The Hindu Business Line : Sustainable Responsible Investment funds eye India

Fund managers who swear by Sustainable Responsible Investment (SRI) are warming up to India, courtesy local companies that are increasingly laying their bets on ‘green and clean’ technology.

SRI funds, which make up a small but committed group of investors, are currently known to be scouting for good Indian companies.

What triggers their interest in India is the perception that the companies here—aware of global warming and climate variations—are lining up higher allocations of resources to address critical issues stemming from these aspects.

Productive Influence

Companies too are looking at SRI investors more seriously these days, maintain fund circles, referring to the green issues that have in recent times come to the fore for corporate India. Investors such as these are aiming at higher returns from investments that have a productive influence on the environment.

A select set of local corporates have registered themselves at a conference on this subject that is being worked out by Terrapinn, the event organising outfit, for Asia. These include Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Power and Tata Chemicals.

“With the increasing demand of SRI funds, it is a must to understand the developments of SRI and its key drivers. Asia is now a highly attractive region for the international investment community and Asian investors are coming together demonstrating a greater awareness of sustainable responsible investments,” Terrapinn has noted.

Environmental Changes

It is also important to understand the scope of devising SRI products, especially so in the backdrop of environmental changes, it is felt. Some of the other Asian entities that have registered are ExxonMobil Asia Pacific, Shell Global Solutions, Siemens and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology.

Mr S. Narayan, Fund Manager – Equities, ABN Amro Mutual Fund, noted that SRI has its own following across the world. In certain markets, the demand for SRI products is relatively higher, thanks to those who have taken to the concept more seriously than others, he observed, adding that Indians too may consider these investments on a standalone basis.

Investing across sectors

ABN Amro MF’s Sustainable Development Fund, about the only one of its kind, has invested in a range of sectors, including banking, capital goods and engineering.

The fund, which aims at long-term growth of capital from a portfolio of equity/equity related securities chiefly of the “socially responsible companies”, is free to invest irrespective of market capitalisation.

Some of its top holdings, according to the latest portfolio statement, are SBI, Jaiprakash Associates, Cummins India, Century Textiles and Infosys. The fund has BSE-200 as its benchmark.