India, The Most Promising Emerging Market

India is a major attraction for emerging-market investors. The country
has a democratic structure and has a very vibrant middle and upper-
middle class which are fast getting exposed to global economy. They are
big consumers of electronic and software goods and viewers of a large
spectrum of media which is truly free and is not controlled by any kind of
dictatorship.

The country's benchmark BSE Sensex 30 Index hit a record high on Feb
28 as investors reacted favorably to both the government's proposed
budget and corporate tax cuts. For small investors in USA, however, the
process of performing research on companies and direct investment is too
cumbersome.

The best way is to invest in American Depository Receipts (ADRs). There
are a handful of U.S.-listed Indian stocks in the form of ADRs. Among
those shares of information technology services provider Infosys
Technologies (INFY) and ICICI Bank (IBN) both reached 52-week highs
on Feb. 28. Matthews Asian Pacific Tiger fund (MAPTX) is a very
successful Mutual fund of recent years. Two of its largest positions in
India are Infosys (INFY) and HDFC Bank (HDB) , which pioneered the
country's mortgage business. A number of mutual funds and individual or
institutional investors in USA are invested in the Pharmaceuticals
company Dr. Reddy's Laboratory (RDY) , the respectable and very
reliable auto-maker Tata Motors' (TTM) , another software giant, Wipro
(WIT), Internet service provider Satyam Infoway (SIFY) and Mahanagar
Telephone Nigam (MTE).