After Narendra Modi’s win in the recent national elections, consumer confidence levels in India jumped in the second quarter, lifting the country to the top position globally. Investors can capitalize on the rising confidence with India small-cap and a consumer sector exchange traded funds.
According to the global consumer confidence index study conducted by Nielsen, India’s consumer confidence level rose seven points to 128 at the end of the second quarter, the Economic Times reports.
“Consumers in India have indicated increased levels of confidence in the second quarter when the country’s general elections were taking place,” Nielsen India Region President Piyush Mathur said in the Economic Times article. “This buoyancy is yet to translate into increased consumption across sectors. Despite the ongoing inflationary trend and expectations of a poor monsoon, consumers are likely to open their purse strings as we head into the festive season in response to savvy marketing stimulus.”
ETF investors can directly tap into the India’s consumer sector through the EGShares India Consumer ETF (NYSEArca: INCO), which includes a 64.2% weight toward consumer discretionary and 34.9% in consumer staples. INCO has increased 27.7% year-to-date.
Alternatively, investors can take a look at small-cap ETFs that have larger positions in consumer sectors. The Market Vectors India Small-Cap Index ETF (NYSEArca: SCIF) largest sector weight includes consumer discretionary at 21.6%, EGShares India Small Cap ETF (NYSEArca: SCIN) has a 17.9% position in consumer discretionary and iShares MSCI India Small-Cap ETF (NYSEArca: SMIN) takes a 19.5% position in the sector. Year-to-date, SCIF is up 56.1%, SCIN gained 44.4% and SMIN increased 42.4%. [India ETFs Waiting on Modi to Make Good on Promises]
In contrast, broad large-cap country ETFs, like the WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (NYSEArca: EPI) only has a 9.7% weight toward consumer discretionary and 3.3% in consumer staples. EPI increased 29.7% year-to-date.