Like many exchange traded funds (ETFs), the India Fund (IFN) closed-end fund (CEF) and the iPath MSCI India Index ETN (INP) have had a rocky year.
IFN is currently up 2.8% year-to-date. This CEF invests in a wide variety of Indian companies that work in industries ranging from engineering to telecommunications and textiles. IFN announced today a dividend of $1.36 per share that will be payable Oct. 18, 2007 to its shareholders. The dividend represents the undistributed amount of the fund’s net investment income and net capital gains for 2006. INP is currently up 23.1% year-to-date. It tracks the MSCI India Total Return Index that comprises the top 68 Indian companies by market capitalization.
As an emerging-market country, India’s economy is growing at such a swift pace, some are finding it difficult to keep up. India’s large infrastructure spending goals and a growing rural economy propose increasing credit demands on Indian banks, according to AFX News Limited for Forbes. These jitters could impact the performance of IFN and INP. The Indian economy went from a GDP growth of 9.0 percent during 2005 to 2006 to an increase of 9.4% from 2006 to 2007. The country’s economy is projected to be about 60% the size of the U.S. economy by 2025, according to EconomyWatch.com. With so much more anticipated growth, hopefully India finds solutions for getting supply to match demand.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.