ETF Launch: PowerShares India Portfolio (PIN, INFY, IBN, SAY, SLT, TTM, WIT)

We have now seen two Indian stock ETF’s successfully launch in the last few weeks.  This morning there was another ETF launch on NYSE, although you can see the February news release with the full details.  The PowerShares India Portfolio Fund Exchange Traded Fund listed under the ticker symbol "PIN" and began trading on NYSE Arca today.  This ETF is based on the Indus India Index and tracks the performance of the Indian equity markets as a whole with representation across the consumer products, information technology, health sciences, financial services, and heavy industry sectors.

According to the press release at NYSE, the following NYSE listed ADR shares are a part of the index currently included in the Indus India Index:

• Infosys Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY), ICICI Bank (NYSE: IBN) Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY), Sterlite Industries (NYSE: SLT), Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM), Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT)

As a reminder, because of percentage foreign ownership limitation rules and because of ADR conversions, many US-traded ADR’s actually trade at premiums to shares traded locally in India.  WisdomTree also recently launched an ETF that tracks Indians stocks at the local exchange level.

Jon C. Ogg
March 5, 2008