INDE vs INDY

INDECMatthews India Active ETF INDE

INDYAiShares India 50 ETF

In short

INDE Most India ETFs just buy the index. INDE hires stock pickers instead: Matthews Asia managers build the India portfolio by hand, free to hold common stock, preferred shares or convertibles. Launched in 2023, it's the active outlier in a cohort of trackers.

INDY India's headline index in a US wrapper. INDY tracks the Nifty 50, the National Stock Exchange benchmark quoted across Indian markets, holding about 50 of the country's largest listed companies and skipping the small-cap tail.

Stated mandate

INDE The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing at least 80% of net assets in common stocks, preferred stocks, and convertible securities of companies located in India.

INDY The fund seeks to track the Nifty 50 Index, which represents 50 leading Indian companies, using an indexing approach rather than active security selection.

Why people hold it

• INDE Real active management in an index-dominated group: managers choose the names, with room to hold preferred shares and convertibles alongside common stock.
• Does what the label says. At least 80% of net assets go to companies located in India, and the portfolio has stuck closely to that mandate.
• Plain equity exposure. No leverage, no options overlay, no structural wrinkles in the mandate, just Indian company shares chosen for long-term capital appreciation.

• INDY The Nifty 50 is the NSE's flagship index: 50 stocks spanning 13 sectors, used across India for benchmarking, derivatives and index funds. In its US peer group, INDY is the fund built on it.nseindia.com
• 0.65% a year, below the 0.75% median for US single-country India funds.
• Straight indexing, no stock picking, and the fund has stayed very close to its benchmark. One of the tighter implementations among US India funds.ishares.com
• Trading since 2009 under the iShares roof, which makes it one of the longer-running US ways to own Indian large caps.ishares.com

Worth knowing

• INDE At 0.79% a year it costs more than index rivals like FLIN (0.19%) and INDA (0.61%), and it currently sits behind those cheaper trackers in our peer group review.
• Small and thinly traded next to the big India funds, so spreads can be wider and sizeable orders can push the price around.
• It opened in 2023, so the track record is short, and payouts come once or twice a year rather than as a regular income stream.

• INDY About 50 names means the biggest Indian megacaps carry real weight here. Concentration is the design, not a bug, but it shows up in the ride.
• Cheaper India exposure exists: FLIN charges 0.19%, and INDA, also large-cap focused, comes in a touch under INDY.
• One country, one currency, one policy cycle. A single-market emerging equity fund moves harder than a global index fund, and INDY's swings run above its peer group's typical level.ishares.com

Full INDE profile⁠

Full INDY profile⁠