JPMorgan is sounding out big investors on adding India to its widely tracked emerging-market bond index, setting the stage for tens of billions of dollars of inflows as the country’s domestic market opens up to foreign capital.
The Wall Street bank is seeking investor views on whether to make a large chunk of India’s $1tn rupee-dominated bond market eligible for inclusion in the GBI-EM Global Diversified index of local currency debt, according to two people familiar with the matter. It opened the consultation this summer with fund managers accounting for 85 per cent of the $240bn in assets under management tracking the benchmark.
A decision to add Indian debt to one of the bank’s flagship indices would mark an inflection point for global investor exposure to the world’s fifth-largest economy and the fruition of years of discussions between India’s government, index providers and investors.