INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
manager Mark Mobius is exploring aggressive contrarian bets on the sector.Mr Mobius' bet comes at a time when investors have been selling
holdings in non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) after a series of defaults by the country's leading infrastructure finance company in
September triggered contagion fears and prompted the government to step in and take control of the company."Believe it or not we are looking
at non-banking finance companies," Mr Mobius told news agency Reuters on Tuesday
"It looks crazy but everybody knows that the banking sector is in trouble.""Now is the time to start looking because the prices are down but
You got to look at these companies carefully."Mr Mobius, who quit as head of Franklin Templeton's emerging market funds in January, has
started his own London-based Mobius Capital Partners that aims to pick up direct equity stakes in companies instead of buying
exchange-traded funds to generate higher returns.The fund, which has $160 million of assets under management so far since May, plans to
invest $30 million to $40 million in India, said Mr Mobius, 81, who has bet heavily on the country's assets in the past.Mr Mobius, who is
awaiting for approval of registration of the investment firm by market regulator Sebi, says he has already spoken to five NBFCs."It's
We'll have to visit them, sit down with them person to person and get a feel for what their thinking is."The debt woes of Infrastructure
Leasing Financial Services led to a massive sell-off in finance companies which lost 32.7 per cent since September dragging the broader BSE
stock index down 11.7 per cent.Mobius Capital will earmark 20 per cent of its investments each in India and Brazil followed by Turkey,
Mexico, Vietnam, Taiwan and Korea which could see about 5-10 percent allocation each, Mr Mobius said on the sidelines of Morningstar's
investment conference in Mumbai.Mr Mobius is looking to invest at a time when several foreign investors are pulling out of the country due
to uncertainties in the financial sector, rising oil prices, a weaker rupee, and fiscal worries ahead of general elections next year.Foreign
investors have pulled out $13 billion out of the country's debt and stock markets since the start of 2018.Despite this, Mr Mobius said the
investors in his company are bullish on India's growth prospects and expect annual returns of 15-20 per cent from equities in the next
five years."All you have to do is tell them India is growing at 7 per cent and they're sold."
