Finally An Easy Way to Invest in India: The Indian ETFs

You might have missed the news recently that there is now not just one, but two, Indian ETFs that are available for investors.

Wisdom Tree launched the India ETF (ticker EPI) on Feb 21. It has an expense ratio of 0.88%.

Powershares launched its India ETF (ticker PIN) on Mar 5. It has an expense ratio of 0.78%.

What’s the big deal?

Before the launch of these two products, it was difficult to invest solely in India. There were only a few mutual funds that were India specific but all had large fees or loads making it expensive for the main street investor to invest.

What’s the difference between them?

The Wisdom Tree ETF (EPI) has 150 companies. The top four sectors:

Energy: 25.37%
Materials: 16.17%
Financials: 13.34%
Information Technology: 11.50%

The Powershares ETF (PIN) has 50 companies. The top four sectors:

Energy: 29.44%
Information Technology: 15.57%
Financials: 12.65%
Telecommunication Services: 11.11%

Both have Reliance Industries as their top holding. In the EPI, it is 13% of the portfolio. In the PIN, it is 11.30%.

The funds have slight sector differences. Investors might also prefer the greater diversity of the Wisdom Tree fund.

Otherwise, they’re pretty similar.

You should check out each portfolio’s holdings:

Wisdom Tree EPI
Powershares PIN

The Indian market has had a difficult 2008 after soaring in 2007. The Indian market was down 28.55% in the first quarter. Volatility is expected in the emerging markets.