Budget impact: Surcharge hike likely to hit global passive funds

Globally, index funds and ETFs are popular because of the low management fees

The surcharge on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her maiden Budget last week, may dent the returns of passive funds that invest in India, affecting their ability to mimic the benchmark returns, experts say.

The Budget announced an increase in the taxation of trusts and associations of persons. This will bring global funds that adopt a passive portfolio strategy and are structured as trusts — and which contribute an estimated 20-25 per cent of the FPI money coming into India — in the higher tax bracket. As a result, the net asset values or