Market regulator Sebi has allowed 14 foreign institutional investors (FII), including Barclays Bank, BNP Paribas and Citicorp Investment Bank, to invest a total of Rs 10,000 crore in government debt.
These FIIs will have to invest this amount within 45 days, otherwise other FIIs would be allowed to invest the sum, Sebi said in a release.
As many as eight FIIs, including Bank of America Singapore, Barclays Bank PLc and its sub-account, Blackrock Investment Management (UK), BNP Paribas and Citicorp Investment Bank (Singapore) have been asked to invest Rs 950 crore each in the government securities.
Four sub-accounts of Kotak Mahindra (UK) have been permitted to pump in Rs 250 crore each in government securities (G-sec).
Standard Chartered Bank (Mauritius) has been asked to invest Rs 750 crore in government bonds, while JP Morgan Chase Bank allowed to pump in Rs 650 crore.
FIIs have been showing a clear preference to equity over debt. As per the latest data by Sebi, FIIs have taken out Rs 3,330.20 crore from Indian debt markets, including government bonds, and pumped in Rs 24,271.50 crore in equity markets on net basis.