But these should be used only as portfolio diversifiers.
The rupee has depreciated against the dollar by about 11 per cent in the past three months. While it means woes for importers and foreign investors who have already put in money into equities or debt, for some Indian investors it could be good news. Especially if you have invested in international funds.
In the past three months, the least impacted equity mutual fund category is international feeder funds (after FMCG funds), according to data from Value Research. This category has fallen only 1.75 per cent.
The returns, adjusted for currency (dollar) movements, shows that the rupee depreciation and improved performance in some of these markets has helped investors. Motilal Oswal's Nasdaq 100 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is the best performing in this category. It has gone up 10.4 per cent in the past three months. DSP BlackRock's World Gold Fund has gone up 7.7 per cent, Birla Sun Life Commodities Equities-Global Precious Metals is up 4.8 per cent and AIG World Gold by 4.3 per cent.
The important question is how much of an impact do currency fluctuations have on these international feeder funds. "The returns on these funds include both actual investment gains and losses and the exchange rate changes between the currency of the underlying investments and the rupee," explains Hemant Rustagi, CEO of Wiseinvest Investment Advisors.
One can get hurt, too. If someone has been invested in an international fund for the past one year, the return would have been hurt. For instance, AIG World Gold Fund's actual returns are 12.3 per cent in the past year, while the rupee has depreciated by more than 10 per cent in the same time. Since the rupee fell, the fund was able to give better returns. If one takes the currency fluctuation into account, the adjusted return of the scheme is only 1.8 per cent. Similarly, the ING Optimix Global Commodities went up 5.3 per cent in a year and its currency-adjusted return is a negative 5.2 per cent.
No wonder, the advice is to play it safe. “The impact of currency movements on an international fund depends on the type of fund and its underlying holdings. These funds will be impacted by the movement of individual currencies, trading and the stock prices, rather than the rupee’s behavior against the dollar alone. Investors should focus on the long-term opportunity, rather than trying to time the currency movements, which are difficult to predict," says Harshendu Bindal, president, Franklin Templeton Investments (India).
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Arvind Bansal, vice-president and head (multi-manager investments), ING Mutual Fund, says one might be impacted by such fluctuations in the short term. However, over the long term, things could even out. Apart from the currency fluctuations, international funds are influenced by the movement of its underlying assets, like any other fund. For ING's Global Real Estate fund, the global real estate prices impact performance, apart from the currency fluctuations. "The Latin America Fund has about 75 per cent of its portfolio invested into companies in Brazil. So, apart from the performance of the Brazilian stock markets, the Brazilian real's movement vis-a-vis the dollar and the dollar's movement against the rupee is also considered when calculating the return," says Bansal.
Rustagi says while one should be wary about currency fluctuations, one should look at these funds as a means of portfolio diversification. Along with these, one should invest in stories that have done well despite the market downturn, such as global commodities and gold.