Alternatives in the same category

iShares MSCI India vs iShares MSCI South Africa

iShares MSCI India tracks MSCI India and iShares MSCI South Africa tracks MSCI South Africa. They are realistic alternatives for the same slot in a portfolio, but because the indices are different nobody can tell you in advance which will return more. What can be compared objectively is the cost, the replication method, the domicile and how each one is structured — and that is what this page does.

What each one tracks

This is the underlying difference: they do not follow the same index, so their returns will diverge.

iShares MSCI India

MSCI India

iShares MSCI South Africa

MSCI South Africa

Comparison

iShares MSCI IndiaiShares MSCI South Africa
IndexMSCI IndiaMSCI South Africa
TER0.65%0.74%
Hist. return*~9%~5%
ReplicationPhysicalPhysical
DistributionAccumulatingDistributing
DomicileIrlandaIrlanda
CurrencyUSDUSD
Risk5/76/7
ISINIE00BZCQB185IE00B52XQP83

What the fee gap actually costs

Applying the SAME 7% gross return to both and contributing €300/month, the only thing moving the result is the TER. This is not a return forecast: it is how much the fee weighs.

HorizoniShares MSCI IndiaiShares MSCI South AfricaDifference
10 years€50,374€50,124€250
20 years€145,272€143,709€1,563
30 years€324,047€318,439€5,608

iShares MSCI India is the cheaper of the two. Remember they track different indices: cost is one factor, not the verdict.

Nobody can know which will perform better: they track different indices and past performance is not a prediction. What is objective today is the cost, the replication, the domicile and the distribution policy.

iShares

iShares MSCI South Africa

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Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between iShares MSCI India and iShares MSCI South Africa?+

They track different indices: iShares MSCI India follows MSCI India and iShares MSCI South Africa follows MSCI South Africa. They also differ in cost (0.65% vs 0.74% TER), replication (physical vs physical) and domicile (Irlanda vs Irlanda).

Which one will perform better?+

Nobody can know that: they track different indices, so their returns will diverge, and past index performance is not a prediction. What you can control today is the cost, the tax structure and whether the index actually covers what you want exposure to.

Which one is cheaper?+

iShares MSCI India has the lower annual fee. Applying the same 7% gross return to both with €300/month, that fee gap alone is worth about €1,563 after 20 years — that part is arithmetic, not a forecast.

Accumulating or distributing?+

iShares MSCI India is accumulating (dividends are reinvested inside the fund) and iShares MSCI South Africa is distributing (dividends are paid out to you). For long-term compounding in Spain, accumulating usually defers taxation; distributing gives you income you are taxed on each year.

Can I hold both?+

Yes. Unlike two funds tracking the identical index, these give you genuinely different exposure, so holding both is not automatically redundant — just be aware you may end up overlapping on the largest companies and doubling your rebalancing work.

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