India has been one of most successful equity markets of 2015, buoyed by political reform and an increasingly stable economy.
New Prime Minister Narendra Modi was appointed in May heading up the first single party parliament for 30 years. Positive sentiment has since surged as Modi and his party tackled inflation and infrastructure and reduced the red tape stopping the private sector instigate their own reforms.
Next year, this trajectory looks set to continue as growth in Asia, not including China, is projected to trend higher led by resurgent activity in India, while growth rates in Latin America and Europe, Middle East and Africa will be severely hampered by the impact of commodity price falls on the main economies of Brazil and Russia. Overall, a modest advance in emerging market growth to around 4.5% is forecast.
As a result of Modi’s election and the subsequent reforms the Indian stock market the Sensex is up 32% this year, and the MSCI India Index is up 30%.
Kotak India Mid Cap
This fund has returned 71% to investors since the beginning of the year.
Comgest Growth India
This Silver Rated fund is up 70.5% since January. Morningstar fund analyst Thomas Lancereau considers it the best in the Indian equities category.
“Investing in an Indian equity fund is high-risk. Apart from the high level of volatility historically associated with the emerging markets in general, investors here face country-specific risk,” he said. Taking these risks into account, one of the fund's biggest assets is the management style, which is clearly oriented towards quality growth companies.”
PineBridge India Equity
This four-star fund is up 69% year-to-date.
WIOF India Performance
This fund invests up to 60% of the portfolio Indian equities and the majority of the rest is in bonds. The fund has grown 67% in value this year.
Matthews Asia Funds - India Fund
This fund is up 61.5% this year. Eighty per cent of the fund is invested in equities, and the remainder is invested in property. There is a small equity allocation to the United States, but the rest of the holdings are domiciled in India.