Toad680

India Funds Offer Investors Potential for Sustained, High Level Growth

I am a direct investor in the Indian market and am in the country probably once every 4-6 weeks on average. You are probably underestimating the water situation in the country.

However, you will not be able to isolate great themes via funds. In fact, when I looked at the Sensex a few months ago (I am sure these statistics are dated), 40% of the members were actually down on the year and six of the thirty were down by 35% or more. The Sensex's performance this year has been driven by massive performance by a few select names like Reliance and HDFC. There is a lot of alpha to be earned in India, if you have good ideas.

The only benefit I see to funds is that many in the US are trading at a discount to their NAVs. Other than that, you guarantee average returns. But maybe your water idea is better than average?

IVRCL, hyderabad based, is the company you want to buy if you have conviction. It's the best water play in India (desalinization, purification, irrigation), but also leveraged to infrastructure such as construction and roads--no shortage of work there, either.

UBS can set you up with an account to trade in countries like India for a min USD 1 million in assets. You don't need that much if you are willing to pay a fee (maybe USD 400 per year) for the account--but that's doesn't seem like that much if you want access to this market.

There have been changes in the availability of P-notes in the country, so it may be incrementally more difficult. But I think they can still set you up.