Date: 27th Oct 2022 | Publication: Ausbiz
The days of basket buying are over
Mugunthan Siva of India Avenue Investment discusses the evolution of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, looking not only at the composition shifts by individual nation but also by sector. He says India’s weight has shifted rapidly post COVID from 8% to 15, suggesting it reflects India’s emergence post-COVID which has helped to strengthen its macro fundamentals, along with heavy losses in other significant markets such as Russia and China. While no one can dispute it’s been a terrible time for the broader emerging market universe in recent years with the index not far off its pandemic lows in US dollar terms, at the individual country level, Mugunthan says the dispersion of performance has been stark. “Emerging Markets are more an opportunity set rather than an asset class in the post globalisation world, noting country returns have started to become significant as investors break down the universe into regional and country Funds. As such, he says buying an emerging markets basket to cast a wide net across many growth-oriented businesses needs to be revisited. Mugunthan also discusses the impact currency has on EM performance along with the outlook for the Indian economy over the quarters ahead.
India Avenue is a boutique investment management firm providing investment solutions that allow our clients to benefit from India’s remarkable growth story.
OUR BUSINESS
2005
The journey towards the “birth” of India Avenue originated in 2005, when ING Investment Management started a business in India as a separate division, utilising a practiced multi-manager philosophy in markets like Australia, and exported it to India. Three of our founders, Mugunthan Siva, Rajeev Thakkar and Sajjan Raut Desai worked together for INGIM (India), building investment strategies and structures, under this philosophy and applying them to Indian capital markets
2011
In 2011 our founders started discussing the possibility of building an investment firm with a capability to provide a focus on India as an stand-alone investment jurisdiction for foreign investors. The founders identified Australia and New Zealand as nascent markets for investing in regional locations, with the potential to accelerate given education and insights which the firm could provide.
2015
By 2015 the group of founders decided to work full-time on this concept to bring it to life. They did this by leaving their existing employment, thus exercising high conviction in the investment region of India as a long-term structural story for investors in Australia and New Zealand. Thus, the firm India Avenue Investment Management was registered and came to life in 2015 in Sydney, Australia.
2016
After building our business for a period of 12 months, our first fund, The India Avenue Equity Fund was launched on 6th September 2016, with strong service provider partners like Equity Trustees (RE), Mainstream (Fund Administrator), KPMG (Fund Auditor) and BNP India (Custodian).
NOW
India Avenue is now a boutique investment business firm, with clients spread across family offices, high net worth individuals, wealth advisers and financial planning firms. Our firm has focused on education and knowledge as a driver of investment behaviour and have taken a long-term approach towards Australian and New Zealand investors contemplating an allocation to India’s growth as part of their portfolios. Our firm has assets in excess of A$50m and the India Avenue Equity Fund is rated “Recommended”* by Lonsec and is available on multiple investment platforms across Australia and New Zealand.