India has been relatively immune to the knock-on effects of the US-China trade spat felt by other countries in Asia, according to recent comments by Indian officials. However, they have also been slow to take advantage of the dispute.
That might soon change, and give a welcome boost to the country’s flagging domestic economy, which continues to be dogged by poor infrastructure, a high cost of capital and generally weak global competitiveness – despite the expectations that greeted prime minister Narendra Modi’s election in 2014 and his second term landslide victory last May.
India is now targeting companies including Apple, Foxconn and Wistron with a charm offensive aimed at encouraging them to shift business out of China, according to a report by Reuters earlier this month.
Anything that might boost economic activity, and distract international attention away from the crisis in Kashmir might help the country’s underperforming stock markets and equity funds.
The MSCI India index has dropped 2.62% year-to-date, compared with the MSCI World index’s 13.79% rise, according to FE Analytics data.
Our sister website FundSelectorAsia asked Jan Nel, analyst at Morningstar, to compare two India equity products which the fund research firm knows well and rates highly: the First State Indian Subcontinent Fund and the JP Morgan India Fund.
Click here to read his report.
For more insight on asset and wealth management in Asia, please click on www.fundselectorasia.com
