Sebi hit the brakes on 'free of cost' transfers for FPIs in past year

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has not been giving permission to foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to transfer assets through a provision which was previously in common use. 

An FPI could earlier transfer assets between its arms, in the wake of a merger of schemes or similar reorganisation, through an application to the markets regulator. This ‘free of cost’ transfer was allowed if end-beneficiaries were the same in both entities.

Such permissions have, however, been hard to come by in the past 12-18 months, say three people who are familiar with the matter. This has happened due to concerns that