Chris Sexton, investment director at IFA Saunderson House, says India is a more exciting investment than any of the other BRIC nations.
"India is more service orientated as an economy than the rest of the BRICs, which makes it potentially very exciting," he says.
"China is all about production, Russia relies on oil, while Brazil's resources form the majority of its investment opportunities," he adds.
Ajay Argal, co-head of equity at Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company agrees that India is a more solid investment than any of the other BRIC countries.
"Compared to China, India's exports are a much lesser contributor to GDP growth, and hence also the employment generation. Also, there seems to be no apparent property bubble in India nor are there any major concerns on asset quality in the banking system, unlike in China," he says.
Compared to Brazil and Russia, meanwhile, India is a more diversified market to invest in, he points out. Planned increases in infrastructure spending will be most felt in roads, telecoms, education, health care, power and railways he adds.
Jupiter and Neptune both run India funds; managed by Avinash Vazirani and Ewan Thompson respectively. The Neptune fund is co-managed by Thomas Sinclair.
Over a three year period, both funds have outperformed the MSCI India Growth index.
Performance of funds over 3-yrs vs MSCI India Growth index
Source: Financial Express Analytics
Within this period, though, the MSCI India Growth index underperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Growth index, indicating EM generally would have been a better investment in the long-term.
Over the shorter term, however, the Indian index has performed better than the EM index – returning 36.4 per cent compared to 35 per cent over a one year period. Over three months the India index fares even better against EM; 8.1 per cent returns compared to 4.9 per cent.
"Even in the slowdown, India's GDP grew at 6.7 per cent and now in the quarter ended March 2010, the Indian GDP grew at a fast clip of 8.6 per cent," Argal says.
Thompson also draws attention to India’s outperformance of emerging markets.
"Following the sharp correction seen in early January, global markets recovered strongly throughout the remainder of the first quarter, with some even extending the significant gains made in 2009," Thompson says.
"Such performance came in spite of a number of macroeconomic concerns, including the ongoing sovereign debt issues in Europe and the first steps towards policy tightening in the emerging markets."
Argal says that now is the time to invest in India, as the capital expansion cycle in a variety of sectors is picking up all over again.
"This augurs well for the companies in the capital goods space and hence we are positive on the prospects of such companies," Argal says.
Vazirani is also excited about the government's renewed focus on infrastructure and rural development.
"Growth in urban and rural consumption and the government's renewed focus on infrastructure and rural development should continue to drive India’s GDP in 2010. As a result, we believe India's GDP growth for the fiscal year to March 2011 should be over 8 per cent, and, barring any global catastrophe, should stay at those levels for some years to come", he says.