By Saurav Mukherjee

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 24(ANI): Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Thursday affirmed the capital market regulator's commitment to facilitating smoother entry for global capital into India, emphasising that ongoing regulatory reforms are making onboarding significantly faster for Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs).

Responding to a question from ANI during a press conference following the SEBI Board Meeting in Mumbai, Pandey highlighted joint efforts with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to streamline entry barriers.

'When it comes to FPIs allowing people to invest on a portfolio basis, definitely, we are trying to ease wherever we are finding the difficulties, whether it comes to onboarding... RBI is fully cooperating with us, inclined to jointly work to see how onboarding will be as fast as possible,' Pandey said. 

He noted that some custodians have already demonstrated a 5-day registration process, calling it 'completely unheard of.'

Addressing process simplifications, the SEBI Chairman noted the implementation of digital solutions like e-PAN across eligible geographies where apostilling and notarisation are unnecessary. He added that the RBI recently notified measures allowing overseas branches of Indian banks with correspondent relationships to certify documents directly.

Pandey emphasised that India's FPI Assets Under Custody (AUC) stand at approximately Rs 78 lakh crore (USD 800 billion USD). 'FPIs are also a mobile capital, and they will have to understand their own risk-returns because they can move across the world,' he stated. 'So for us, we have to provide easier access, a better access, and the rest of course, is up to that.'

Clarifying recent policy steps on real estate and infrastructure investment trusts, he added, "Regarding the clarification-that we have allowed FPIs to invest in depository receipts of InvITs and REITs, but not of other instruments. That is already there; it was not there for these instruments.'

The press conference coincided with a landmark SEBI Board Meeting where several major regulatory overhauls were approved.

SEBI completely revamped the Portfolio Managers Regulations, cutting text length by 53% while permitting PMS participation in debt IPOs and direct mutual fund investments (PRIM).

The SEBI Board also introduced new Settlement Regulations for 2026 to speed up dispute resolution, fixed disgorgement interest at 9 per cent p.a., and approved a 4th Settlement Scheme for historical BSE illiquid stock option trades (2014-2015).

In other key decisions, SEBI launched a Common Advertisement Code permitting celebrity endorsements, expanded FPI participation in commodity derivatives, broadened the Vault Managers Framework with a Rs 75 crore net worth threshold, relaxed listed debt rules, simplified Accredited Investor rules by deeming non-residents/FPIs as accredited, and extended investor protection rules across all Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) legal structures. (ANI)