AIIB, PBoC among 16 China-based entities registered as FPI

NEW D ELHI:

At least 16 China-based institutions, including Asian Infrast ructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and People's Bank of China (PBoC), have got per manent registration as foreign por tfolio in vestors (FPIs) in India.

While AIIB is a multila teral development bank, which has got India as a member too, PBoC is China's central bank. Other registered FPIs in India include the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), a g overnment-run investment fund established primarily to pr ovide a reserve of funds for China's social security system.

Sources said the FPI re gistration i s a one-ti me pr ocess and permanent i n na ture in India f or a l ong time, and most of these China-based institutions ha ve been r egistered f or investment in Indian capital markets for several y ears.

Dismissing r eports about Securities a nd Ex change Board of India (Sebi) having renewed the FPI licence o f PBoC as f actually incorrect, sources said th ere is n o question of r enewal as a ll FPI registrations are permanent in na ture and all they have to d o is pa y the pr escribed fees every three year to their designated depository participant (DDP).

The r egulator h as no r ole in this payment process, they said.

According t o sources, PBoC wa s origina lly re gistered as a fo reign i nstitutional investor (FII) on May 4, 2011 , and its registration has continued with payment of fees every three years.

From 2014, when a new FPI regulatory r egime r eplaced the erstw hile FII r egime, registration a nd co ntinuance ac tivities of FPIs ar e being handled by DDPs. All registered FIIs a t tha t time were deemed r egistered as FPIs af ter shift to this ne w FPI regime.

According to data available with National Securities Depository Ltd (N SDL), a leading de pository in India, there are 16 China-based entities registered as FP Is in India.