Is Now The Time To Invest In India?
It’s Friday. It’s been a crazy week, and I’m looking forward to the weekend. But there’s a problem. It’s the first weekend in months without a professional football game. I’m an addict, I know. I can’t wait for the Super Bowl… especially since the hometown Cardinals are making their first appearance ever (Go Cards!).
The Super Bowl is still more than a week away. For now, I need to find something else to do.
Time to revisit the old “go-to” option – the movies. There’s a huge movie complex near my house. Notice I called it a complex. This is not the movie theatre of my youth. The movie complex is huge. The most important part of the whole adventure is not to forget your popcorn. The concession stand is a good 5 miles from the actual theatre. You could miss half your movie trying to buy a bag of popcorn and a drink. But I digress…
I started looking at the movies now showing. That’s when I stumbled across Slumdog Millionaire.
Have you heard of this movie? If not, get ready to. It’s about to burst onto the global stage for a number of reasons. The movie already won a golden globe. Recently, they were nominated for 10 Oscars. And that’s just the start of the PR.
The movie is scheduled to open this week in India.
Apparently not everyone’s happy about its success. Set in the slums of India, the movie depicts a boy who wins millions on a game show. People are upset over how the movie depicts poverty in India. Some are calling it a warped western view of India. They dislike the way the slums are portrayed.
I’ll admit, I haven’t seen this movie. But given the number of awards it’s won, and the nominations it’s garnered, I’m sure millions will.
Reading about the movie got me thinking about India… and their economy. Recently, the global recession has been hitting the country hard. They also uncovered the largest case of fraud… which didn’t help the Indian markets at all.
I started wondering if India might be an investment to revisit.
If you remember, a few months back I wrote about investing in India. I highlighted a few key reasons the country might be an interesting investment.
India has a huge population. Just over 1 billion people call the country home. They’re second in the world only to China. As more of the population moves into the middle class, it will be a huge economic driver for the country.
The country’s GDP has been growing at a phenomenal clip. In the US, GDP growth is around 1% or 2% (when we’re not in a recession). India’s GDP has been pushing 8% and 9% over the last few years.
I’m sure some of that growth has slowed because of the credit crisis and global recession. However, once the global economy normalizes, watch out… the growth will return.
The government is also working on advanced development and modernization. It’s estimated they’ll spend more than $100 billion on roads, bridges, and other infrastructure in the next few years. I liken it to the US economy in the 1950s and 1960s (and we all know how well the economy did then).
Now the last time I wrote about India the major indexes were down by 50%. Little did I realize how much further they’d fall. Recently, major fraud was uncovered at one of India’s largest technology companies. The market’s dropped like a rock on the news (and for good reason).
I know it sounds strange, but now might be a great time to start looking at India again.
WisdomTree India Earnings Fund (EPI) is an ETF holding a number of companies traded on the National Stock Exchange of India. I think this fund will be a great way to profit from growth in India over the next few years.
Now I’m not looking for this ETF to rocket back up to old highs. It will take a while to recover. But given a good long term outlook, now’s the time to start nibbling at new investments like this.
Category: ETFs
