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India budget boost for financials | Trustnet Skip to the content

India budget boost for financials

07 March 2011

India has announced plans to extend banking facilities to a further 73,000 villages, enhancing the outlook for the country’s financial sector.

By Lora Coventry,

Senior Reporter, Financial Express

Indian markets rallied sharply last week on the back of plans announced in the budget to reduce the country’s spiralling deficit.

"There were low expectations for the Indian budget announced at the beginning of last week, but it has surprised on the upside and will be very supportive of a number of key investment themes such as financials and consumer goods," said Avinash Vazirani (pictured right), manager of the £296m Jupiter India fund.
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"The government has also announced that every village with a population of 2,000 or more, of which there are around 73,000, must have some form of banking facility by March 2012."

"Whether or not this is achievable, it points to the inevitable increase in banking services take-up by the general population and is excellent news for the financial sector as a whole."

Boutique fund house BDT Invest has been bearish on the country, but recently bought into Indian infrastructure lender IDFC, and upped its stake in IT group ITC Infotech.

Manager Henry Thornton said: "Indian corporates have a deserved reputation for delivering slick and confident presentations to investors, but there is nothing like a 20 per cent correction, tightening monetary policy and a corruption scandal to dampen spirits."

"In consequence, corporates were refreshingly realistic, especially in the infrastructure sector which, together with property, has been absolutely hammered in the past three months."

Performance of funds vs index over 3-yrs

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Source: Financial Express Analytics

Jupiter India is one of only two funds to outperform the MSCI India index over three years, Financial Express data shows, returning 46.6 per cent.

The next best performer in the period was Franklin Templeton Franklin India, returning 43.8 per cent. The MSCI India returned 12 per cent.

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Data provided by FE fundinfo. Care has been taken to ensure that the information is correct, but FE fundinfo neither warrants, represents nor guarantees the contents of information, nor does it accept any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions or any inconsistencies herein. Past performance does not predict future performance, it should not be the main or sole reason for making an investment decision. The value of investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise.