FI rules will maintain FII tax sops

Foreign portfolio investors in India would be subject to the same tax treatment as foreign institutional investors, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) clarified on Tuesday.

India had approved new rules in October aimed at streamlining the registration process for foreign investors according to which overseas investors will be classified into a newly created foreign portfolio investors category as long as their equity stake in a company does not exceed 10 per cent.

Sebi said it had received approvals from the Department of Economic Affairs and the tax department to extend the same tax benefits to the new class of investors. Sebi also approved rules announced earlier this year that will allow companies to issue debt through a shelf filing, along with regulations empowering it to monitor investors' call records and conduct searches at companies suspected of wrongdoing. The approvals came after Sebi's last board meeting for the year.