Indian ETF manager triples customer base

Few people would be optimistic about seeing their assets under management fall from around $1.8 billion to $550 million in the space of six months. But the global financial crisis seems to be benefiting Benchmark Asset Management, India's sole boutique manager of exchange-traded funds.The firm's investor base has tripled in the same time period, says Sanjiv Shah, president in Mumbai, who attributes the asset decline purely to declines in equity valuations.Benchmark is not the only pro…