Jupiter has unveiled its India Fund, which launched on 1 February.

The fund, which will be aimed at experienced investors, will be managed by Avinash Vazirani and will aim to achieve long-term capital growth by investing in companies which operate or reside in India. There will be a 50p fixed price offer period from launch date to 3 March.

The Jupiter India Fund will invest in a diversified portfolio, holding around 60 stocks, with a bias towards medium and larger sized companies in order to preserve the liquidity of the fund. Vazirani will be looking to invest in a diversified range of stocks which meet his investment criteria to achieve growth at a reasonable price, while managing risk in the portfolio.

Vazirani believes Indian markets offer an excellent long term investment opportunity. He said: “India offers investors a chance to benefit from the strong internal growth story that seems set to drive the Indian economy for the foreseeable future. The recent stock market volatility has driven down valuations offering some real bargains among quality companies.

“India is already the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity and is projected to be around 60% of the size of the US economy by 2025. In 2005-06 the economy enjoyed Gross Domestic Product growth of 9% and 9.6% in 2006-07. Similar rates are forecast for the next two years and, it is worth noting that Indian growth rates have exceeded analyst expectations every year for the past five years. This compares to a forecasted growth rate of below 4% for a mature economy like the US and around 2% for the European Union and Japan.

“The Indian stockmarket offers one of the world’s most diversified basket of stocks and sectors. There are around 7,000 companies listed on the Indian stock exchange with over 225 companies having a market capitalisation over US$1bn. The stock market is also broadly based, with only one sector currently making up more than 15% of the market, and one of the most liquid in the world, with turnover now five times higher than in 2003, at US$25bn per day.”