Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said that no instance of Participatory Notes (PNs) having been used for money laundering has come to the notice of either markets regulator Sebi or the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
PNs are instruments through which FIIs invest in Indian stock markets.
"Sebi and Directorate of Enforcement, which have a regulatory role in the matter, have not come across any instances of PNs being used for money laundering," he said in a written reply in the lok Sabha.
At the end of December 2012, the notional value of outstanding PNs stood at `1.51 lakh crore, higher than `1.38 lakh crore at the end of 2011.
Chidambaram further said the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) issuing PNs are required to report details such as name, location, type and jurisdiction of the end beneficial owner of the instrument on a monthly basis to Sebi.
"FIIs are also required to provide an undertaking that they have not issued the PNs to Indian residents or non-resident Indians and KYC compliance norms have been followed for beneficial owner of the PN," he said.