I was wondering how many of you guys invest in the Indian Stock Market and what your experience has been.

The Indian Stock Market has seen many scams (1992 / 2000 ). That seems to be a thing of the past. Today due to a large extent thanks to technology as well as the Securities and Exchange Control Board the stock markets are a lot more safer place than what they were earlier.

India as an investment destination is a good story with a lot of corporate restructuring. My personal opinion is that one should invest whenever the sensex dips below 5000 points. This could happen sooner than later if Lalu Prasad loses the Bihar elections and pulls the plug from the UPA govt.

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Light up your life by being positive

I used to trade before coming to Canada, and would like to continue doing that. Is it ok to deal in Indian stocks from Canada, what are the tax and legal consequences.

You can trade on Indian stock exchanges if you live in India and are a citizen. You need to provide proof of that like passport, ration card, voters card etc. I am not sure about this if one is a dual citizen.

However, in this Internet age kuchh bhi ho sakta hai. I hope you get the point.

Sitting in Canada, you can legitimately participate in the Indian markets by investing in some ETFs, ADRs and GDRs listed on the NYSE. But be careful about currency fluctuations.

There are no special tax benefits. But with foreign content limit removed from RRSPs you need not bother about tax as long as money is sheltered.

As far as the question of prudence of investing in India goes, one should always be cautious. Still the markets are loosely regulated compared to the international standards.

In my view, the markets may react temporarily if the present govt. falls but would bounce back in no time. The business is becoming increasingly de-linked from govt. policies as it should be. Laloos would continue to have mass following but with little or no effect on stock markets.

Any more views on this?

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Man's Best Friend

You can purchase mutual funds as an NRI. Since the INdian stock market is in a bull run, it makes a lot of sense to buy a good index fund and hold on to it. If you open an account with ICICI they have investment advisors which help you out.

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I have only 2 cents to contribute, not a cent more, not a cent less ;-)

Hi my2cents,

That is new information to me. Can you throw more light on how NRIs can buy Indian mutual funds or provide some web links? Because I was under the impression that mutual funds are more rigorously regulated than bonds and shares. As a Canadian it is difficult (not impossible) to buy even US mutual funds not to talk about Indian MFs. A little bit of additional info would be much appreciated.

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Man's Best Friend

I am providing some links for online trading and investments :

http://www.sharekhan.com" rel="nofollow">LINK
http://www.capitalmarket.com" rel="nofollow">LINK
http://www.icicidirect.com" rel="nofollow">LINK
http://www.equitymaster.com" rel="nofollow">LINK

If you have knowledge of the commodities market, it is possible to trade thru the sharekhan portal.

As stated earlier India is a good investment story given that returns from dollar deposits are next to nothing. Timing is everything..There are some good indian companies in the software / textile / commodities sphere. I would suggest that invest in comapanies that have a comparative cost advantage as compared to other companies in the world. You could also invest in IPO's..there are some quality IPO's expected like PNB / Gokuldas exports...

Happy Investing!!!!

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Light up your life by being positive