(Bloomberg) — South Korea has ticked every box in an attempt to get its bonds included in a major FTSE Russell index, while India has steered clear of public overhauls — but the latter’s popularity with global investors may give it an edge to join a related benchmark.
FTSE Russell will on Oct. 8 announce any inclusions into benchmarks including its World Government Bond Index, which tracks $29 trillion of global fixed income. Seoul hopes it finally made the cut after overhauling currency and debt-market operations. At the same time, India has already joined a flagship JPMorgan Chase & Co. gauge despite being a reform laggard, and may get into FTSE Russell’s $4.6 trillion emerging-market bond index this time around.
Vietnam too is in focus, as its stock market is eligible for promotion to emerging status from frontier.
It’s a propitious time to get access to the big investors attracted by such status. Global funds…
