The Chatterjee Group (TCG), with AUM of over $1 billion, headquartered in NY and founded by ex-Soros advisor Dr.  Purnendu Chatterjee’s India dedicated Equity Long/Short Fund, TCG IndiaStar, ranks #1 in its peer group of India dedicated Equity Long/Short funds: up +12.2% net July 31, 2010 YTD.

Dr. Chatterjee commented: “We have to provide a Fund model that works in India ; while capturing India ‘s growth story. I believe we can succeed on both counts.  Our latest relative performance, including positive performance and significant alpha attribution from short strategies in a bull market, is an encouraging sign.”

TCG IndiaStar (inception April 2005) is an India dedicated, growth-biased, Alpha focused Fund.  The Fund complements conventional, “margin of safety” driven long investments with a dedicated short book and a range of over 24 mostly fundamentally driven market neutral strategies.  Some of these strategies are unique to the Indian market.  Alpha is central to the fund’s philosophy …from sourcing ideas/strategies, to closing positions/strategies, to risk management, and to the performance attribution to investors.

On October 1, 2009, Mr. Vijay Krishna-Kumar was appointed Head of the Indian sub-advisor, TCG Advisory Services Ltd, based in  Mumbai , India . Formerly, Vijay was the CIO of the Agra India Fund (PCE Investors Ltd.).

Mr. Krishna-Kumar emphasized that India remains a ‘beta bet’; a structural investment and consumption-led growth story.  Nevertheless, the arguments in favor of also running alternative strategies to maximize risk-adjusted returns are even more compelling.  “It is an Alpha rich market.  And, it is an unsaturated one at that.  There are many pools from which to draw Alpha.  Therefore, Alpha extraction is more stable and is less concentrated than from just long-only strategies. Continued growth in equity and derivative markets also augurs well.”