RetireJapan

Japan's recent economic recession and drop to fourth in the global ranking motivated me to explore investing a small percentage (10%) in developing countries. After researching, I've decided on India due to its growing economy and surpassing China's population at 1.42B.

Do any of you invest in India? What are your thoughts? After careful consideration and reviewing several prospectuses, I made a purchase today. While this actively-managed mutual fund has a higher expense ratio (~0.98%) than competing funds, I believe the potential benefits of active management outweigh the extra cost. Any insights?

https://site0.sbisec.co.jp/marble/fund/ ... rch_result

styxomaniac wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 2:44 am the potential benefits of active management

What benefits do you think active management provide?

I did more research on the Pictet company and found out they've been in some trouble with the US Justice Department. I suppose that answers my question. Thanks Ben, I didn't even bother to research the company, I was so focused on benchmarks and past performance.

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 4:20 am

styxomaniac wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 2:44 am the potential benefits of active management

What benefits do you think active management provide?

There is a fair bit of evidence that active managers can perform better in emerging markets than they can in developed markets.

But more to the point, Indian equities now remind me of Chinese equities a decade ago. Very fully valued, plenty of utterly shite corporate governance and more than a few outright scams - Mr Adani I’m looking at you. Huge amounts of hype and untenable valuations.

I certainly wouldn’t be making an allocation to Indian equities now.

styxomaniac wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 2:44 am Japan's recent economic recession and drop to fourth in the global ranking motivated me to explore investing a small percentage (10%) in developing countries. After researching, I've decided on India due to its growing economy and surpassing China's population at 1.42B.

Do any of you invest in India? What are your thoughts? After careful consideration and reviewing several prospectuses, I made a purchase today. While this actively-managed mutual fund has a higher expense ratio (~0.98%) than competing funds, I believe the potential benefits of active management outweigh the extra cost. Any insights?

https://site0.sbisec.co.jp/marble/fund/ ... rch_result

About six hours ago I was talking with the ol' lady and she mentioned India as a possible investment idea.I didn't know she was looking at India. I'm into crypto, but have some idea of India's development. Then she showed me "Nifty 50", which is an index of the Top 50 actively traded Indian stocks, representing various sectors of the Indian economy. It can be invested in via a mutual fund I think. When I logged onto here and read your first paragraph,she felt it was her that wrote it!! I see India, when looking around the world,as the most intriguing.Has a 300 million middle class, educated workforce, a democracy and a populace numbers wise, that can take over from China in manufacturing. America is 33 trillion in debt and an economic collapse in some form is expected.Coupled with uncertainty over the next election and what happens moving forward, does not instil much confidence. Japan has been lethargic for 30+ years, but now having a stock market set to break its ATH, when it's in a recession is deceiving and highly suspect. And if Germany passes you and they've got all kinds of problems, something's up. The EU is set for a recession.The U.K. is in one and the largest European economy Germany, is toying with leaving the EU. China's woes speaks for itself, despite them not revealing much reliable data. Yeah, India has its problems, but where doesn't? Hopefully your purchase comes through for you.

styxomaniac wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 2:44 am Do any of you invest in India?

It’s a good chunk of the MSCI developing markets index, so in that sense yes.

It’s about 14% of that, and I have about 25% of my portfolio in developing market equities, so about 3.5% of my total portfolio is there.

Wouldn’t want to have much more, to be honest. Other developing markets are also attractive, so I like the broad index. E.g., Indonesia, Philippines are in that index too.

(I don’t go for individual countries usually, but I am positive on Argentina at the moment, fully prepared to be disappointed 5-10 years from now. It’s been hard to find good ways to broadly invest in it though - hopefully a good index fund will be developed for it.)

Thanks everyone for all your input. I still have a long way to go before retirement, so I'd like my portfolio to be a bit riskier and focus more on growth ETFs. As a result, I decided to invest in SOX instead. Maybe when I get older, I'll incorporate commodities like gold, REITs, bonds, and developing markets for greater diversity. As someone said in this forum, this is a learning experience, and I thank you for helping me with my journey.

No offense, but if that is the extent of your analysis behind deciding to invest in India I would recommend sticking to diversified passive investments.

Most investors might want to consider the valuations and risk embedded into their investments.

Deep Blue wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 2:02 pm But more to the point, Indian equities now remind me of Chinese equities a decade ago. Very fully valued, plenty of utterly shite corporate governance and more than a few outright scams - Mr Adani I’m looking at you. Huge amounts of hype and untenable valuations.

I certainly wouldn’t be making an allocation to Indian equities now.

For real. India is known to be a country of scams and fraud. Unless the general culture is changed, there is no way India is the economy of the future.

sutebayashi wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2024 5:02 am

styxomaniac wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 2:44 am Do any of you invest in India?

It’s a good chunk of the MSCI developing markets index, so in that sense yes.

It’s about 14% of that, and I have about 25% of my portfolio in developing market equities, so about 3.5% of my total portfolio is there.

I have been buying this eMaxis Slim fund on and off for a couple of years. The performance has been poor, compared to the All-Country and the S&P500. Of course, who knows what might happen in the future.