Rob Brewis, fund manager of the Aubrey Global Emerging Markets Strategy, has echoed comments in response to the Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management report, published over the past week, on whether to invest in India over China.
The report, which captured the views of 142 chief investment officers, heads of asset classes, and senior portfolio strategists from 85 sovereign wealth funds and 57 central banks, suggested a reshaping of portfolios among sovereign investors amid poor returns.
Sovereign investors reshape portfolios after year of negative returns
Brewis, who invests in both China and India as part of Aubrey's EM strategy, said: "We were interested to read about the Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management report suggesting that India pips China as the most attractive emerging market."
"We would also be interested to know what the managers surveyed actually had invested in India. We suspect they would still have significantly more invested in China courtesy of its larger index weighting."
"At Aubrey, we have had approximately a third of our GEM fund invested in India since 2014, when the transformational Modi government took charge, and currently, it is above that level and our largest country weighting. While the realisation that India is the most attractive emerging economy is now dawning on many more people, there is still plenty of investment flows to come as their portfolios catch up with this realisation."
This view echoes the broader findings of the latest report, which found that "Among the emerging markets, sovereign investors have turned their interest to India."
The report further stated that "India exemplifies the attributes sought by sovereign investors. Viewed increasingly positively for its improved business and political stability, favourable demographics, regulatory initiatives, and a friendly environment for sovereign investors, India has now overtaken China as the most attractive emerging market."
