As many as 1,064 fresh foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were registered with Sebi in April-October 2017-18 mainly due to their continued interest in the Indian capital markets, latest data from the regulator showed. This comes on top of close to 3,500 new FPIs registering with Sebi in the past fiscal. The number of FPIs with the markets regulator climbed to 8,871 at the end of October from 7,807 at March-end, resulting in an addition of 1,064, according to Sebi data.
“The reason for increasing FPI registrations is continued interest in the Indian equity, bonds and real estate,” said Arvind Chari, head, fixed income and alternatives, Quantum Advisors. “Besides, the end of the earlier FII (foreign institutional investors) and sub-accounts regime, which ended in September 2016, necessitated all such entries to register as FPI,” he added.
Further, market experts are of the view that several measures taken by Sebi added to India’s attractiveness. Also, foreign investors have pumped in Rs 1.15 lakh crore into the Indian capital markets - equity and debt during the period under review. In June, the board of Sebi decided to ease the entry norms for overseas investors by permitting direct access to FPIs from eligible jurisdictions.