{"id":245441,"date":"2023-05-30T20:06:17","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T14:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=245441"},"modified":"2023-05-30T20:07:10","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T14:37:10","slug":"unstable-policy-regimes-discourage-foreign-portfolio-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/unstable-policy-regimes-discourage-foreign-portfolio-investors\/","title":{"rendered":"Unstable policy regimes discourage foreign portfolio investors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Source-<\/strong> The post is based on the article \u201cUnstable policy regimes discourage foreign portfolio investors\u201d published in the \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d on 30th May 2023.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Syllabus: <\/strong>GS3- Economy<\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance- <\/strong>Issues related to financial markets<\/p>\n<p><strong>News<\/strong>&#8211; The article explains the regularly issues related to financial markets and<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are characteristics of today\u2019s global financial ecosystem?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It is characterised by <strong>cross-border capital flows<\/strong>, and a <strong>global investor base. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Countries offer <strong>multiple incentives<\/strong> to attract the best companies to list their shares, and foreign investors to invest and create vibrant capital markets.<\/p>\n<p>Issuers prefer jurisdictions having <strong>simpler compliance requirements<\/strong>. Foreign investors prefer countries allowing <strong>free flow of capital.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Take the recent example of Softbank-owned ARM Ltd. The London-based company chose a primary New York listing despite intense efforts by the UK prime minister. As per the Financial Times, this decision was due to the complex regulatory landscape in the UK.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are issues related to regulation of financial markets?<\/strong>[Text Wrapping Break]<strong>Conflicts or disagreements<\/strong> between r<strong>egulatory bodies and legislative intent or government policy<\/strong> can occur in any regulatory environment.<\/p>\n<p>Governments set <strong>policies and legislative frameworks<\/strong>. Regulatory bodies often <strong>operate independently<\/strong> to <strong>enforce and interpret the laws.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Differences in interpretation<\/strong>, evolving market conditions or emerging challenges can lead to <strong>conflicts between regulations and the original intent or policy direction.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the suggestions of the report submitted by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee to probe certain allegations against the Adani Group?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It suggests changes in the <strong>legal framework<\/strong>. It provides insight into the <strong>dichotomy between the legislative intent and the actions of the SEBI. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Committee has stated that the SEBI regulations have contradicted the<strong> stated position.<\/strong> The <strong>legislative intent<\/strong> was altogether different.<\/p>\n<p>Take the case of the norms governing the <strong>minimum public shareholding<\/strong>. Once a disclosure of ultimate beneficial ownership is made, there is <strong>sufficient compliance<\/strong>. Despite this, the SEBI has taken a different stance.<\/p>\n<p>The Committee notes that 13 foreign portfolio investors, investing in the Adani Group entities made <strong>beneficial ownership declarations<\/strong> by identifying <strong>natural persons <\/strong>controlling their decisions. It is in line with the<strong> requirements under the PMLA, 2002. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This declaration is as per the <strong>compliance stipulated under the SEBI\u2019s FPI regulations<\/strong>. Information on the 42 investors in these FPIs, who have invested their monies in these funds under the control of the beneficial owner identified and declared under the PMLA rules, is also available.<\/p>\n<p>The requirement to disclose the<strong> last natural person <\/strong>above every person owning any economic interest in the FPI was discontinued in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, the<strong> \u201copaque structure\u201d provisions<\/strong> in the regulations were deleted in 2019 as declarations made under the PMLA constitute<strong> sufficient compliance. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As per the Committee, if every FPI was required to provide information about <strong>beneficial owners <\/strong>in respect of owners holding more than 10%, there was no need to know the <strong>ultimate beneficial owner<\/strong> of every owner of the FPI.<\/p>\n<p>Yet in 2020, the SEBI moved the <strong>investigation and enforcement<\/strong> in the opposite direction. It stated that the <strong>ultimate owner of every piece of economic interest<\/strong> in an FPI must be capable of being ascertained.<\/p>\n<p>The Committee has suggested the need for a <strong>coherent enforcement policy<\/strong>. There have also been other instances where SEBI\u2019s regulations or enforcement have clashed with legislative intent.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What impacts the FPI decision related to investment?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>FPIs assess risks such as changes in <strong>taxation policies, capital controls, repatriation restrictions or shifts in regulatory frameworks<\/strong> to make their investment decisions. They rely on <strong>stable and transparent regulatory frameworks<\/strong> for investment decisions.<\/p>\n<p>In case of uncertainty, they may become <strong>cautious and hesitant <\/strong>to commit their funds. FPIs prefer India over countries with unstable governments or <strong>opaque capital market regimes<\/strong> for this exact reason.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses and investors prefer<strong> stable policy regimes.<\/strong> <strong>Frequent changes in law and policy<\/strong> raises the perceived risk. It deterres FPIs with <strong>lower risk tolerance<\/strong> to either postpone or cancel investment plans.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the way forward for regulation of FPIS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Even if the legislative intent or spirit of the law is subjective, we cannot have an <strong>uncertain regime. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is a need to recognise the <strong>contribution of FPIs<\/strong> to the Indian markets. This can be addressed by <strong>reducing the dichotomy between the legislative intent and SEBI regulations<\/strong> to a bare minimum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source- The post is based on the article \u201cUnstable policy regimes discourage foreign portfolio investors\u201d published in the \u201cThe Indian Express\u201d on 30th May 2023. Syllabus: GS3- Economy Relevance- Issues related to financial markets News&#8211; The article explains the regularly issues related to financial markets and What are characteristics of today\u2019s global financial ecosystem? It&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/unstable-policy-regimes-discourage-foreign-portfolio-investors\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Unstable policy regimes discourage foreign portfolio investors<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10500],"class_list":["post-245441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}