New Passages to India for ETF Investors

Investing in India is about to get easier.

Investors who want exposure to one of the world's fastest-growing economies have so far been limited to a handful of mutual funds. But that could soon change as both Barclays Global Investors and PowerShares Capital Management are developing exchange-traded products that track Indian stock indices.

The BGI product is called the iPath MSCI India Index ETN and is expected to launch on or around Dec. 20, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The product is structured as an exchange-traded note, or ETN, which is a debtlike security that promises to deliver the same returns as a specific index -- in this case the MSCI India Total Return Index, a market-cap-weighted index made up of roughly 70 Indian securities. ...