Cash-rich Asian business have long been a byword for profligacy and waste. All too often stories have emerged of companies frittering away their surplus cash in ill-conceived non-core operations - corporate golf courses a regional speciality - or funnelling it into a headlong rush for market share and revenues, at the expense of profit.

Investors keen on actually receiving some of their money back in the form of dividends - long shown to be the key driver of long-term returns - largely chose to stick to developed markets.

But a growing band of intrepid equity income investors are now charting a course for Asia in the belief that these stereotypes no longer apply.

"Asia is a very good market for yield but is ignored by investors. There has been a different approach from many companies in terms of their acceptance that they should pay dividends," says Mark Williams, whose Liontrust Asia Income fund, with a target yield of 4.5 per cent, is due to launch next month.

Steve Thornber, whose Threadneedle Global Equity Income fund now has 25 per cent of its holdings in Asia, well ahead of the benchmark weighting of 10-12 per cent, adds: "The income culture has been growing. [A decade ago] I would not have had as much in Asia because there wouldn't have been so many income opportunities. In the last four or five years more and more companies have started rewarding shareholders with dividends. It has changed and it's still changing."

The figures give credence to these perceptions. According to data from Thomson Reuters, the payout from the Chinese equity market has jumped from 0.79 per cent to 3.15 per cent in the past five years, with dividend yields also rising in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and India, although the latter, along with South Korea, remains a laggard with yields of just 1.3-1.5 per cent.

The yield across Asia ex-Japan is now 3.16 per cent, according to FTSE Group, above the US, Japan and the global average of 2.7 per cent, although a little below that available in the UK and continental Europe.

David Fuller's view Asia's increasing dividends make the region much more of an investment proposition. Fifteen or more years ago Asian equities were regarded by many investors as little more than high-beta trading vehicles. Clearly that has changed.

My personal participation in Asia's higher-yielding shares is mainly via last November's investment in the sterling-denominated Aberdeen Asian Income Fund (AAIF LN) (weekly & daily). This is an investment trust which currently sells at a 3% premium to NAV. Here are AAIF's top-ten shareholdings as of yearend.

Japan has not previously been regarded as a yield play but with the Topix Banks Index (monthly, weekly & daily) currently yielding 3% and the BoJ stimulating the economy, the sector looks like an overdue recovery candidate. (See also related article on Japan stimulus posted by Eoin below.)