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Unlocking India With ETFs

Posted: Jun 26, 2008 14:57 PM by Gregory S. Davis

Tickers in this Article: EPI, PIN, INFY, INP, IBN, EEB, BIK

A diversified portfolio must cover multiple industries and multiple countries. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) term has been tossed around so much lately that every investor must be tired of it, so instead of the group approach, we'll just look at India.

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Before I get too far ahead of myself, investors should remember that diversification is the name of the game, so I would warn against a portfolio focused solely on India, but nonetheless let's take a look at what ETFs are available to fill the international void in your portfolio. Two new offerings opened to investors this year include the WisdowTree India Earnings ETF (AMEX:EPI) and the PowerShares India Portfolio ETF (AMEX:PIN). (If you're an investor who likes to understand how and why your investment products work, check out An Inside Look At ETF Construction.)

WisdomTree India Earnings ETF
The WisdomTree India is composed of 122 Indian companies and its top-three holdings are: Reliance Industries, Oil & Natural Gas company, and Infosys Technologies (Nasdaq:INFY). WisdomTree broke ground in India by being the first ETF to offer direct exposure to local Indian securities. WisdomTree is using an earnings-weighted system to choose the

Indian-

based companies from its India Earnings Index.

PowerShares India Portfolio ETF
The PowerShares India Portfolio is made up of fewer companies with only 45 holdings, but the two ETFs have the same top-three holdings in common. The PowerShares India ETF also allows investors to have direct exposure to local India securities unlike Exchange Traded Note (ETN) options. Stocks are chosen for this ETF from large companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange. (Find out what ETNs have to offered, and what's at stake, in our related article Exchange Traded Notes - An Alternative To ETFs.)

Existing India ETN Offering
The iPath MSCI India Index ETN (AMEX:INP) has the longest track record of the three

India-

focused investments, but it also has a few key differences. First take note that it is an ETN and not an ETF. ETNs have bond characteristics that are differ from ETF that are traded like a stock. ETN investors also do not have interest in the underlying securities unlike the options offered by the two ETFs mentioned above. The iPath India ETN is linked to an index that currently tracks 66 Indian stocks. It replaces the Oil & Natural Gas company with the ICICI Bank (NYSE:IBN) among its top-three holdings.

Diversification is the Key
Emerging markets particularly China and India have turned downward sharply since the beginning of the year. Investors with a portfolio heavily weighted in either of these two markets are suffering from the short term pullback. Two ways to proceed include considering more diversified ETFs like the Claymore BRIC (AMEX:EEB) and the SPDR BRIC 40 (AMEX:BIK) which give investors additional exposure to the fast growing economies of Russia and Brazil. The other option is to proceed with a dollar cost averaging approach that will help to smooth out the major drops in price that plague investors who make one play and walk away.

To learn more, read Finding Fortune In Foreign-Stock ETFs.

By Gregory S. Davis

Gregory S. Davis is the owner of G. Davis Capital, a Registered Investment Advisor with the state of North Carolina dedicated to providing independent investment research and education. His core methodology for choosing investments includes going against emotion eliciting headlines while focusing on asset diversification. G. Davis Capital also publishes the ETF education website, ETFReady.com . Gregory is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business and he has received an MBA from Bowie State University.

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