Govt cracks down on P-Note misuse

600 cases of violation identified, information sought from 200 issuers

Fears of P-Notes (participatory notes) being misused have surfaced again despite the tightening of the framework in which they operate.

According to government sources, around 600 P-Note subscribers could be in violation of the framework issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in May last year.

Last year, Sebi had tightened the ‘know your client’ and anti-money laundering (AML) rules for P-Notes, bringing them on a par with those for onshore investors.

Besides, it had issued curbs on transferring P-Notes from one foreign investor to another.

Sources said the government and Sebi had asked P-Note issuers to