ICICI Bank Ltd. (IBN)

May not be his first choice in India, but you won’t go wrong. They had some issues last year with credit quality and it was concerning, but they are certainly growing loans.

Should grow well over the next several years because it is in an emerging market. It could be volatile, but has the potential for substantial growth as the market grows in India. You have to be careful of the volatility, though. Would prefer something more stable in Canada or the US.

Kind of a proxy on the Bombay Stock exchange. Had some problems a few years ago with regards to its loan loss provisions having a higher default and higher delinquency on some of its credit card holdings. Has turned back brilliantly in the last 2 years. They have been able to control their loan loss provisions very well. A good entry point for someone who wants to have a play in consumers and on the markets in general.

(A Top Pick Oct 22/13. Up 50.61%.) Went through a rough patch about a year or so ago. There is a lot of politics in these emerging market stocks. The Indian election went very well. It is a reformed government and is going to change things. It grows faster than the Canadian banks.

He doesn’t have anything right now in Indian banks, but that is not to say that he won’t. This wouldn’t be his first choice, but that is because he can buy locally, and doesn’t need to buy ADRs. If you could only buy an ADR, this would probably be the one.

Thinks the election of India's new prime minister is great. This is a great bank. Well run, and has great ROE. This has lots of room to go.

One of the better run Indian banks. Has been doing pretty well in the last few months. Either this bank or an Indian ETF will do pretty well.

Continues to do fantastically well, in particular with their insurance arm. What this bank has going against it in the short term is that Fed tapering will continue to have an adverse effect on many emerging markets, particularly those that have huge current account deficits, and India is a poster child for this. Also inflation in India is super high, which has led their central bank to hike interest rates. Normally this is not a bad thing for banks because they can get higher margins but to the extent that the Indian economy is decelerating, that puts a dampener on their deposit growth. Try to get something in the mid-$20s. Will be very volatile.

(Market Call Minute) A big position of his. Fabulous bank in Asia.

Feels the Indian financial market is slowly being deregulated, which is helpful. This bank won’t have as many products as our banks so there is room to expand. The issue you have with all of this is that they are highly volatile, so you need a 5 or 10 year view on emerging markets. Owning this over a long period of time will be very rewarding. As an alternative, you could own an ETF which would give you a broader market.

Banks are a proxy or a way to play the underlying growth of an economy. He is not very overweight on Indian banks, but because of the currency drop, there are some very good opportunities in India. Not sure the banking sector is the best one. Probably some of the industrials would be better in India.

Went down when the Indian currency went down. Has higher ROEs than ours. Strategically located. India has been too negatively affected.

[Show did not air however top and past picks were posted to web site] (Top Pick Nov 3/11, Up 9.60% Total Return)