The emerging markets have been exhibiting some uneven growth, with commodity-producing countries taking the brunt of the recent hits. However, exchange traded fund investors can take a targeted approach to specific developing countries.
For instance, market observers are singling out India as a number of fundamental factors help support the emerging economy, reports Jeff Benjamin for InvestmentNews.
Specifically, many argue that India’s favorable demographics will help support a growing economy. Over a third of India’s 1.3 billion people are between the ages of 15 and 34 with a median age of 27, compared to 37 in China, 38 in the U.S., 41 in developed Europe and 46 in Japan. India’s population is also expected to grow by 1.4%, compared to China’s 0.5% and 0.9% in the U.S.
“India has the youngest population in the world. That’s why it’s a story of a rapidly growing consumer economy,” Ed Kerschner, vice chairman at Emerging Global Advisors, told InvestmentNews. “The middle class is not just a statistic. It’s an aspirational benchmark of when and how an economy begins to consume.”
Over the short-term, India has benefited from cheap energy prices as the country is one of the largest importers of crude oil. Looking further out, economic reforms, including more business-friendly and growth-oriented policies, could help support growth over the medium-term.
“India probably has the most progressive government, with leadership that seems at least interested in capitalistic ways of growing, even though there are still a lot of issues that could slow things down,” Theresa M. Rosen, founder and chief executive of Prudence Financial Inc., told InvestmentNews.