Highly discriminatory

Sebi must review its April 10 circular

No one can quarrel with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)’s objective to stop round tripping of Indian capital. But the disquiet over its April 10 circular pertaining to beneficial ownership is because of the way the market regulator has gone about it. The poorly drafted circular appears to discriminate against all persons of Indian origin living abroad. The circular puts a blanket ban on the diaspora – non-resident Indians (NRI)s, overseas citizens of India (OCIs) and persons of Indian origin (PIOs) -- investing in Indian markets via the foreign portfolio investor (FPI) route. What's more, given the