In the heartbreaking coda of "A Passage to India," a Briton makes a last effort to his Indian friend to bridge the divide between the West and India. But E.M. Forster writes that their horses didn't want it, the earth didn't want it - indeed, all of nature calls out in a hundred voices: "No, not yet," and the sky said, "No, not there."

For the modern-day American eager to tap the boundless investment potential of India, the feeling Forster conveyed in 1924 sadly still rings true. Considering that the financial-services industry pumps out thousands of new products every year, it comes as a shock to realise how few decent India investment vehicles are available to the individual investor.