The folks at a 35-year-old, $2.297-billion-AUM (as of May 31, 2024) value-focused equity asset manager in India are rolling out a mutual fund for use by U.S. investors.

Last Tuesday (January 14), Ajit Dayal, founder of Quantum Advisors Private Limited [profile], and I. V. Subramaniam, managing director and group head of equities, unveiled the launch of the Q India Equity Fund. Mumbai-based Quantum Advisors serves as investment advisor to the new U.S. mutual fund, which is powered by the firm's $2.19-billion-AUM (as of December 31, 2024) Q India Value Equity Strategy.

The Q India Equity Fund's inception date was January 6. The new fund comes in three flavors: Investor shares (QINRX) with an expense ratio of 123 basis points (which bakes in a 12bps fee waiver); I shares (QINIX) for 98bps(baking in the same 12bps waiver); and II shares (QINSX) for 75bps (baking in a 35bps waiver). The minimum initial investment levels are $10 million for II shares, $500,000 for I shares, and $2,500 for Investor shares.

The PM team for the new mutual fund includes Dayal, Subramaniam, and portfolio manager Nilesh Shetty. The Quantum Advisors team uses a bottom-up strategy, with both qualtitative and quantitative elements, to invest in public equities in India to power the new fund.

Dayal reveals that launching an Indian-equities-focused U.S. mutual fund has been a goal of his for more than 20 years. He asserts that "India is under-allocated in global portfolios."

"Our disciplined approach, combined with a strong focus on integrity and valuation, has continued to deliver sensible outcomes for our clients over the years," Dayal states. "We believe this Fund will offer US investors a unique opportunity to benefit from India's growth story while endeavouring to minimize non-financial risks."

"Our job as an asset manager is to manage the increased risk profile that investors take on when investing in India and not add to them," Dayal adds. "India investing should thus be active, with a focus on governance and valuation. Passive index investing completely ignores these risks and exposes investors to headline and reputation risks."

Subaramanium adds that the new fund is "agnostic to market capitalization, sector weights, and rigid benchmarks." He describes the strategy as "a high conviction portfolio with a measured blend of liquidity and risk."

The Q India Equity Fund is a non-diversified series of Unified Series Trust. The new fund's other service providers include: Cohen & Company, Ltd. as independent accounting firm; U.S. Bank National Association as custodian; Ultimus Fund Distributors, LLC as distributor; Ultimus Fund Solutions, LLC as administrator, dividend and distribution disbursing agent, fund accountant, and transfer agent; and Ultimus' Northern Lights Compliance Services, LLC (NLCS) as provider of a chief operating officer. 

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