nevertheless, India is still one of the best options among the emerging markets. In 2015, till September 10, the MSCI India Index was down by 9.22% while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index was down by 15.91%. The MSCI Index for countries like Brazil (-37.38%), China (-11.46%), Indonesia (-29.77%), Taiwan (-13.20%) and Thailand (-16.20%) were in red. Out of the BRIC countries, Russia was up by 6.98% (MSCI data source ). The weakness in the markets can be seen as a buying opportunity and follow Warren Buffet’s words of wisdom. Warren Buffett in his piece in The New York Times in October 2008 wrote: A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation’s many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now. Here are some of the ETFs investors can consider to access the Indian stocks. WisdomTree India Earnings Fund The WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (NYSEARCA: EPI ), launched in 2008, is among the biggest and well-known funds allocated purely towards India. A portfolio of 235 stocks makes the fund adequately diversified across different sectors within the Indian markets. Majority of the holdings in the basket are large cap with some element of mid-cap stocks. The fund’s top ten holdings are some of the best-known Indian companies like Infosys Ltd (NYSE: INFY ), Reliance Industries Ltd, Hosing Development Finance Co, ICICI Bank Ltd (NYSE: IBN ), Tata Consultancy Ltd, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Tata Motors Ltd (NYSE: TTM ) and State Bank of India ( OTC:SBKJY ), among others. The allocation towards the top ten holdings usually hovers in the range of 40-45%. The sector breakdown reflects the fund’s emphasis on financials (26%), information technology (20%) and energy (16%) sectors. The fund tracks the WisdomTree India Earnings Index, which is a fundamentally weighted index and hence includes companies based on their earnings performance. This ETF with its fund size of $1.66 billion and expense ratio of 0.83% emerges as one of the good funds for investors looking to bet on India’s growth story and yet stay more conservative in approach. (Source for fund facts and figures here .) iShares MSCI India ETF The iShares MSCI India Index ETF (BATS: INDA ) offers a more concentrated, passively managed bet in Indian stocks with its compact portfolio of around 70 stocks belonging to the large-cap and mid-cap space. The ETF is heavily invested in sectors such as information technology (20%), financials (16%), consumer staples (12%), healthcare (11%), energy (11%) and consumer discretionary (9%). The top ten holdings reflect the presence of these sectors in the fund with companies such as Housing Development Finance Co (NYSE: HDB ), Infosys Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd ( OTC:SMPQY ), ITC Ltd (NYSE: ITC ), Hindustan Unilever Ltd ( OTC:HNSQY ), Larsen & Toubro Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd ( OTC:HCTHY ) and Bharti Airtel Ltd ( OTC:BHRQY ). This ETF has an expense ratio of 0.68% and a beta of 0.64 which classifies it as a defensive fund. Although this ETF was launched only in 2012, it has $3.58 billion in assets under management, which speaks of the popularity of the ETF. (Source for fund facts and figures here .) PowerShares India Portfolio The PowerShares India Portfolio ETF (NYSEARCA: PIN ) is a large-cap fund (97%) that tracks the Indus India Index, which is a composition of 50 stocks. These are the stocks of some of the biggest companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange as well as National Stock Exchange. The fund has been around since 2008. It is diversified across different sectors with high allocation towards information technology (23%) and energy (22%) sectors followed by healthcare (13%) and financials (11%). The top ten holdings of the fund add up to 56% of its net assets. Its stop picks are Infosys Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd, Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, Housing Development Finance Co, Hindustan Unilever Ltd , Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Coal India Ltd ( OTC:CLNDY ), Bharti Airtel Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd ( OTC:INOIY ). (Source for fund facts and figures here .) Market Vectors India Small-Cap Fund The Market Vectors India Small-Cap Index ETF (NYSEARCA: SCIF ) is for investors with a high risk appetite. The Fund seeks to track the performance of the Market Vectors India Small-Cap Index. The fund has a 97.6% exposure to India with 1.9% and 0.8% of its net assets invested in the US and Japan. The fund’s holdings are largely small-cap, which by basic trait are much more volatile (and hence risky) in movement; such stocks tend to rally more during a boom phase and are often abandoned during weak markets which accentuates their fall in such times. The fund commenced in 2010 and currently has a $172.44 million in net assets. The fund has about 130 small-cap stocks in its kitty with the maximum exposure to the top holdings restricted to around 5%. This decreases the concentration risk; the top ten holdings currently added up to 25%. The fund has a good management backing it in addition to growing liquidity, but is only suitable to high risk-reward players. (Source for fund facts and figures here .) Two more exchanged traded funds focusing on small-caps are the iShares MSCI India Small Cap Index ETF (BATS: SMIN ) and the EGShares India Small Cap ETF (NYSEARCA: SCIN ). SMIN launched in 2012 provides exposure to small publicly listed companies in India. The fund with its small asset base of $62.88 million is diversified across 200 holdings. The top holdings make up just 17% of the portfolio; a small allocation towards each stock reduces the dependence of the fund on the performance of few stocks (Source for fund facts here ). Launched in 2010, SCIN is another fund focusing on the small-cap companies in India. This fund has a smaller portfolio of 75 stocks. The industry breakdown shows dominance of financials, industrials, consumer goods and utilities, making up 72% of the portfolio (Source for fund facts here ). Sector Specific ETFs There are two ETFs, which are positioned to gain from specific industries -infrastructure and consumer industry. One is the EGShares India Consumer ETF (NYSEARCA: INCO ), which tracks the Indxx India Consumer Index designed to measure the market performance of companies in the consumer industry in India. The fund was launched in 2011 and currently has $80.81 million assets under management. The fund has a small portfolio of 29 stocks picked from consumer goods (75%), industrials (14%) and consumer services sectors (11%) (Source for fund facts here ). Then there is the EGShares India Infrastructure ETF (NYSEARCA: INXX ) which is looking to benefit from India’s infrastructure industry. The fund has a portfolio of 30 holdings picked mostly from the industrials (40%), telecommunications (19%) and utilities (17%) space. The fund has a small corpus of $42 million and an expense ratio of 0.85% (source for fund facts here ). Funds focusing on select themes or sectors tend to be more risky. There is something for super adventurous investors. It is the Direxion Daily India 3x Bull ETF (NYSEARCA: INDL ), which is a leveraged exchange traded fund that seeks a 3x return of its benchmark index on a daily basis. Conclusion While Indian stock markets offer great opportunity given the fundamentals of its economy, it is not immune to other markets and economies. Market correction are bound to happen and the corrections triggered by weakness in other markets shouldn’t affect long-term investors unless India’s own economic parameters look weak. The recent market fall offers a good time for investors to enter and start building a long-term portfolio. In a nutshell, India’s growth story is intact. Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. (More…) I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Scalper1 News
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