Portfolio investment via PN route drops to 8%: Sebi

Markets regulator Sebi today said foreign portfolio investment through participatory notes has plunged to just 8 percent after it introduced greater disclosure norms.

Over 50 percent of the foreign portfolio investment into India was routed through participatory notes but now the figure has come down to "just 8 percent", Sebi Chairman U K Sinha said here today at an event organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce.

"There was a feeling among various quarters that the FPI route is being misused by some people of Indian origin through the mechanism of participatory notes or overseas derivative instruments... We have been successful in curbing such misuse in this fiscal year," he said.

The process and eligibility of investment via participatory notes is now exactly the same as it is for any investor coming through the normal FPI route.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) expects that by March, out of six infrastructure investment trusts and two real-estate investment trusts having shown interest, at least one to two each might get listed.

While speaking about ponzi schemes, Sinha said the government is mulling the possibility of introducing a central legislation to regulate all deposit raising firms.