PowerShares may not be the first to market with its latest product, but it's coming in a relatively close second. The PowerShares India Portfolio is set to start trading today on the NYSE Arca exchange under the symbol PIN. It tracks the Indus India Index of 50 companies selected from a universe that includes the stocks traded on the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange; the underlying index has a proprietary methodology that takes into account foreign investment restrictions for each component company.

In late February, WisdomTree won the race to bring the first exchange-traded fund covering India to market when it launched the WisdomTree India Earnings ETF (NYSE Arca: EPI). The fund tracks an earnings-weighted index of 150 Indian companies that has been adjusted to account for the restrictions on foreign investment imposed by the Indian government. India is neck and neck with China for the title of "Hottest Emerging Market," and until the WisdomTree launch there was no ETF that tracked just that country's stock market—investors in exchange-traded products had to get exposure through emerging markets ETFs tracking multiple countries or through the iPath MSCI India ETN (NYSE Arca: INP), which has been experiencing significant tracking error in the wake of new restrictions on foreign investment. Both new India ETFs take into account those restrictions.

"Powered by one of the fastest-growing economies and the second-largest population in the world, we believe that the Indian equity markets present an attractive investment opportunity," said PowerShares President and CEO Bruce Bond shortly before the launch of the new product.

Although the sector distributions vary quite a bit, both have Energy as their largest sector, at 23.05% for EPI and 25.21% for PIN. The ETFs also hold seven of their top 10 components in common: Reliance Industries, Infosys Technologies, Reliance Communications, Oil & Natural Gas Corp., Bharti Airtel, Housing Development Finance Co., and ICICI Bank.

Not surprisingly, PowerShares—as the second to launch—has undercut the annual expense ratio of WisdomTree's India ETF, charging 0.78% versus EPI's 0.88%. The 10-basis-point gap in the expense ratios will surely make a difference in attracting investors, especially with the similarities in the indexes. However, EPI holds roughly 100 more companies than PIN, so some investors may be drawn to its broader scope. Another determining factor will be weighting methodology, as EPI's weightings are based mainly on earnings, while PIN's are based mainly on the amount of investable market capitalization available to foreign investors.

You can view the prospectus for PIN here.

You can view the prospectus for EPI here.