With a buoyant Indian economy set on its trail blazing trajectory of economic prosperity, several European investors are keen to have a piece of the pie. There are only about a dozen continental European investments funds dedicated to Indian companies at the moment, three of them recently set up by the finance company of Edmond de Rothschild, the fund manager Comgest and the French bank Delubac. These funds have made healthy profits over the past year, a reflection of the buoyancy of the Mumbai stock exchange.

Saint-Honore Inde, which belongs to Rothschild, progressed by 45% last year and Comgest Growth India went up by 41%. Apius Avenir Inde, owned by Delubac, was set up in September 2005 and in four months progressed by more than 12%.

BNP Paribas has recently announced that it has teamed up with Sundaram, one of the top 10 managers of Indian stocks, to launch Parvest India.

The US investment bank JP Morgan Chase was however a real pioneer. In 1995 it launched an Indian fund whose value more than tripled over the next 10 years. The global banking giant HSBC and the private Swiss bank have also had funds dedicated to Indian companies for the past decade.

China is also still pulling in foreign capital but India, with its 1.1 bn inhabitants, is a current favourite with investors.