[FII, Participatory Notes, Sub Account Registration,ODI, AMC & PIM by NRI, CIS]Amendment to SEBI (Foreign Institutional Investors) Regulations, 1995

Amendment to SEBI (Foreign Institutional Investors) Regulations, 1995

Thanks, Lucknow CA Group

SEBI, vide Notification dated May 22, 2008 has amended SEBI (Foreign Institutional Investors) Regulations, 1995.

The salient features of the amendments are as under:

v The policy measures on Offshore Derivative Instruments (Participatory Notes) and changes to the registration criteria specified in SEBI Press Release dated October 25, 2007 have been incorporated in the regulations.

v In order to streamline the process of registration, the Application Forms for grant of registration as a FII and Sub Account have been modified.

v An asset management company, investment manager or advisor or an institutional portfolio manager set up and/ or owned by non resident Indians (NRIs) shall be eligible to be registered as FII subject to the condition that they shall not invest their proprietary funds. This has been enabled by suitable modification to Explanation II under Regulation 13 of the said regulations.

v The type of securities in which FIIs are permitted to invest has been widened to include schemes floated by a Collective Investment Scheme.

Click to read The amended regulations

Further,

Foreign Institutional Investors & Custodians Division
Investment Management Department
Website: www.sebi.gov. in Fax: 022 26449026
Circular No. IMD/FII & C/ 28 /2008
27th May 2008

To
All Foreign Institutional Investors, and
Custodians of Securities

Dear Sir/Madam,
Undertakings for ODI activity

In partial amendment to SEBI circular reference no IMD/CUST/15/ 2004 dated April 02, 2004, the undertaking required to be provided by the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and their sub-accounts with respect to the offshore derivative instruments (ODIs) is being revised to state the following w.e.f the Monthly ODI Report from May 2008:

“We undertake that we/ our associates have not issued/ subscribed/ purchased any of the offshore derivative instruments directly to/ from Non Resident Indians/ Indian Residents.”

Further, the following statement may also be included in the monthly ODI report, henceforth

“As of ____________ *, our assets under custody (AUC) in the Indian securities market amount to Rs.________crore and the total value of outstanding offshore derivative instruments issued by us as a percentage of AUC is ____ percent.”

* last date of the monthly reporting period to be mentioned.

This circular is being issued under Regulation 20A of the SEBI (Foreign Institutional Investors) Regulations 1995.

A copy of this circular is available at the web page “F.I.I.” on our website www.sebi.gov. in. The custodians are requested to bring the contents of this circular to the notice of their FII clients.