NEW DELHI, OCT 07, 2019: THE Chairperson of the SEBI, Mr Ajay Tyagi, led a delegation of SEBI Officials to USA and met with various stakeholders in the Indian securities markets including industry and investor associations. The interactions were held in New York, Boston and Washington DC during the week from September 30 to October 4, 2019. In this regard, Mr Tyagi stated that the interactive sessions were quite useful in terms of new ideas for further improving the ease of doing business. During the meeting, he briefed the participants on the key aspects, trends and recent developments in the India economy from a broader perspective and on Indian capital markets, in particular. The achievements of both Indian primary markets and secondary markets were brought out in the meetings. The achievements which were emphasized included more than USD 120 bn raised through equity and debt in each of the last two years, market capitalization of Indian listed companies being in the top 10 global markets, Indian stock exchanges ranked in top 10 in number of contracts in equity derivatives.

Discussions were also held on recent policy measures taken by SEBI relating to various areas such as FPIs, Primary Market, Secondary Market, Mutual Funds & Corporate Bond Market. The participants were keen on emerging areas such as REITs and InvITs which have more than USD 10 bn asset size as on today. Several participants also showed interest in the Alternative Investment Fund space with its relaxed foreign investment norms wherein the investments had multiplied by more than 15 times in the last 5 years. Investment opportunities for foreign investors in the aforesaid areas as well as Infrastructure projects, stressed assets, CPSEs proposed for divestment by Government & GIFT IFSC were brought out. There were also detailed discussions on upcoming regulatory measures relating to Frameworks for issuing Depository Receipts, direct listing of Indian equities abroad, Regulatory Sandbox.

The increasing number of registrations of FPIs every year signify the sustained interest of the foreign investors in the Indian capital markets. Considering that about one third of the total assets of around USD 450 bn under custody of FPIs in India are from USA based FPIs, the importance of US investments into India was emphasized especially taking into account the growing partnership between the two countries. The participants appreciated the various initiatives taken by SEBI. The queries raised during the meetings were clarified by the SEBI team. The participants were also encouraged to write to SEBI on any specific suggestions they might have on different issues.