Investing in India

[netnet]

It seems to me that investing in India would be quite a useful portfolio diversification. Reading Sanjay Bakshi's discussion of investing in Indian subsidiaries like Unilever has certainly whetted my appetite. 

 

As a non-resident non-Indian (although with a long ago documented Indian ancestor) what would a reasonable way of investing.  (Fairfax India never cut it for me frankly.)

[stahleyp]

One of the better options is MINDX/MIDNX

[petec]

Read the last Fairfax India letter before you decide...I'm regretting selling mine ;)

[netnet]

Bump.

 

Is there any way of investing in Indian stocks as a non-Indian? Maybe setting up a partnership with non-resident Indians?

[DooDiligence]

Bump.

 

Is there any way of investing in Indian stocks as a non-Indian? Maybe setting up a partnership with non-resident Indians?

 

Just buy Fairfax India

[tradevestor]

Other options not mentioned here:

Indian ETFs: http://etfdb.com/type/region/emerging-asia-pacific/india/

Indian ADRs: http://topforeignstocks.com/foreign-adrs-list/the-full-list-of-indian-adrs/

[seshnath]

It seems to me that investing in India would be quite a useful portfolio diversification. Reading Sanjay Bakshi's discussion of investing in Indian subsidiaries like Unilever has certainly whetted my appetite. 

 

As a non-resident non-Indian (although with a long ago documented Indian ancestor) what would a reasonable way of investing.  (Fairfax India never cut it for me frankly.)

You can invest directly in Indian stocks as a foreigner.  Only question is - are you willing to take the currency risk?

I can assist in setting up an account.

[crastogi]

I too am interested in Analyzing Indian Equities. 

 

As someone living away from India for the last 30 years, i am lost as to where to start.  Could someone please point me to:

 

- A site to get company filings ( like sec.gov)

- Some reputable Indian investors, whose holding we can look into for idea generation.  Is there an equivalent of a dataroma or whalewisdom in India?

- Any good website/boards discussing indian equities

 

Thanks to the best investing board in the world!!

 

[Wfearful_Bgreedy]

Curious what you think about the price of Fairfax India now. I was reading a white paper from a year ago with a target of $14 now it is it record highs. I really like the businesses they are buying like the airport in Bangalore and feel they all have a strong moat. I’m always thinking about waiting for the fat pitch but the US fat pitch due to a recession might be a few years from now. Thinking of parking in fairfax until a real fat pitch shows up. Not sure what the margin of safety is in Fairfax India that is all.

[Wfearful_Bgreedy]

Here is that white paper on Fairfax India. It has a DCF for each holding. Just a little dated but relevant:

 

http://ca.rbcwealthmanagement.com/delegate/services/file/617229/content

 

 

[hobbit]

I too am interested in Analyzing Indian Equities. 

 

As someone living away from India for the last 30 years, i am lost as to where to start.  Could someone please point me to:

 

- A site to get company filings ( like sec.gov)

- Some reputable Indian investors, whose holding we can look into for idea generation.  Is there an equivalent of a dataroma or whalewisdom in India?

- Any good website/boards discussing indian equities

 

Thanks to the best investing board in the world!!

 

https://www.screener.in/

 

http://www.valuepickr.com/

[crastogi]

I too am interested in Analyzing Indian Equities. 

 

As someone living away from India for the last 30 years, i am lost as to where to start.  Could someone please point me to:

 

- A site to get company filings ( like sec.gov)

- Some reputable Indian investors, whose holding we can look into for idea generation.  Is there an equivalent of a dataroma or whalewisdom in India?

- Any good website/boards discussing indian equities

 

Thanks to the best investing board in the world!!

 

https://www.screener.in/

 

http://www.valuepickr.com/

 

Thanks Hobbit.  Do i take it that you are active in the indian market? 

[kmukul]

 

I too am interested in Analyzing Indian Equities. 

 

As someone living away from India for the last 30 years, i am lost as to where to start.  Could someone please point me to:

 

- A site to get company filings ( like sec.gov)

- Some reputable Indian investors, whose holding we can look into for idea generation.  Is there an equivalent of a dataroma or whalewisdom in India?

- Any good website/boards discussing indian equities

 

Thanks to the best investing board in the world!!

 

https://www.screener.in/

 

http://www.valuepickr.com/

these are the best for filings you can see bseindia.com, I have a quick question thanks in advance, is there a site like screener.in for us stocks? the site shows 10 year numbers plus simple analysis of them on a single page which is brilliant, it makes a lot of sense for long term investors

[investmd]

Another option to invest in India is a new fund set up this month by Mohnish Pabrai : Dhandho India Zero Fee Funds.

Same fee structure as Pabrai Funds: No management fees if assets return <6%. Management keeps 1/4 of profits above 6% high-water mark.

70% or more of the Fund is to be invested in India.

Rationale has to do with fast growing economy, large number of companies to choose from on Bombay Stock Exchange (vs. S&P 500), & presence of mis priced assets with room to grow.

All the risks of investing in emerging economies, strengthening US $ etc....plus entry point is very steep in terms of minimum investment.

[Dazel]

 

 

Fairfax Financial and Fairfax India have a very very big advantage in India that you are not going to find on the balance sheet and something that Charlie Munger has mentioned many times about Mr. Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. Fairfax and Prem Watsa are the Berkshire of India. The Icici-Lombard company is an example of a great company that was built from scratch almost 20 years ago. It's a template so to speak. Prem has sat on the boards of major Indian corporations for many years and Fairfax investing record in India is unparrlleled.

As you have seen with Fairfax india and Thomas Cook (a home run for Fairfax Financial)...they are going to get the best deals because they not only have deep pockets they have the trust behind them. That's something that Berkshire has prospered from greatly over the years and Fairfax and all of its subsidiaries will do the same in India. Besides Prem's respect in India he has a seasoned and prolific investing and management team in India that has been there for 20 years.

It's a huge head start and will be a major driver of growth over the next decade...you can't buy trust you have to earn it...unless you piggy back on Fairfax in India...Warren Buffett in the U.s!

 

If someone can show me another investment vehicle in India that has this advantage I will listen and probably follow...normally you could just buy what they have...the problem is that the biggest investment gains that Fairfax will make will be from private purchases that normal investors will not have access to (Buffett has this too) and building another Indian insurance powerhouse organically.

[rohitc99]

 

 

Fairfax Financial and Fairfax India have a very very big advantage in India that you are not going to find on the balance sheet and something that Charlie Munger has mentioned many times about Mr. Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. Fairfax and Prem Watsa are the Berkshire of India. The Icici-Lombard company is an example of a great company that was built from scratch almost 20 years ago. It's a template so to speak. Prem has sat on the boards of major Indian corporations for many years and Fairfax investing record in India is unparrlleled.

As you have seen with Fairfax india and Thomas Cook (a home run for Fairfax Financial)...they are going to get the best deals because they not only have deep pockets they have the trust behind them. That's something that Berkshire has prospered from greatly over the years and Fairfax and all of its subsidiaries will do the same in India. Besides Prem's respect in India he has a seasoned and prolific investing and management team in India that has been there for 20 years.

It's a huge head start and will be a major driver of growth over the next decade...you can't buy trust you have to earn it...unless you piggy back on Fairfax in India...Warren Buffett in the U.s!

 

If someone can show me another investment vehicle in India that has this advantage I will listen and probably follow...normally you could just buy what they have...the problem is that the biggest investment gains that Fairfax will make will be from private purchases that normal investors will not have access to (Buffett has this too) and building another Indian insurance powerhouse organically.

+ 1

fully agree with you dazel. If you cannot invest directly in india, this is a good option. If like me, you can do both - invest in fairfax and directly in india (being an indian citizen), this is still a viable option as fairfax has access to great private companies which a public investor will not get

 

that said, as an aside, the indian market are seeing pockets of over heating specially in the mid and small cap space. would make sense to be cautious. also the indian markets are very very volatile, so one has to be careful.

[rukawa]

My vague perception is that the Indian market is quite expensive. I rarely see Indian companies come up on net-net screens for instance and my recollection was that a 25 pe was considered reasonable for Indian stocks.

 

The other vague idea I have is that branded consumer product type companies would tend to do very well in India. Think Johnsons and Johnsons, Unilever etc.

 

The https://www.screener.in/ is simply excellent. Its been my objective to eventually create something similar for all stocks worldwide but starting with the US and using XBRL. I really wonder how they got the data. I've been grabbing stuff from the SEC and so for I can get the quarterlies going back to 2009 using xbrl...further actually to 2007 since 2009 financial include results from 2007. But to go back before that I would need a service or I would need to directly go into the financials and grab the data. I suppose since the information is public I could grab all the data from a service and insert it into my database and then cancel the service.

 

We need to get together a create a site for value investor by value investors, along with a nice set of tools for extracting data from financials. There is a wealth of powerful stuff out there that everyday grows more powerful and we could be taking advantage of.

[eclecticvalue]

Rukawa- Stockrow.com is close. The owner posted on here.

 

kmukul- There is finviz.com, Gurufocus, stockrow.com, and Morningstar.

[hobbit]

My vague perception is that the Indian market is quite expensive. I rarely see Indian companies come up on net-net screens for instance and my recollection was that a 25 pe was considered reasonable for Indian stocks.

 

The other vague idea I have is that branded consumer product type companies would tend to do very well in India. Think Johnsons and Johnsons, Unilever etc.

 

The https://www.screener.in/ is simply excellent. Its been my objective to eventually create something similar for all stocks worldwide but starting with the US and using XBRL. I really wonder how they got the data. I've been grabbing stuff from the SEC and so for I can get the quarterlies going back to 2009 using xbrl...further actually to 2007 since 2009 financial include results from 2007. But to go back before that I would need a service or I would need to directly go into the financials and grab the data. I suppose since the information is public I could grab all the data from a service and insert it into my database and then cancel the service.

 

We need to get together a create a site for value investor by value investors, along with a nice set of tools for extracting data from financials. There is a wealth of powerful stuff out there that everyday grows more powerful and we could be taking advantage of.

 

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/100-bagger-return-in-6-years-lucknow-lads-prove-their-mettle-on-d-street/articleshow/59910808.cms

 

these guys created screener.in

 

[rukawa]

Rukawa- Stockrow.com is close. The owner posted on here.

 

kmukul- There is finviz.com, Gurufocus, stockrow.com, and Morningstar.

 

To be honest stockrow.com was never exactly what I wanted. The usability, look and feel is worse than this site(too many frames, too many pages, and often weird spacing between numbers, unncessary decimal places..why the fuck are numbers to the nearest cent etc). Additionally there is just a lot of data on these other sites I just don't want to see...I don't need momentum indicators, analyst price targets, a plethora of ratios. I really want something pretty much like a ValueLine one pagers but on a website.

 

Beyond that (in my dream world) for a deeper dive, I might want to know things like subsidaires, related party transactions, all the MD&A going back for 10 years etc and have some search function that could search across financial statements. For instance for Valeant you might be want a search function that could search across 10 years of financial statements in order to determine how they dealt with a particular acquisition. That is really really powerful.

 

The ValueLine website is a good example of what I consider a horribly designed page:

https://research.valueline.com/research#list=recent&sec=company&sym=msft

 

In sharp contrast their one pagers are wonderful:

https://research.valueline.com/api/report?documentID=2185-VL_20170811_VLIS_MSFT_3305_01-1V9ELFLPIE99LVKNTEPJRFLP1A&symbol=MSFT

 

Even in the case of Valueline one-pagers though, I find the quarterly data on the bottom left to be largely useless and their analyst commentary takes up way too much space and not very helpful. But they make up for it with their historical fundamental data which extends over more than 10 years.

 

Really good design for this involves as much what is left out as what is kept in. A solidly designed page should enable to digest a lot of useful information about a company very quickly and without clicking on a lot of links.

[eclecticvalue]

What about gurufocus?