Kotak offers new India Growth fund

Kotak Mahindra (UK) Ltd is to launch its India Growth fund, the third sub fund of Kotak Funds which is a UCITS III compliant SICAV domiciled in Luxembourg.

The fund aims to generate long-term capital appreciation through investing in large and mid-cap Indian companies with high growth potential, and which correspond with key investment themes: Infrastructure, Financial Services, Outsourcing, and Consumption-led demographics.  It will adopt a combined approach of top-down sector driven and bottom-up stock selection, with a bias towards large-cap companies and flexibility for the manager to invest in mid and small caps.

Nitin Jain, principal fund manager for Kotak's long-only strategies will manage the fund. He also manages the Indian Multicap fund and the India Infrastructure and Realty fund; the other sub funds of the UCITS III compliant SICAV.  He has close to 14 years experience in India's equity markets.

He said investors are moving from exposure to India through an emerging market or global fund to a point where they recognise India is an asset class in its own right.  The liquidity and transparency provided by UCITS III compliant SICAVs is popular which is why the firm is expanding its range of SICAV funds.

India has a strong case for growth, due to its young and increasingly urban population which is driving domestic consumption. Government-supported investment in infrastructure which is targeted to reach 9% of GDP by 2014 and continued reforms in financial services will help increase currently low market penetration.

India is also now a prime location for IT outsourcing and Pharmaceuticals. "As the Indian economy continues to grow ahead of most others, favoured also by political stability and strong local and global liquidity, these themes have significant potential for investors looking for long-term growth," Jain said.

Kotak Mahindra group is one of India's leading financial services groups with significant presence in commercial banking, retail banking, stock broking, asset management, life insurance and investment banking. The group has over $11bn of assets under management / advisory (as of December 2009).

Kotak Mahindra (UK) Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. It is a member of the London Stock Exchange and is registered with the Securities Exchange Board of India as a Foreign Institutional Investor (FII). It also has its branch offices in Singapore and Dubai.

Kotak has a range of funds open to both institutional and retail investors, the latter available through intermediaries and IFAs. The offshore asset management team specializes in providing ‘India-focused' investment solutions to international investors.