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SEOUL, Apr 11 (Reuters) A South Korean investment firm, Mirae Asset Investment Management Group, said on Tuesday it would invest 50 billion won ($52.36 million) to set up an asset management company in India.

Mirae Asset Investment, a unit of Mirae Asset Group, a financial services firm that also owns Mirae Asset Securities Co. , would focus on the Indian stock market at first and then expand to other asset classes, an official from the company said.

''We can get better information on the Indian markets if we set up a unit that will have a research centre there,'' the official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters by telephone.

The official said the company has submitted application forms to the Indian authorities recently and added it usually takes about three months to obtain approval.

Mirae Asset Investment Management has invested about a combined 800 billion won in the India stock markets through two funds, with the money managed by a Singapore subsidiary.

The funds have earned about 20 percent respectively so far this year, the official said, while India's benchmark 30-issue BSE index <.bsesn> has risen some 24 percent.

($1=955.0 Won) REUTERS CS PM1820