Daily ETF Watch: India ETFs Rising

Election fever in India is keeping related ETFs hot.

Filings and launches are on the light side this morning, so we thought it was a good time to take a step back and look at emerging market ETFs, specifically funds focused on India. Equity markets there are rising on investor hopes that upcoming elections will yield a more business friendly government.

Money managers such as David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer of Cumberland Advisors, are banking on prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi—who is thought of as an economic and social reformist—to win this week’s elections.

In the weeks leading up to India’s election, funds such as the $706 million iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA | C-96), the $187 million Market Vectors India Small-Cap Index ETF (SCIF | D-48) and the $500 million iShares India 50 ETF (INDY | D-75) have risen so far this year by 9 percent, 13 percent and 20 percent, respectively.

Investors have injected new money into these ETFs, with year-to-date flows into INDA, SCIF and INDY totaling $161 million, $73 million and $12 million, respectively, according to data compiled by ETF.com Analytics.

However, not all India-focused ETFs felt the same love from investors.

The $900 million Wisdom Tree India Earnings Fund (EPI | C-81), which tracks a total market index of Indian companies selected and weighted by earnings, saw outflows of $123 million, year-to-date, even though it returned 14 percent during the same period.