The following is a comprehensive list of all ETFs traded worldwide that invest exclusively in Indian assets, ordered by country of listing.

United States

PowerShares India Portfolio (PIN)

Wisdom Tree India Earnings Fund (EPI)

WisdomTree Dreyfuss Indian Rupee Fund (ICN)

United Kingdom

Lyxor India S&P CNX NIFTY USD (LNFT)

db x-trackers S&P CNX NIFTY India (XNIF)

Euronext

Lyxor MSCI India (INR)

Germany

db x-trackers S&P CNX NIFTY India (DBX1NN)

Hong Kong

iShares BSE SENSEX India (2836)

Lyxor MSCI India (2810)

db x-trackers S&P CNX NIFTY India (3015)

Japan

Indian Rupee Linked Exchange Traded Fund (1340)

Singapore

iShares MSCI India (I98)

Lyxor MSCI India (G1N)

db x-trackers S&P CNX NIFTY India (HEO)

Switzerland

Lyxor MSCI India (LYINR)

db x-trackers S&P CNX NIFTY India (XNIF)

Van Eck has launched the first US traded ETF to focus on the Vietnamese market, adding to its impressive lineup of emerging market single country funds. The Van Eck Market Vectors Vietnam (VNM) tracks a custom index of equities from firms that generate more than 50% of their revenues in Vietnam.

The current 28 holdings place a heavy weighting on energy, materials, and financial names, most of which have small or middling market caps.

The fund is expected to be in high demand as Vietnamese shares have been among the best performing in the world this year. The benchmark VN Index – which is broader than the one VNM tracks – is up 61% this year. Investors will pay a premium for access, however, as the fund carries a .99% expense ratio. By contrast, European investors pay only .85% for the db-x trackers FTSE Vietnam (XFVT).

The Vietnam fund is just the latest of Van Eck’s single country emerging offerings, and follows on the strong success of the Market Vectors Indonesia (IDX) and Market Vectors Brazil Small Cap (BRF)

Commodity ETFs have been criticized from all corners. Investors have pilloried their inability to accurately track the price of their underlying asset. Industry watchdogs have assailed their inadequate disclosure of risks. And regulators have fretted over their ability to unduly manipulate futures markets.

Yet ETFs like the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) and the United States Oil Fund (USO) seem to have thus far gotten away high fees, poor disclosure, and disappointing returns, as investors are still buying them in droves. But regulators are less happy, and commodities-futures ETFs may not survive the coming regulatory onslaught.

Bloomberg is reporting today that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will open hearings into expanding regulation of speculative trading in commodities. Although the hearings concern all speculators, the regulators are primarly concerned with USO and UNG’s ability to move the oil and natural gas markets higher, adding a speculative premium to energy prices. Trading in the UNG was breifly halted as the SEC denied its routine request to issue more shares.

Ironically, with the USO and UNG, investors get the worst of both worlds. The funds themselves don’t track the price of the commodity very well due to rollover, so investors don’t reap the rewards of higher prices. But many believe their trading nonetheless increases demand for the contracts, driving spot prices prices higher. Not only do the UNG and USO screw you out of your returns, they make filling up and heating your home more costly. The only people who benefit from this scheme are the ETF issuers who collect the fees, and the speculators who actually play the futures markets properly.

The CFTC  is considering putting limits on holding futures contracts, which could take a variety of forms including limiting the number of trades or contracts any one market participant can hold.

Such a move would directly threaten commodity futures funds, and could force many of the largest ones to close up shop. It would be difficult to keep the size of any ETF down to a particular number of trades or contracts because ETFs are supposed to be open-ended, issuing new shares and aquiring new assets to match as investors put money in. Keeping a commodity ETF within regulatory limits, therefore, will essentially force it to become a closed-end fund that trades at a discount or premium to its net-asset value.

Such funds already exist, but are nowhere near as popular as their exchange traded peers precisely because their values fluctuate in such a seemingly random fashion. And the CEFs don’t solve the rollover problem found on ETFs, as the don’t have fixed end dates to match those of their underlying contracts.

In fact the UNG today entered such a closed-end situation as the CFTC failed to approve its request to issue additional shares pending the outcome of its hearings, meaning the fund that was already a messy way to play natural gas has become a downright terrible one.

Although Exchange Traded Funds are wonderful creations, they simply cannot invest in futures markets. There is an inherent and irreconcilable clash between an ETFs’ open-ended structure and the closed-end and fixed-date nature of futures contracts. An Exchange Traded Fund will never be able to accurately track the price of a commodity by investing in futures. Only those that invest in the physical asset – like the GLD, SLV, and several commodity ETFs traded in London are able to do that at the moment.

Yet funds like the USO and the UNG would have you believe otherwise. They attract assets with misleading marketing and fail to provide investors the product they expect. Its a hugely profitable business, but collecting fees on a mislabeled product is ethically dubious and investing in such funds can be investing suicide if you don’t know the risk. Greater regulation is needed and coming, the only question now is whether it leaves these ETFs simply out of luck or out of business.

If anyone can figure out an exchange traded investment product that can actually track commodity prices through futures, it’d be a wonderful tool to play the whole asset class. But the current class of commodity futures ETFs can be terrible intstuments which generate fees and little else. The investment industry as a whole needs to be more honest about these funds, but unfortunately most investment advisers seem clueless about the USO and UNG.

On the day before the CFTC announced it was investigating these dubious funds and trading in the UNG was halted, ETF “gurus” were on national television praising thier virtures; which is kinda like recommending Fairfield Greenwich on Dec. 9, 2008.

Its time for some honesty and integrety in the ETF marketplace. I’d rather have self-regulation, and if the government has to force disclouse and limits on these funds than so be it.

Investors worried about inflation and high fees poured money into commodities, inflation protected bonds, and cheaper versions of existing funds in June.

The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was the month’s big winner with as investors showered 1.7 billion dollars on the commodity futures fund, despite concerns about its tracking accuracy. iShares’s TIP Bond Fund (TIP) saw the second biggest cash infusion, with the inflation-conscious sinking $942 million into the inflation protected securities fund.

Vanguard’s MSCI Emerging Markets (VWO) was in third place for a decidedly different reason, as institutional money fled en masse from the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM) to the VWO’s lower expense ratio. Cost conscious investors also rewarded iShares S&P 500 fund (IVV), to the detriment of State Street’s SPY.

The ProShares Ultra Short S&P 500 Fund (SDS) also saw $577 million of inflows in June, a warning sign that investors are betting on an imminent market correction.

June’s figures highlight the rising prominence of commodity ETFs, which carry unique tracking risks all investors should be aware of.

Those worried about inflation should also be aware of the risk of TIPs, and consider broader alternatives such as the SPDR International Government Inflation-Protected Bond (WIP) .

The global financial crisis started in the United States, and the US economy has consequently suffered more than most. Although total output has fallen less than the global average, the rise in America’s unemployment rate has been the steepest in the OECD. It has the world’s largest budget deficit as a percentage of GDP, save the UK. And although US shares didn’t fall as far in 2008, they have hardly risen in 2009 – left in the dust by recovering emerging markets. The economic landscape leaves little for America to celebrate this Independence Day weekend. And considering Thursday’s depressing jobs report, the US economy may remain in the doldrums for a long time to come.

Yet even amongst capital-raising entities that operate entirely in the America, there are opportunities. The insured municipal bond sector, for instance, looks like a good place to get high yields with relatively little credit risk. And several industries including home-building and community banking are so far off their highs that valuation alone may make them decent long term choices.

The following five funds aren’t necessarily “better” than foreign-focused funds, and may not even been good investments at this precise moment. They are simply the ETFs most dependent on the US economy, and with the most to gain from a strong American recovery:

5. iShares US Healthcare Providers Index (IHF) +5.46% ytd

The HMO industry is an entirely American creation, as most developed countries have more statist health care systems. The 45 companies in this fund, therefore, are almost entirely dependent on the US economy for their fortunes, and also carry heavy political risk related to proposed health care reforms. If the effort to change healthcare leaves health care operators with a profitable niche, the fund will profit.

4.  Powershares Insured National Municipal Bond (PZA) +5.29% ytd

This fund invests in municipal bonds, debt securities issued by local governments and other regional public entities. The sector is seen as increasingly risky as real estate values fall and tax revenues plummet. Municipal defaults, however, are very rare and usually linked to strange one-off events (like when Orange County decided it was an expert derivatives trader), and not a poor economy. The PZA invests in insured municial bonds from issuers accross the country. Downgrades may hurt the capital appreciation, but it won’t hurt its safe, healthy, tax-exempt yield – currently above 5%.

3. iShares California Municipal Bonds (CMF) +0.39 ytd

If you’re looking for higher yield and higher risk, look no further than California. The state announced yesterday that it will henceforth be paying its debts with IOUs [sic], until it can pass a workable budget. The CMF consequently took a hit as investors begin to fret about a possible default, but a California default would be so shocking to global capital markets that it is unlikely to be allowed to occur. When California’s economy recovers, its bonds should rise. And meanwhile investors can enjoy the CMF’s yield, now nearing 7%.

2. FirstTrust Nasdaq ABA Community Banking Fund (QABA) n/a

One of the jewels of the American financial system is its network of small community banks and credit unions that make money the old-fashioned way; lending to burrowers they know and trust. Credit Unions are owned by their members, but the QABA tracks 98 small publicly traded banks that have largely avoided the excesses of their national and regional peers. Its a brand new fund with the consequent liquidity risk.

1. iShares US Home Construction Index (ITB) -0.42%ytd

No industry is more dependent on the fortunes the American economy than residential construction. Home building one of the few sectors still not off its November lows, and residential home prices are still in freefall. When home values begin to recover, however, and stocks of existing homes are depleted, the 28 names inthe ITB will benefit from the revival of the industry.

The United States will finally have a listed ETF whose investment strategy conforms to Islamic law. Such sharia funds are wildly popular elsewhere in the world, and are a rapidly growing niche product for major Western banks and asset mangers.

The JETS Dow Jones Islamic Market International Index Fund (JVS) will track a special version of the Dow Jones International Titans 100 index, which excludes businesses involved in alcohol, finance, gambling, pornography, defense, and anything pig-related. It is best thought of as an ex-US mega cap fund with a strong European focus, and may be of interest to investors who want to avoid banking and insurance stocks.

The fund started trading yesterday on the NYSE Arca and is issued by newcomer Javelin Exchange Traded Shares (JETS).

The only exchange traded fund to focus on community banks started trading this morning on the NASDAQ. The First Trust Nasdaq ABA Community Bank Fund (QABA) from First Trust Advisors focuses on banks with a local focus, using a strict index criteria to exclude larger regional banks and banks that otherwise derive revenue from outside their home markets (eg credit card servicing).

The fund may appeal to investors looking to profit from the problems at larger banks, as smaller players are in a position to lend and gain market share. The index is down 25% so far this year, beating the 35% ytd decline of the SPDR KBW Regional Banking Fund (KBE).

First Trust specializes in such niche products, and is the 14th largest issuer of ETFs in the US.

ETF Securities - the British based ETF issuer known mostly for its extensive array of commodities funds – is finally making the move into equities. The company’s new London-listed funds will offer 2x leveraged exposure to major broad European indicies such as the FTSE 100 , the DAX, and the Euro STOXX 50.

Leveraged funds are new to the UK, but are widely available in the US and Canada, where their daily return structure has caused some controversy. The new funds are part of ETF Securities ambitious plans to expand its product range and increase its listings worldwide – including to the United States, where it will list that market’s first  platinum and palladium funds later this year.

Japanese investors will have a unique ETF option coming in mid-July: a fund that invests only in one conglomerate. The fund will hold each of the 26 separately-listed Japanese companies owned or part-owned by the Mitsubishi Group, including Mitsubishi Motors (TYO:7211), Nippon Oil Corporation (TYO:5001), and Nikon (TYO:7731).

This rare niche product is made possible by Japan’s unique cross-holding corporate structure, known as keiretsu, where large industrial businesses are affiliated through a common equity-holding lender.

The fund will be offered by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

US Commodity Funds, the same group behind the largest US listed oil ETFs – the USO and USL – will launch a new fund to short crude futures.

Bloomberg reports that the United States Short Oil Fund (DNO) will begin trading in July on the NYSE Arca. It will be the only single leverage short fund offered in the US, competing against Powershares ETNs and ProShares 2x leveraged offerings.