Sebi proposes to ease foreign investors' compliance burden

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed to ease the compliance burden on foreign portfolio investors (FPI) by reducing documentation and doing away with approvals for merger of schemes. In a consultation paper it has issued, the markets watchdog has proposed to exempt FPIs which have multiple investment managers from taking Sebi approval for free of cost (FOC) transfers. Designated depository participants (DPPs) would clear such applications. Foreign funds will also not need approval from Sebi to change their DPPs, which act as brokers and first-level regulators for FPIs. Commodity Trading Tips

Further, Sebi proposes to also do away with a majority of the conditions prescribed under the 'fit and proper' criteria for category-I and II investors. It says that as these are well-regulated in their home jurisdiction, there is no need for additional paperwork. "Category I and II FPIs are essentially government and regulated entities," explains the discussion paper. In the paper, Sebi has also met a long-standing demand of category-II FPIs by tweaking the definition of 'broad based funds', doing away with the requirement to meet a minimum number of investors' criterion. In the current regulations, an FPI needs at least 20 investors, with none holding more than 49 per cent, to be called a broad based fund. However, as a majority of such funds are open-ended, the number of investors could fall below the prescribed 20 thresholds at any time, losing the label.  Astrology and Numerology Trading Tips