Looking for a haven in emerging-market turmoil? Try India

Propelled by economic reforms that started in 1991 and have been deepened by Modi's government, India's middle class has ballooned past 600 mn.

As the threat of a trade war grows and emerging-market central banks sacrifice growth to protect their currencies, equity investors have their backs to the wall. But in their search for a haven, one name keeps cropping up: India.

The South Asian nation, the fastest-growing major economy in the world, enjoys relative insulation from external shocks as an booming middle class delivers enough domestic demand to counter the fallout from protectionism, according to money managers including Franklin Templeton and Newton Investment Management.

Exchange-traded fund house WisdomTree Investments Inc. goes a step further, recommending investors allocate as much as 20 percent of their