Key Takeaways:

• EM is significantly underrepresented in global equity indices, creating a long-term allocation gap.
• Robust growth opportunities exist across the EM equity and fixed income landscape.
• Investors can address specific allocation objectives through our purpose-built strategies across emerging, developing and frontier markets.

Emerging markets are home to roughly 87% of the world's population, are on pace to account for approximately 60% of global GDP by 2026 and yet represent just 13% of the market capitalization of all international equities. That disparity between economic weight and investment representation has created a long-term structural opportunity for investors.

VanEck's Emerging Markets Equities Capabilities

Founded in 1955 by John van Eck, VanEck has always looked beyond U.S. borders for investment opportunities and was one of the first U.S. asset managers to offer global investing. Recognizing the opportunity created by Europe and Japan’s post-war recovery, John van Eck launched International Investors Incorporated, one of the first international equity mutual funds available to U.S. investors.

In the early 1990s, when John’s sons Derek and Jan joined the firm, VanEck expanded into emerging markets equities and fixed income, as well as natural resources and commodities, identifying the rise of China and the growing influence of EM economies as a major structural shift.

VanEck launched its Emerging Markets Fund in December 1992, at a time when the concept of emerging markets as an investable asset class was still in its early stages. The fund adopted its current EM-focused mandate in December 2002 and has been running that strategy for over two decades since.

VanEck’s emerging markets equities platform today reflects more than three decades of commitment to that approach.

• VanEck manages $8.1 billion in emerging markets assets across a variety of active and passive investment solutions
• Dedicated team of 20 portfolio managers and analysts
• 3 active and 30 passive strategies

Source: VanEck. Data as of December 31, 2025. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index performance is not representative of fund performance. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.

Diversified Active Approach: The VanEck Emerging Markets Fund

The VanEck Emerging Markets Fund (GBFAX | EMRCX | EMRIX | EMRYX) is an actively managed mutual fund that seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in equity securities across emerging markets globally. The fund has operated under its current investment mandate since December 2002, giving it over two decades of history as a dedicated EM equity strategy.

The fund’s investment philosophy is built around Structural Growth at a Reasonable Price, or S-GARP, with an emphasis on identifying companies positioned to benefit from the structural, long-term trends reshaping EM economies: rising domestic consumption, expanding middle classes, digital adoption, and the development of local financial systems. This focus on domestic demand themes often leads the team toward smaller- and mid-capitalization companies that reflect where EM economies are headed rather than where they have been.

What distinguishes the investment process is the degree to which it is driven by direct, localized research. The team does not rely on sell-side coverage or secondhand data to form its views. Instead, analysts are consistently in the field: meeting company management, visiting facilities, speaking with local industry contacts, and building firsthand knowledge of the markets they cover. Many members of the team have lived and worked in the countries they analyze, giving them cultural and institutional context that is difficult to replicate from a desk. The team’s view is that emerging markets reward investors who do the work on the ground, and that meaningful informational advantages in EM come from proprietary research rather than consensus interpretation.

The process is bottom-up and fundamental. Before a stock is considered for the portfolio, the team screens the EM universe to filter out companies with poor corporate governance, unreasonable valuations, liquidity concerns, or limited structural growth potential. Fundamental research into individual businesses begins only after that initial screen. That screen eliminates a significant portion of the investable universe before the team conducts deeper company-level work, which itself draws heavily on direct engagement with management teams and on-the-ground industry knowledge. Knowing what not to own is treated as equally important as identifying what to buy.

The fund is led by Portfolio Manager Ola El-Shawarby, CFA, who has over 20 years of dedicated emerging markets investment experience. She is supported by Deputy Portfolio Manager Angus Shillington, who joined VanEck in 2009 and has deep expertise in Asia and broader EM equity markets. The broader team consists of career emerging markets analysts who bring on-the-ground perspective to the research process.

The strategy is also available as a separately managed account through VanEck's Emerging Markets Equity ADR strategy. While related in philosophy and approach, the SMA is a distinct vehicle that invests in U.S.-listed ADRs and direct listings of EM companies, and is structured for investors who require a separately managed account format rather than a mutual fund.

The Next Face of EM: India

India is a significant focus across VanEck’s emerging markets platform, and the firm offers both active and passive strategies for U.S. investors seeking exposure. With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, a median age of approximately 28, and a sustained program of structural reforms and digital infrastructure investment, India has become one of the most closely watched equity markets in the world.

VanEck believes India warrants dedicated attention and that a single generic exposure is not sufficient for investors who want to access the market with precision. The firm offers two rules-based index strategies and one actively managed fund, each designed to give U.S. investors a distinct and well-constructed entry point.

Over 20 Years, India Outperformed EM

Source: Morningstar and VanEck as of 2/28/2026. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index performance is not representative of fund performance. It is not possible to invest directly in an index.

The VanEck India Select ETF (INDZ) is VanEck’s actively managed India strategy, and the one most closely aligned with the bottom-up, fundamental approach of the broader emerging markets equity team. Rather than tracking an index, INDZ applies active stock selection to identify Indian companies well-positioned to benefit from digitization, structural reform, and long-term economic development, with the flexibility to shift positioning as conditions and opportunities evolve.

The VanEck India Growth Leaders ETF (GLIN) is a rules-based index strategy that tracks the MarketGrader India All-Cap Growth Leaders Index, a fundamentals-driven index that selects 80 Indian companies across the full market-cap spectrum based on growth potential, financial quality, and valuation. The index is not market-cap weighted; it uses a proprietary scoring methodology to identify companies with strong fundamental characteristics. GLIN is designed for investors seeking broad India exposure through a quality-screened, passive vehicle.

The VanEck Digital India ETF (DGIN) is a passive strategy that offers targeted index exposure to Indian companies involved in the country’s digital economy, including software services, internet businesses, fintech, and related infrastructure. India’s digital buildout over the past decade has been significant, from the scale of the Unified Payments Interface to the expansion of broadband access and mobile commerce. DGIN is designed to capture the equity market implications of that transformation through a rules-based index approach.

Single-Country ETFs: Precision Exposure Across Emerging and Frontier Markets

Beyond its active strategies, VanEck has built one of the most extensive suites of passive single-country and regional emerging markets ETFs available to U.S. investors. These are index-based funds designed to give investors precise, rules-based access to specific markets. They reflect the firm’s view that emerging markets are not a single, homogeneous opportunity but a collection of distinct economies, each with its own growth drivers, political environment, market structure, and risk profile.

The VanEck ChiNext ETF (CNXT) provides exposure to the ChiNext market, a segment of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange focused on innovative and high-growth Chinese companies in sectors such as technology, healthcare, and consumer services. ChiNext is distinct from the broader Chinese equity market in its emphasis on domestic innovation-driven businesses, and CNXT offers U.S. investors a targeted way to access that portion of China’s equity market.

The VanEck Africa Index ETF (AFK) provides broad, one-trade access to one of the world's last major untapped investment frontiers. The fund invests in companies incorporated in Africa or deriving at least 50% of their revenues from the continent. Holdings span basic materials, financials, and communications across major economies including South Africa, Morocco, and Nigeria. AFK captures both the continent's vast resource wealth, including gold, copper, and other minerals central to the energy transition, and its growing financial and consumer sectors. The result is a unique entry point into a region defined by rapid urbanization, expanding financial systems, and significant long-term growth potential.

The VanEck Brazil Small-Cap ETF (BRF) is a passive, index-based strategy that tracks small-capitalization Brazilian companies, offering a more targeted angle on Brazil's domestic economy than a broad large-cap allocation would provide. Brazil is the largest economy in Latin America, with a substantial consumer base, significant agricultural and natural resource wealth, and a financial system that has matured considerably over the past two decades. Small-cap companies in Brazil tend to be more domestically oriented than the large-cap exporters and commodity producers that dominate broader Brazil indices, making BRF a more direct expression of Brazil's internal growth dynamics.

The VanEck Indonesia Index ETF (IDX) tracks the MVIS Indonesia Index, providing rules-based exposure to the largest and most liquid Indonesian companies. Indonesia is one of the largest emerging economies in Southeast Asia, with a population exceeding 275 million, a growing consumer base, and significant natural resource wealth.

The VanEck Vietnam ETF (VNM) launched in 2009, is the largest and most liquid U.S.-listed ETF providing access to Vietnamese equities. Vietnam has long been classified as a frontier market, but that is changing: FTSE Russell has initiated the process of upgrading Vietnam to emerging market status, with other major index providers expected to follow. That reclassification, when complete, would bring significant passive capital flows into Vietnamese equities. VNM investors have had exposure to that potential since 2009. The fund tracks the MarketVector Vietnam Local Index, composed exclusively of locally incorporated Vietnamese companies, providing direct access to the domestic market. Vietnam's investment case is supported by strong GDP growth, favorable demographics, a young and growing middle class, and its emergence as a preferred manufacturing destination as companies diversify supply chains away from China.

Summary

VanEck's emerging markets equities capabilities span active broad-market management, dedicated single-country strategies, and exposure to frontier markets that have not yet reached emerging market classification. The platform is built on over three decades of direct EM investment experience, a specialist team with deep on-the-ground knowledge, and a consistent philosophy centered on bottom-up fundamental research, governance discipline, and long-term structural growth.

For U.S. investors seeking access to the growth potential of emerging and frontier markets, VanEck offers a range of purpose-built strategies designed to meet different allocation objectives with precision.

Data as of February 28, 2026.

To receive more Emerging Markets Equity insights, sign up in our subscription center.