Norway’s Authorities Pension Fund World, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund with a portfolio worth in extra of $1.2 trillion, raised its India bets final yr regardless of the volatility in Indian equities.
The variety of Indian firms it was invested in rose to 550 in CY24 from 449 the earlier yr. The worth of the fund’s India fairness investments stood at $30.8 billion on the finish of final yr, a 28 per cent rise over the earlier yr.
Its Indian holdings as a share of its complete fairness portfolio rose by 30 foundation factors year-on-year in calendar 2024 to 2.47 per cent, knowledge confirmed.
The rise in India weight got here in a yr that noticed overseas portfolio buyers (FPIs) promoting India shares price over ₹3 lakh crore within the money market even because the nation’s benchmark index Nifty 50 rose 8.7 per cent.
The fund’s high Indian holdings embody HDFC Financial institution, valued at over $2 billion, adopted by Reliance Industries, with a market worth of over $1.5 billion. ICICI Financial institution, Bharti Airtel and Infosys are the opposite holdings with a price in extra of $1 billion. The fund’s possession within the two banks has risen 33 bps and 32 bps over a yr, respectively.
Financials on high
Amongst sectors, financials occupies the highest spot with a market worth of $9.2 billion, adopted by client ($5.6 billion) and know-how ($3.5 billion) firms.
The worth of the fund’s China fairness investments stood at $40.69 billion on the finish of December. India has the second largest weight within the MSCI EM index with a weightage of 19.4 per cent in contrast with 27.8 per cent for China.
India’s fairness market is on observe to double in measurement inside the subsequent 5 to 6 years, reaching a projected market capitalisation of $10 trillion, in line with consultants.
Equities kinds 71.4 per cent of the fund’s complete funding. Its fairness portfolio returned 12.5 per cent within the first half of 2024.
The fairness investments consists of possession shares in about 9,000 firms worldwide. On common, the fund owns 1.5 p.c of all listed firms.
