Three’s Company With India ETFs

First, WisdomTree and PowerShares launched their India exchange traded funds (ETFs). Now iShares wants to join in the party, too. It filed a registration form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week.

iShares will have its work cut out, because the first fund to launch usually benefits from the pent-up investor demand, says Jeffrey Ptak for Morningstar. The WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (EPI), launched in February, was the first India ETF. Right out of the gate, it traded a million shares, reports Mariana Lemann for Ignites, and has since garnered assets of $85.7 million. The PowerShares India Portfolio (PIN) launched last week.

The iShares India will track the S&P India Nifty 50 Index, which tracks the equity performance of the top 50 companies by market cap that trade in the Indian market. Barclays Global Investors will aim for a 95% correlation to the index.

An iShares fund could gain a competitive advantage in pricing: the expense ratio for WisdomTree’s fund is 0.88%, while the PowerShares fund is 0.78%. The average expense ratio for the type of fund iShares will create is 0.61%.