Amundi launches India Bond fund with SBI FM

Amundi has launched an India Bond fund advised by SBI Funds Management Limited, a mutual funds company that is a joint venture between Amundi and the State Bank of India.

The fund, named the Amundi Fund Solutions ICAV – Amundi SBI FM India Bond, is a top-down strategy which focuses on Indian local debt and money market securities in Rupees. The sub-fund will invest in securities issued by India’s government, corporate debt securities of issuers in India, supranational debt securities and money market instruments.

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Joevin Teo will serve as lead portfolio manager for the fund, joined by SBI FM’s Dinesh Ahuja as lead investment advisor. In addition, Amundi’s Risk & Research team as well as SBI FM’s team of seven in India will serve as analysts on the sub-fund.

Yerlan Syzdykov, global head of emerging markets at Amundi, said: “India continues to be a key growth area for us, as the local financial markets and therefore the investment opportunities steadily develop. We are proud to work with the SBI FM team to offer investors privileged access to one of the world’s largest bond markets through a comprehensive product that combines a top-down and bottom-up approach and is designed to maximise risk-adjusted returns for investors.”

SBI FM is the largest mutual funds player in India, with over €275bn in assets. The fund launch follows Amundi’s introduction of an India government bond ETF in late September.

“We are excited to partner with Amundi, the largest European asset manager, to provide international clients with access to India’s bond market. We believe that the launch of the Sub-Fund comes at an opportune time and offers a compelling investment opportunity for a wide range of investors across the globe,” Ahuja said.