It is understood that the fund will be part of HSBC’s Luxembourg-domici led Global Investment Funds Sicav umbrella and is expected to be called the HSBC GIF India Fixed Income Fund.
The launch is currently subject to appropriate regulatory approval, but a HSBC spokesperson was able to confirm that it may launch in the third quarter of this year.
The spokesperson also said the fund would likely be run from Asia, either by fund managers based in Hong Kong or India itself.
HSBC already has an Indian equity fund within its GIF range. The HSBC GIF Indian Equity Fund is managed by Sanjiv Duggal who is part of HSBC Global Asset Management, Singapore.
The equity fund has an annual charge of 1.5% and a minimum investment level of $5,000 or equivalent.
The company also runs the HSBC GIF Asian Currencies Bond Fund from its Hong Kong office. It is managed by Alfred Mui, an investment director in the Asian fixed income team – which may also be responsible for the management of the new India bond fund.
Launched in April last year, the Asian Currencies Bond Fund had returned 2.7% by the end of January, according to its latest factsheet.
Similarly, the fund has a minimum investment of $5,000 but has a slightly lower annual management charge of 1.25%.
HSBC’s range of GIF funds typically have both institutional and retail share classes.