The tremendous surge in interest in exchange-traded commodity products in recent years has been well-documented. Billions of dollars have flowed into funds that offer investors an opportunity to either speculate on short-term changes in natural resource prices or tap into an asset class that can potentially add valuable diversification benefits to traditional stock-and-bond portfolios.

Van Eck announced on Wednesday the latest addition to its ETF product lineup, rolling out the Market Vectors Small Cap India ETF (SCIF). The new ETF will seek to replicate the performance of the Market Vectors India Small-Cap Index, a benchmark that includes about 120 constituents with an average market capitalization of approximately $450 million.