Morningstar starts India operations

Apr 16, 2009 Personal Finance

Morningstar Inc, a Chicago based independent investment research company has commenced operations in India. Aditya Agarwal has been appointed as the Managing Director of the company in India. Agarwal was one of the founders of MutualFundsIndia.com (later acquired by ICRA).

Morningstar already has a presence in India; it’s data centre, which houses around 150 people. This centre was part of the deal when it acquired Hemscott from Ipreo Holdings LLC for $51.6 million.

Morningstar is a 25 year old company, founded by Chairman and CEO, Joe Mansueto with an initial investment of $80,000. They went public in 2005, and Mansueto still holds around a 57% stake in the company. The firm’s rating system for mutual funds and stocks is coveted by all industry players.

They plan to offer a mutual fund product soon, but it remains to be seen how it will fare during this ongoing global meltdown in stocks and growing risk averseness among investors towards equity.