Jupiter India: February 2026 fund update

• Avinash Vazirani has plenty of experience of investing in India

• The fund invests across the diverse Indian stock market

• Long and short-term performance has been strong but also volatile

• This fund features on our Wealth Shortlist of funds chosen by our analysts for their long-term performance potential

How it fits in a portfolio

The Jupiter India fund aims to provide long-term growth by investing in companies that are primarily based in India. The fund managers can invest in companies of all sizes, including higher-risk smaller companies, allowing them to take full advantage of the opportunities on offer in a diverse market.

The fund’s focus on a single emerging market makes it a higher-risk option so it should only make up a small portion of a diversified investment portfolio. We think it could work well alongside other Asian funds that focus on the wider region or as part of a broader globally diversified portfolio focused on long-term growth.

Manager

Avinash Vazirani has a wealth of experience investing in India. He began his investment career in 1994 and joined Jupiter in 2007, launching the Jupiter India fund shortly after. With such a long career focused on the Indian market, Vazirani has built up considerable knowledge of the country’s investment opportunities and wider economy. We view this depth of expertise as one of his greatest strengths.

Co-manager Colin Croft has worked alongside Vazirani since 2021. After joining Jupiter in 2006 as an equity analyst, Croft has managed funds investing across Asia and emerging Europe.

While we’re impressed by Croft having got to know him over the past few years, our conviction in this fund primarily lies with the experience and expertise of Vazirani.

Process

Vazirani and Croft believe India is one of the most exciting regions within emerging markets. As India’s economy and population continues to grow, plenty of investment opportunities are presenting themselves.

The fund managers use a ‘GARP’ (Growth at a Reasonable Price) investment philosophy to help narrow down the more than 6,000 listed companies in India. They seek businesses that generate strong cash flow, are financially robust, and whose share price doesn’t reflect its potential to grow profits. As a result, the fund tends to look ‘cheaper’ than the Indian stock market across several metrics.

The managers spend a lot of time understanding a company’s management team to ensure the company is run prudently. They also analyse domestic trends, such as demographic change or government reform, that could benefit companies in the long run.

They use a wide range of sources to help them generate ideas. Quantitative screens provide a regular feed of company information and share price performance. They also use external analysts to better understand a company’s position within the market. Initial public offerings have been plentiful in India recently, providing an additional pipeline of potential opportunities for the managers to explore. That said, the managers find the IPO market a difficult area to add value, so don’t invest in new listings very often.

The managers currently find plenty of opportunities in financials companies, which make up 27.7% of the fund, although this is slightly less than broader Indian stock market (the benchmark). Healthcare, energy, and consumer staples businesses make up the next largest allocations in the fund. The fund includes companies of all sizes and currently invests 21.2% in small and medium-sized companies.

Given the long-term view the managers take, changes to the fund are infrequent. New investments made in the past year include PNB Housing Finance and electric vehicle manufacturer Olectra Greentech. A position was also added in Japanese automobile company Suzuki Motors. The business generates most of its revenue from India and the managers found shares in the parent company to be more attractively valued than the Indian subsidiary.

Investments were sold in commercial vehicle manufacturer Force Motors and energy company Oil & Natural Gas Corp. The managers also reduced their investment in the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Culture

Jupiter is a well-known asset manager and part of the UK’s FTSE 250 index of medium-sized companies. Fund managers are given autonomy to invest the way they see fit, but with an appropriate level of challenge from others in the business. The business setup allows Vazirani and Croft to focus purely on fund management and take a long-term view on investment outcomes.

Fund managers at Jupiter are incentivised in line with the performance of their funds over various timeframes. We think this aligns their interests with those of investors and helps the managers to focus on delivering strong performance for clients.

ESG Integration

Jupiter’s approach to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is fund manager led, so the fund managers themselves are responsible for implementing ESG in their investment decisions. They typically use a materiality-based approach to ESG issues, meaning they focus on the risks most relevant to each company. The firm also subscribes to several third-party data providers (including Sustainalytics, RepRisk, ISS, and MSCI) which offer information that fund managers can use in their research. Where red flags are raised, the managers investigate. Fund managers work closely with central ESG experts on ESG integration, engagement, and proxy voting. The fund managers’ commitment to these topics is a consideration in their annual appraisals.

We like that engagement isn’t delegated to a separate department. Instead, the fund manager who made the decision to invest in the company leads engagement activity directly, allowing more meaningful and relevant engagement. More information about the firm’s ESG policies and engagement case studies can be found in its annual Stewardship report.

The firm offers a small number of exclusions and sustainability-focused funds, including the longstanding Jupiter Ecology fund, and there’s a controversial weapons exclusion applied to all Jupiter funds. The firm makes all voting records available on its website, complete with a rationale for votes against management recommendations.

While ESG factors are considered in the research process, this fund doesn’t have a sustainable mandate. Investors should be aware that this fund has one of the highest ESG risk profiles of the funds under our research coverage. It’s also one of the most carbon intensive and, as of November 2025, 14.74% of the fund invests in companies involved with the extraction of fossil fuels. These companies could face increased regulatory scrutiny and operational challenges, potentially impacting the fund's future performance. While funds invested in India tend to have higher ESG risk, this fund has material investments in oil & gas and tobacco companies.

Cost

The fund has an annual ongoing charge of 1.00%, but we’ve secured HL clients an ongoing saving of 0.30%. This means you’ll pay a net ongoing charge of 0.70%. The fund discount is achieved through a loyalty bonus, which could be subject to tax if held outside of an ISA or SIPP.

Our current platform charge of up to 0.45% per annum also applies, except in the HL Junior ISA, where no platform fee applies.

From March 2026, the amount clients pay to invest with us will change. Find out more about these changes.

Performance

Since launching this fund in February 2008, Vazirani has delivered returns of 356.41%*. This is ahead of both the MSCI India benchmark and the average fund in the IA India/Indian Subcontinent peer group, which returned 232.78% and 244.15% respectively. Our analysis suggests the managers’ stock-picking (the ability to invest in companies that go on to perform well regardless of the sector they’re in) has been the driver of performance. Past performance isn’t a guide to the future.

Following a period of strong growth, the Indian market fell 7.09% in the 12 months to January 2026. The fund performed better than this and limited losses to 2.91%. This was also ahead of peers, where the average fund lost 11.61%.

The fund’s investment in tobacco company Godfrey Phillips was the biggest contributor to performance. The company is the fund’s largest investment and the managers continue to have a favourable view of its growth potential. Investments in financial businesses also benefited the fund in the past year.

A lack of investments in the materials sector detracted from performance. This is an area where the managers tend to find few opportunities. IT services provider HCL Technologies also detracted from returns. Sentiment towards IT outsourcing companies in India has fallen as investors question the role they’ll play as AI adoption increases.

Given Vazirani’s expertise, we believe the fund will continue to perform well and is a good option for investors taking a long-term view who can tolerate the volatility which comes with investing in a single emerging market.