Roth panelists say investing in India offers long-term opportunities

SmallCapInvestor.com reporter Jennifer Schonberger is reporting from the 20th Roth Capital Partners Annual OC Growth Stock Conference this week in Dana Point, Calif. The conference features presentations from more than 300 small-cap companies.

The SENSEX 30, which accounts for the 30 largest companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange, has been soaring since 2003 to a level of just over 20,000 from 5,000 and long-term growth in India doesn’t look to be dwindling.

“We don’t think the growth in India is anywhere near over for a time to come,” said Donald Straszheim, vice chairman of Roth Capital Partners, LLC.

India has the second fastest growing economy compared to China. Over the past five years, India’s GDP has grown at an average rate of 8%. For the 2008 calendar year, real GDP in India is expected to grow at a rate of 8.7%, according to the Indian government.

According to Jeff Feinberg, founder and portfolio manager of JLF Asset Management, LLC., the Indian economy should maintain this level of growth going forward, which should be welcome news for U.S. investors suffering from the latest bouts of the credit crisis that continue to plague U.S. markets.
 
“Given the state of the U.S. economy — how stretched the U.S. consumer is — the U.S. economy will not be there for the next three to five years,” Feinberg said. “What the U.S. economy is currently experiencing is not a short-term six-month phenomenon.”

The panelists made their remarks in a presentation at the 20th annual Roth OC Growth Stock Conference this week in Dana Point, Calif.

While the average domestic company’s growth has been tempered since the height of the U.S. bull market just last October, the average company in India is growing at a rate of 12% to 14%. Roads, ports, power and infrastructure are some of Feinberg’s favorite spaces in India to invest, as India embarks on industrialization. With 6,000 publicly traded companies in India, Feinberg favors the following companies within India — all of which trade on the Bombay stock exchange.

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