Mutual Funds: Global ELSS plans may gain more against domestic ones; Here is how?

A mutual funds investor generally doesn't get the kind of returns he was promised by the mutual fund houses and its fund managers. At the time of maturity, they have to come across the alibi given by the mutual fund houses that the Indian markets didn't perform the way international markets performed during the period of investment. Hence, to counter this problem, mutual fund investment advisers have started to advise investors to buy some international mutual fun plans because it helps an investor to completely diversify his or her portfolio. If they do so, they can expect to earn even when the domestic market is found underperforming against the global bourses.

Explaining what does an international Mutual Fund means and what could be its benefit if an investor decides to buy an international mutual fund Deepesh Raghav, Investment Advisor at PersonalFinancePlan.com said, "Difference between International Mutual Funds and Indian Mutual Funds is simple. A mutual fund whose asset manager invests in the Indian indices is called Indian Mutual Fund whereas if an asset manager invests in stocks market outside India then such a mutual fund is called International Mutual Fund." Raghav of PersonalFinancePlan.com said that investing in International Mutual Fund is nothing but an indication that the investor believes in extensive diversification of its portfolio.

On how much one should opt into the International Mutual Funds while making his or her portfolio Kartik Jhaveri, Director — Wealth Management at Transcent Consultants said, "A mutual fund investor can allocate around 10-15 per cent of his or her portfolio fund into International Mutual Funds." He went on to add that International Mutual Funds are subject to various indicators like rupee-dollar deviation, political set up etc. He said that generally, a Mutual Fund investor gains when the rupee gains against the US dollar but in the case of International Mutual Funds, an Indian investor gains even when the Indian National Rupee (INR) falls against the US dollar (USD). Therefore, when the Indian equities fail to perform, International Mutual Funds came as a rescue for an investor from the international stock market.

"Mutual fund investors mainly invest in America, European and to some extent into the emerging economies like Brazil, Indonesia etc.," said Deepesh Raghav of PersonalFinancePlan.com.