The WisdomTree India Earnings ETF (EPI) made its debut on 02/22/2008, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Asia-Pacific (Emerging) ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.
A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is sponsored by Wisdomtree. It has amassed assets over $3.39 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs in the Asia-Pacific (Emerging) ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree India Earnings Index.
The WisdomTree India Earnings Index is a fundamentally weighted index that measures the performance of companies incorporated and traded in India that are profitable and that are eligible to be purchased by foreign investors as of the index measurement date. Weighted Index based on their earnings in their fiscal year prior to the Index measurement date adjusted for foreign investors.
Cost & Other Expenses
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor. And, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.87% for EPI, making it one of the most expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.25%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
When you look at individual holdings, Us Dollaraccounts for about 207.23% of the fund's total assets, followed by Wt India Investment Portfolio Inc and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 296.21% of EPI's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has gained about 4.82% and is down about -2.5% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 07/03/2025), respectively. EPI has traded between $40.08 and $50.82 during this last 52-week period.
EPI has a beta of 0.51 and standard deviation of 15.47% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 535 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
WisdomTree India Earnings ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Asia-Pacific (Emerging) ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Franklin FTSE India ETF (FLIN) tracks FTSE INDIA CAPPED INDEX and the iShares MSCI India ETF (INDA) tracks MSCI India Total Return Index. Franklin FTSE India ETF has $2.34 billion in assets, iShares MSCI India ETF has $10.09 billion. FLIN has an expense ratio of 0.19% and INDA changes 0.62%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Asia-Pacific (Emerging) ETFs
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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WisdomTree India Earnings ETF (EPI): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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