Wealth advisory firm Waterfield Advisors has launched two new outbound Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) from Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City). These offerings are designed to provide Indian investors with a pooled investment structure for gaining exposure to international markets, complementing their existing domestic portfolios.
New AIFs Target Diverse Global Assets
The newly introduced funds are the Waterfield Global Opportunity Fund and the Waterfield Global Fixed Income Fund. The Global Opportunity Fund will strategically invest across international equities, commodities, and various global thematic opportunities, ensuring a diversified approach not tied to a single country or investment idea.
Conversely, the Waterfield Global Fixed Income Fund will concentrate on global debt markets and fixed-income assets. Both AIFs will employ an active, research-driven investment strategy, aiming to identify and capitalize on opportunities across different parts of the global market.
Why Invest Beyond India?
Waterfield Advisors highlights that India accounts for approximately 3% of global equity market capitalization. This concentration means investors with portfolios solely focused on Indian assets might be heavily exposed to a single market and currency.
The firm emphasizes the availability of significant investment opportunities in overseas markets, particularly in sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, aerospace, and global pharmaceuticals. For family-office portfolios, Waterfield recommends a minimum 10% allocation to global assets, with periodic rebalancing to optimize exposure.
Structured Access to International Markets
These GIFT City-based funds offer an alternative to the Reserve Bank of India's Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), which allows individuals to remit up to $250,000 per financial year for direct overseas investments. Instead of investors needing to open individual overseas brokerage accounts and select investments themselves, Waterfield's AIFs provide access through a professionally managed, pooled vehicle.
The funds are set up to operate in foreign currency within GIFT City and will feature independent custody and third-party administration, ensuring a robust governance framework.
Soumya Rajan, founder and CEO of Waterfield Advisors, stated that the funds were launched in response to client demand for access to global markets within a structured investment and governance framework. Riddhiman Jain, managing director and head of investment strategy and solutions at Waterfield Advisors, reiterated that the funds aim to offer Indian investors crucial global diversification through a well-defined investment vehicle.