Listed financial services company Fiducian is understood to be developing an Indian manage-the-manager product. The product, if launched, would be the second Indian fund available in Australia along with the Fidelity International India Fund, which was made available in September.

Fiducian currently offers 11 manage-the-manager funds across Australian and international shares, property securities and technology. Indy Singh, Fiducian founder and managing director, signalled the launch of a twelfth fund in August this year. He also indicated offshore business opportunities would be a focus for the group when announcing an end of financial year post-tax profit of $1.88 million. “The management team is working hard and is quite determined to achieve profit growth and business expansion in Australia and, where possible, overseas,” Singh said. India continues to record high economic growth with the IMF projecting GDP to grow by 7.1 per cent in 2005 and 6.3 per cent in 2006. Sandeep Kothari, portfolio manager for the Fidelity International India Fund, said the relatively low level of consumption in the sub-continent means there are significant opportunities for growth in India. Kothari said, for example, only 6 per cent of Indians own a mobile phone while 8.3 per cent of the population own a television. However, he said the market for such consumer goods is set to expand in India. “Mobile phone tariffs per se in India are very low but handset costs have come down substantially,” he said.