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by akgoel 1172 days ago
I currently have some money in an Indian mutual fund through my Schwab brokerage, WAINX. What's the difference between Inri, and just investing in an Indian mutual fund? Schwab shows 4 different India-focused equity funds from Eaton Vance, ALPS/Kotak, Matthews, and Wasatch.
2 comments

The major difference here is that you invest directly through your NRE/NRO bank account in India.

1. WAINX is an actively managed fund, if you are just looking for tracking the Indian index (NIFTY), there's INDY here. Their tracking error (because of frequent currency transactions + cash requirements) cumulates to a large underperformance vs investing directly. In the last 5 years, there's a cumulative return of 14% for INDY vs 69% for NIFTY. Even accounting for currency depreciation and remittance charges, the $ adjusted return for NIFTY is at least 2x.

Even active funds like WAINX, EPGIX havent beaten investing directly over the long run. You can compare these with NIFTY growth % - USD/INR growth % - two-way currency transaction charges to confirm.

This is a fair option for anyone who cant access the Indian markets directly, but for Indians with PAN card, the efficiency of investing directly is much higher.

2. Depth of funds is still not as good as in the Indian market. India has 8000+ mutual funds listed, with specific allocations available to mid cap, small cap, thematic (tech vs pharma vs consumer vs infra), equity-debt hybrid etc.

3. We are starting with mutual funds but plan to offer all asset classes for investments including real estates.

Let me know if any of this is not clear

If you are based in the US and directly invest in mutual funds in India, keep in mind the US taxes it in extremely unfavorable terms via PFIC[0]. I browsed through their website and it appears their tax guidance is only for Indian taxation, which is fair but something to keep in mind. If you have to deal with US taxes, I would highly avoid holding mutual funds abroad, and just buy US-based India-focused funds.

[0] https://creativeplanning.com/international/insights/american...