India top draw for emerging mkt funds

GEM funds have an average allocation of 6.5 per cent of their total assets to India, a good 2 percentage points higher than the 4.47 per cent country weight in the MSCI-EMF.

GEM funds are attempting to outperform the benchmark MSCI EMF Index, which has gained nearly 20 per cent in the current year, by overweighting India, followed by Brazil and Thailand in their portfolios, according to the latest data on emerging markets country investments. This data are collated by the Boston (US)-based Emerging Portfolio Fund Research (EPFR).

Within the emerging markets, the MSCI index has the maximum country weights for Korea (18.5 per cent), Taiwan (9.9 per cent) and South Africa (9.7 per cent). India is at the sixth position in terms of such weights.

Some funds are as much as 300 per cent overweight on India (compared again with the MSCI-EMF index), having invested almost 15 per cent of their total assets.

Among such funds, the Liberty Newport Tiger Fund has invested about 15.5 per cent of its $295 million assets in India, the highest by any single fund in terms of percentage allocation.

The three funds under Capital Research Management have an average of 12 per cent of their total $17 billion funds invested in India.

This is followed by Comgest SA which allocated 12 per cent of its total assets to India, Boston Company Asset Management (about 11 per cent), Vontobel Asset Management (about 12 per cent), JP Morgan Fleming Investment (about 10.5 per cent).

The list of other funds: Arisaig Partners (about 10 per cent), Scudder Kemper Investments (about 9.5 per cent), Schroder Investment (about 8 per cent), Aberdeen Investment Average (about 11 per cent), ABN Amro Investment (about 8 per cent), Advantage Advisors (about seven per cent), UBS Global Asset Management (about 7 per cent), Pictet Asset management (about nine per cent), Pioneer Investment Management (about seven per cent), Rexiter Capital Investment (about eight per cent), Genesis Investment Management (about eight per cent), Henderson Investment Management (about nine per cent), J&W Seligman (about 10 per cent), Lazard Asset Management (about eight per cent), Lloyd George Management (about seven per cent), Deutsche Asset Management (about seven per cent), First State Investment Management (about seven per cent), Alliance Capital Management (about nine per cent), AGF International Advisors (about nine per cent), American Express Asset Management (about eight per cent), Battery March Financial Management (about seven per cent), Van Eck Global Asset Management (about seven per cent), West LB Asset Management (about 10 per cent), Sogelux Fd Equities Emerging Asia (about 11 per cent) and Unibank Investment Management (about seven per cent).