New York-based Wisdom Tree, that pioneered the concept of fundamentally weighted Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and active ETFs, says that its India Earnings (EPI) Fund is up 12.8% year-to-date and is ahead of China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan.
Gaurav Sinha, strategist for Wisdom Tree said, “If you look across the countries the IMF tracks worldwide, how many can you name that are growing over 7%? Iraq, Myanmar and India, and India is the only large economy that has those numbers and that you can buy in the equity markets.”
Forbes reports: “Prime Minister Modi continues his plans to cut red tape, root out corruption, upgrade infrastructure, improve the fiscal position. No trade drama. No political crisis. No wars and rumors of wars. Reliable central bank. Stable government. A little expensive, but these days, who cares?”
India’s recent demonetization caused a temporary economic slowdown; however, recent company visits confirm that the economy is beginning to normalize. Gerardo Zamorano, director of the investment group for Brandes in San Diego says, “From my perspective, that policy [demonitization] did not change the long term outlook on India that much. If you’re the owner of a car dealer or a restaurant business, this might affect you next week or so, but not for a decade. That’s how we think of India. It’s a long term investment for Brandes.”
Robin Parbrook, head of Asia ex-Japan equities at Schroders, says India remains the best domestic story in Asia at the moment. “The base is low in India, so the building of roads, provision of mobile telecom networks, formal banking to the masses, and rooting out of middlemen and corruption can all make a big difference, ” he feels.
