Exchange traded funds and notes that invest in the so-called BRIC countries have suffered from a performance standpoint year to date, lagging the developed markets indices. The acronym stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China.
For instance, EWZ (iShares MSCI Brazil) is down 20.78%, RSX (Market Vectors Russia) has lost 16.51%, INP (iPath MSCI India ETN) is down 27.25% and FXI (iShares China) has staggered 14.23% year to date, versus EFA (iShares EAFE) losing 11.22% and SPY (SPDR S&P 500) down 6.19%. [Russia is Goldman’s New Favorite BRIC Country]
Today, we focus on investment options within India, as the landscape has expanded considerably over the past two years, allowing portfolio managers to zero in on specific exposure to the country from both the long and the short side.
EPI (WisdomTree India Earnings) is the largest ETF in the India space, with over $1 billion in assets under management. INP (iPath MSCI India ETN), PIN (PowerShares India Portfolio) and INDY (iShares S&P India Nifty 50) follow from an AUM standpoint, and also offer broad based exposure to the Indian equity market.
For those portfolio managers or institutions that would rather be more specific in the exposure that they want, there are a number of small-cap funds for India as well as two that offer India sector exposure. SCIN (EG Shares INDXX India Small Cap) and SCIF (Market Vectors India Small Cap) are available, as are INXX (EG Shares India Infrastructure) and INCO (EG Shares India Consumer).