Hi Bill:

State Bank of India is a proxy for country's growth. It doesn't have an ADR. You may want to check this one out.

IFN is a closed-end fund that has lagged the Indian stock indices by a lot in the recent past. The primary reason for the performance lag is that it's holders are switching to the new Barclays ETN that holds about 68 Indian stocks that make up 75%+ of the Indian stock market cap and has almost one-fourth of the expenses (about .7% v/s over 3%). Also, IFN used to trade at huge (more than 35%) premiums in 2005 & 2006 due to various financial 'tricks' such as rights offers, big dividend etc.

Also, Indian markets are unlikely to do much till the Indian budget is baked-in - that happens end of February - till then the markets are likely to be more or less where they are or more likely be down if/when on global markets go thru' the much anticipated correction you speak of on your site.

India is probably going to be THE emerging market to invest in for the next 3-5 years, but investors should be cautious in the near term - remember in last may the Indian markets corrected by more than 33% in about a month - more than most other Emerging markets. In the meantime, read-up on the new ETN - INP at
http://www.ipathetn.com/iPath-MSCI-India-Index.jsp

Bill, I'm not from India, but I wanted to share some info. I read that many financial institutions are suggesting to invest in banks working in the field of consumer credit for future investment in Asia, because that sector sooner or later will boom like in the Western countries. So, some time ago I tried to look for some data. I couldn't find much, but some links here offer some nice information. I hope you can use their info. But... shoud we wait for the 'credit crunch' before investing?!?
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mukherjee&sid=amfbslQqFxeE
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aHZH6TpOSmJM
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4145
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/13931.html
http://www.buyusa.gov/india/en/327.ppt

When I try to download reports by Deepak Lalwani, It is scrambled.

Anybody have better luck?

I believe IFN has distributed $3.46 in capital gain to the holders. I'm not sure about the date (near Nov to Jan), but it made a big loss to be a small loss.

hello from germany,

i think india is overheating and will face a severe correction.

just watch some homebuilder shares that gained 40.000% in three years. pe higher than google etc.

http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2007/02/forget-googlehomebuilder-stocks-in.html

Long time lurker here. I am from India and moved here about 25 years ago.

Here are my $ 0.02. I am a little out of date on some of the details

The SENSEX has gone from approximately 2,000 to 14,000. This pace should continue however there will be significant corrections along the way if the past is any indicator.

The risks are significant. India is primarily an agrarian economy. In the current climate food production has dropped and India is becoming a net importer of food after 2 decades of self sufficiency. There are lots of stories of farmers committing suicide in the press. If not handled this will be a problem and may force social and economic changes.

The good bets in India are in infrastructure, real estate and manufacturing. India needs buildings, transportation and roads, power, water, sewage infrastructure. Compared to China these are almost miniscule at present. In my opinion these are much better bets than outsourcing plays INFY, WIT etc. ( I can give my reasoning but that is whole another discussion)

Financial Services:
Someone mentioned SBI above. SBI is Indias oldest (founded 1806) and biggest bank. It is traded on LSE as a GDR symbol SBID. However it is not exactly very nimble or aggressive. It has significant labor issues (basically its workers don't work :-) ). However it is getting dragged in feet first into a new era. As mentioned above other institutions are ICICI, HDBC. ICICI literally owns the auto finance market. Not sure how ICICI can offer loans at the current rate but they are. Credit cards are completely a subprime business as there is no concept of credit ratings or social security numbers. Anyone with a pay stub can get a credit card.

For infrastructure I like the following plays in no particular order: Larsen and Tubro, Grasim, ACC, Reliance, Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM- Sales in India are increasing 60% a year on a unit basis while there are very few roads). (I really have always liked and still like TTM).

Isurance companies in India are also a target since I expect many to be taken over by multinationals looking to build in India.

If you like India outsourcing plays take a look at Nasdaq CVNS: It was originally called CBSI and the they had kicked out the founder. He is a very capable guys. It is a dark horse since most of his original crew have left him.

Note: I do not own any of the stocks above right now. My investments in India are all based on real estate. However if I had extra capital I would buy any of the above stocks on at any time. (India BSE used to have an option system called “badla”. Not sure if they still do.)

Long time lurker here. I am from India and moved here about 25 years ago.

Here are my $ 0.02. I am a little out of date on some of the details

The SENSEX has gone from approximately 2,000 to 14,000 since 2003. This pace should continue however there will be significant corrections along the way if the past is any indicator.

The risks are significant. India is primarily an agrarian economy. In the current climate food production has dropped and India is becoming a net importer of food after 2 decades of self sufficiency. There are lots of stories of farmers committing suicide in the press. If not handled this will be a problem and may force social and economic changes. THe risks of investing in India are very significant. Expect most state and central governments to lose elections every time.

The good bets in India are in infrastructure, real estate and manufacturing. India needs buildings, transportation and roads, power, water, sewage infrastructure. Compared to China these are almost miniscule at present. In my opinion these are much better bets than outsourcing plays INFY, WIT etc. ( I can give my reasoning but that is whole another discussion)

Financial Services:
Someone mentioned SBI above. SBI is Indias oldest (founded 1806) and biggest bank. It is traded on LSE as a GDR symbol SBID. However it is not exactly very nimble or aggressive. It has significant labor issues (basically its workers don't work :-) ). However it is getting dragged in feet first into a new era. As mentioned above other institutions are ICICI, HDBC. ICICI literally owns the auto finance market. Not sure how ICICI can offer loans at the current rate but they are. Credit cards are completely a subprime business as there is no concept of credit ratings or social security numbers. Anyone with a pay stub can get a credit card.

For infrastructure I like the following plays in no particular order: Larsen and Tubro, Grasim, ACC, Reliance, Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM- Sales in India are increasing 60% a year on a unit basis while there are very few roads). (I really have always liked and still like TTM).

Isurance companies in India are also a target since I expect many to be taken over by multinationals looking to build in India.

If you like India outsourcing plays take a look at Nasdaq CVNS: It was originally called CBSI and the they had kicked out the founder. He is a very capable guys. It is a dark horse since most of his original crew have left him.

Note: I do not own any of the stocks above right now. My investments in India are all based on real estate. However if I had extra capital I would buy any of the above stocks on at any time. (India BSE used to have an option system called “badla”. Not sure if they still do.)