GLOBAL FUNDS, BIG RETURNS

INTERNATIONAL FUNDS HAVE DELIVERED 29% RETURN IN THE PAST YEAR. WILL VOLATILE MARKETS TEST INVESTOR RESILIENCE?

- BY AMIT MUDGILL

INDIA'S STOCK MARKET, at $5. 3 trillion, accounts for less than 4% of global market capitalisation. This means over 96% listed opportunities lie beyond Indian shores. This includes some of the most powerful global themes—from Silicon Valley's AI innovations and Seoul and Taipei's AI chips to the sparkle of American gold miners and the unstoppable rise of data centres.

The US market dwarfs others at roughly $70 trillion, followed by China ($13 trillion), Japan ($7.5 trillion), and Hong Kong ($7.2 trillion). Beyond these giants, opportunities abound across regions such as Taiwan, the UK, France, Germany, and Canada, which continue to attract global investors looking to diversify beyond domestic shores.

These markets offer unique segments. For example, the US hosts some of the most valuable companies in the world offering cutting-edge technologies. Take Santa Clara-based Nvidia, a pioneer in graphic processing units (GPUs) and accelerated computing, with a market cap of $4.6 trillion. Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Apple, and Tesla are some other trillion-dollar companies based in the US. Taiwan TSMC is the world's semiconductor foundry. China's BYD is a global electric vehicle giant.

Over the past year, international funds have delivered a 28% return on an average while domestic equity categories such as Large & Midcap, Multicap, and Flexicap delivered -1% to 4%. Three-year compound returns for domestic funds are 16-21% compared with international funds' 25%, highlighting the benefits of a diversified, global approach.