Invest n n Ind a has never een easier

The Indian diaspora in Australia continue to maintain surprisingly strong ties ith the country of their irth.

Family and friendship bonds are resilient, and thanks to social media, the major trends in the society they have no left ehind continue to e at their fingerti s. t ould e safe to say they are uite ndia a are .

And yet, to invest in India, especially the stoc mar et is ut in the too hard as et.

The ndian ustralian community no has an o tion to connect ith the long term gro th story of the ndian economy through an ustralian fund hich in ests directly in the Indian stock market - the llerston a ital ndia fund.

The major investments include blue chip Indian companies like Reliance, TCS, ICICI, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC and a a inance. To tell us more a out the llerston ndia fund e s o e to r ary anning ortfolio anager.

Why should India be in everybody’s portfolio?

There are reasons hy ndia should e in e eryone s ortfolio si e gro th and di ersification. ndia is one of the fastest gro ing economies in the orld unli e ustralia hich is struggling to achie e gro th. o in esting in ndia gi es in estors e osure to a high gro th economy and high gro th stoc s. Secondly, India is getting too big to ignore. y ndia is e ected to be the 3rd largest economy after China and the . ost in estors in ustralia have exposure to the other 2 economies either directly or indirectly ut ery fe ha e e osure to ndia. ndia also has a ra idly gro ing middle class and a young o ulation ith o er million millennials so from a consumption ers ecti e in estors can t afford to ignore ndia as a mar et. inally ndia offers di ersification es ecially for in estors ased in ustralia. ustralia is a commodity e orter hile India is not, so the structure of the economies are ery different. ndia is also one of the best and most developed IT ser ices sectors in the orld ith glo al leaders li e T and nfosys. ustralian investor don’t have access to large cap IT services companies in domestically so ndia offers di ersification. o e started the ndia fund to provide that access to in estors in ustralia.

Why did Ellerston Capital start the Ellerston India Fund?

Ellerston Capital has an Asia fund and a lo al fund. ndia is less than of sian enchmar s hile hina is ell o er . o in estors in an sia fund get significantly more China than India and the benefit of India often gets trumped (no un intended) y hina s macro. Similarly, India is less than 2% of MSCI AC World index so investors don’t get meaningful exposure to the Indian mar et ia a glo al fund.

Therefore, investing directly in ndia is the est ay to go but as you and your readers no ndia is not an easy mar et for offshore retail in estors to access directly.

What are your favourite stocks in India right now?

The large cap private banks, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, have been very strong performers in our ortfolio. oth and a a ha e dou led since . In the large cap IT services com anies T is our to ic . t remains attractively valued even though it has erformed ery ell o er the last fe years. T ser ices should continue to do erform if the de reciates due to t in deficit concerns. nd e really li e eliance. This stoc has een an ama ing erformer in the last years. e li e it for the o tion alue if and hen it s ins off io and eliance etail into se arate entities. eliance is no a illion mar et ca com any hich is great for ndia a home gro n mega ca national cham ion. The stocks I’ve mentioned above are all ery ell no n ndia com anies. ess ell no n stoc s that e li e are the movie theatre company and Britannia, the biscuit com any. llerston ndia is a gro th fund and e only in est in high uality gro th stoc s ith aluation u side good management and good . ou can thin of our rocess as a hurdle race here the athlete needs to jump over a series of hurdles to stay in the game. f they tri o er one of the hurdles (gro th aluation management ) they are out of the game. nyone ho ants gro th and di ersification in their ortfolio.

What are your 1 year returns and thoughts for medium to long term?

Over the last year the Ellerston India fund is up . (as of ct ).

Since inception our per annum return is . and e expect this to be maintained in the medium to long term. We have outperformed the benchmark on a 6 month, 1 year, year and since ince tion asis.

Can you tell me a bit about your investment process? How much time do you spend on the ground and how do you decide what stocks you invest in?

What are you expecting from Modi’s second term and how will this impact your portfolio?

So far the policies in Modi’s second term have been disappointing and some of the reforms of Modi’s first term, like demoneti ation and T ha e started to have delayed negative impacts on the economy. s a result of this the economy has slo ed materially since before the election and policy makers do not seem to be proactive in addressing the root causes of the slo do n. o er interest rates, addressing the NBFC issues and a ersonal income ta cut ould e elcome olicy changes in the near term. That said e remain e cited a out Modi’s second term and expect a focus on Infrastructure and Make In India to be im ortant hallmar s.

Who should invest in the Ellerston Capital India Fund?

The minimum investment amount is $10,000, so the hurdle to invest is not e tremely high.

We believe everyone should have some ndian e osure in their ortfolio. For more details, log in to www.ellerstoncapital.com.au or email india@ellerstoncapital.com

BY PREETI JABBAL

It too a istani or ers only a fe months to uild the artar ur orridor creating a pivotal moment in the history of ndia a istan relations. n the other side of the orld a el ourne artist ainted a li eness of it ithin hours to be presented to the Chief Minister of Punjab during his isit to irmingham . oth ere managed in record time. aneet ro er hu a ( itu) of el ourne rt cademy as commissioned y ndian o ernment o cials in to create a special piece of art to be gifted as a token of a reciation to a tain marinder ingh. The ft ft acrylic on can as no adorns