Manager Biography:

Sukumar Rajah is Senior Managing Director, Director of Portfolio Management for Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity. Based in Singapore, Mr. Rajah is responsible for overseeing single country, regional and multi-country products, investment process development and enhancements in Asia, and he is lead portfolio manager of the Asian equity portfolios. In addition, he is responsible for overseeing the India Equity group and is the lead portfolio manager of India-related funds and institutional accounts distributed outside of India. Mr. Rajah joined Pioneer ITI in 1994, which was acquired by Franklin Templeton in 2002. As part of the original equity team, he had helped shape the investment philosophy, which has helped various flagship funds deliver consistent returns for over a decade. Prior to joining Pioneer ITI, Mr. Rajah was assistant vice president of Indbank Merchant Banking Services, Ltd. responsible for advising the Indian Opportunities Fund, which was jointly managed by Martin Currie and Indbank. Before this, he worked for Tata Steel in the Decisions Support Systems Group from 1986 to 1988. Mr. Rajah earned his MBA specializing in finance and marketing from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He earned his Bachelors' Degree in Engineering, specializing in industrial engineering, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. Mr. Rajah is the recipient of Business Standard's Fund Manager of the Year and India Today's India's Best Fund Manager (Equity), and manages, among others, the Franklin India Fund that bagged the Institutional Investor's Asia Money Masters' Best Indian Equities (2015). Other awards received by funds under Mr. Rajah include the Outlook Money Award (2013), Money Today FPCIL's Best Equity 2012, Lipper Award for Best Fund Performance (2011), ICRA Gold Award (2010), CNBC India-BNP Paribas Mutual Fund Award for Best Performing Fund and CRISIL Best Fund Award.