EMQQ Global Performance Overview
- The EMQQ Index rose 0.4% in April. YTD, it is up 10.6%.
- The FMQQ Index improved 8.2% for the month. YTD, it is up 8.5%.
- The INQQ Index rose 6.2% in April. YTD, it is down -4.7%.
The leading positive contributors to performance for the EMQQ Index in April came from India’s Reliance Industries and Latin America’s Mercadolibre, rising 11.4% and 19.5% respectively. The former got a boost from stronger-than-expected earnings driven by its digital services arm, as well as news that the company is developing AI partnerships with global tech companies, including Google and META. Meanwhile, Mercadolibre rose on announcements that the company plans to boost its investments and workforce in its core markets of Brazil and Mexico, highlighting management’s bullishness on the growth opportunity in Latin America.
The two largest detractors for the month were both from China: PDD Holdings and Alibaba. The former declined 10.8% while the latter fell 7.9%. Both faced pressure on the back of growing trade tensions between the US and China, although early signs of de-escalation emerged towards the end of the month. Nonetheless, both companies continue to exhibit resilient growth. More specifically, Alibaba has seen a recent revival in growth led by its AI initiatives.
Sources: Bloomberg, Company financials
Emerging Markets Tech News to Know
At a Glance:
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Alibaba Continues to Make Strides on AI
- One in Five iPhones Now Made in India
- Nubank Gets Banking License in Mexico
- Goldman Advocates for Standalone India Allocation
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Chart of the Month
Alibaba Continues to Make Strides on AI
Alibaba’s newly launched Qwen3 AI model family has surged to the top of the global open-source AI model rankings, according to industry benchmark LiveBench, overtaking DeepSeek’s R1. This impressive leap showcases Alibaba’s growing leadership in generative AI and underscores China’s accelerating momentum in the global AI race. Released by Alibaba Cloud, Qwen3 includes eight advanced models ranging from 600 million to 235 billion parameters, excelling in coding, math, data analysis, and language tasks. The models not only deliver top-tier performance but also maintain affordability, costing just $0.55 per million tokens, compared to $10 for top closed-source rivals. With Qwen models already powering the world’s top 10 open-source LLMs on Hugging Face, Alibaba is emerging as a driving force in the open-source AI community, combining performance, accessibility, and cost efficiency. The recent launches continue to solidify Alibaba as a major player in the global AI race.
One in Five iPhones Now Made in India
Apple assembled $22 billion worth of iPhones in India over the past 12 months (March 2024 - March 2025), a nearly 60% increase from the previous year, highlighting its growing reliance on the country for manufacturing. India now accounts for 20% of global iPhone production, or one in every five devices, based on estimated factory gate value. This expansion reflects Apple’s broader strategy to scale operations in India, with most iPhones assembled at Foxconn’s plant in southern India. Tata Group has also become a key supplier through its electronics arm, which took over Wistron and manages Pegatron’s operations. The sharp rise in production underscores India’s expanding role in Apple’s global supply chain as well as India’s growing importance as a global manufacturing hub.
Nubank Gets Banking License in Mexico
Nubank, Latin America’s largest digital bank, has received initial regulatory approval from Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission to begin the process of becoming a full-service bank. The next step involves a rigorous audit before full authorization is granted. This move marks a significant milestone in Nubank’s expansion strategy, following its launch of a no-fee credit card in 2020 and savings accounts in 2023. With 10 million customers already in Mexico, the transition to a full bank will allow Nubank to offer key services such as direct salary deposits and higher deposit limits. This is crucial to Nubank’s regional growth ambitions, enabling it to compete more effectively with traditional banks and deepen its presence in Latin America’s second-largest market.
Goldman Advocates for Standalone India Allocation
Goldman Sachs’ recent report, “India: Structural Strength and the Case for a Standalone Allocation,” highlights India’s robust long-term investment appeal, driven by structural growth factors such as digital transformation, favorable demographics, rising manufacturing capacity, and infrastructure expansion. The firm argues that India’s equity market warrants a dedicated allocation, separate from broad emerging markets, due to its size, diversity, and low correlation with other markets. India’s projected GDP growth of 6.5% through 2030, supported by stable governance and ongoing reforms, reinforces the country’s resilience amid global volatility. For its part, the INQQ Index targets one of the fastest-growing segments of India’s economy: its tech and internet sectors. For a copy of the report, please reach out to a member of the team.
Chart of the Month
India remains one of the most exciting digitalization stories in the world today. The Indian government launched United Payments Interface (UPI) to help facilitate digital, cashless payments in 2016. Since then, digital transactions in India have gone from virtually nil to over 85% of the country’s GDP today. As a result, India is now the world’s leader in real-time digital payments according to Morgan Stanley and NPCI.
