(January 5 – 10:45 ET) – Excel Funds Management Inc. is crowing about the Excel India Fund. In 1999, the Fund finished the year up 202%. Managed by Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd. based in Mumbai, it was one of the top performing Canadian mutual funds in 1999.
According to Morningstar Canada, the Excel India Fund ranked sixth in the country among all funds after the popular technology fund offerings from Altamira, AIM and Talvest.
Altamira’s e-business fund, launched at the beginning of 1999, topped the class and also garnered $218 million in assets. The AIM Global Technology Fund came next in performance, on $329 million in assets. By comparison the Excel India Fund has remained largely unknown, Morningstar says it only has $8 million invested.
While all the other top performers rode the wave of technology in 1999 Excel remains confident that its 1999 performance will not just be a flash in the pan. It points to the positive demographics underlying India’s economy, including a consumer base of 1 billion, an affluent middle class of 250 million people that is growing at 20% a year, a booming economy and one of the lowest P/E ratios in the world.