India’s $1.3 trillion sovereign debt market has become a magnet for global investors. However, this newfound interest highlights how difficult doing business in the world’s most populous country can be for outsiders, according to Bloomberg.
Foreigners are eagerly buying bonds before they’re added to JPMorgan Chase & Co’s main emerging market debt index from Friday. When doing so, they face challenges ranging from lengthy documentation to the intricacies of settling a trade and the complexities of paying taxes on any profits.
That’s because Indian authorities, cautious of hot money flows that led to the Asian financial crisis, chose not to follow in the footsteps of China. Unlike Beijing, which provided concessions such as exempting investors from taxes ahead of joining major debt indexes, New Delhi has been reticent to make any changes.
“It’s still a very difficult market to access, requiring a lot of documentation,” said Jae Lee, a portfolio manager for Los Angeles-based investment management firm The TCW Group. “The other thing is there are variances in tax treaties. So where you’re domiciled has an impact on what your net return is in India bonds.”