Sebi: Sebi proposes more disclosures from high-risk foreign funds
The funds would need to submit ownership details including who holds economic interest and control rights.
MUMBAI: The
Securities and Exchange Board of India
(
Sebi
) proposes to seek more disclosures from foreign funds with large holdings in local stocks or companies, amid criticism about lack of oversight over inflows into sprawling conglomerates such as the Adani Group.
The capital markets regulator in a consultation paper Wednesday defined high-risk foreign portfolio investors and said these funds must comply with additional disclosure requirements within six months after the norms are implemented. Comments are invited through June 20.
The funds would need to submit ownership details including who holds economic interest and control rights.
Some FPIs have been observed to concentrate a substantial portion of their equity portfolio in a single investee company, Sebi said. Such concentrated investments raise the concern and possibility that promoters of such corporate groups, or other investors acting in concert, could be using the FPI route to bypass regulations and manipulate stock prices, the regulator added.
The proposals follow a report by US short-seller Hindenburg Research, which had led to criticism that Sebi didnt do enough to track who ultimately owns the cash flowing from Mauritius-based funds into Adani companies. The conglomerate had at one point lost more than $100 billion of its market value following the allegations, which it has repeatedly denied.
Hindenburg had alleged that a web of foreign funds mainly based in tax havens with murky ownership details had been investing in Adani companies, pumping up stock prices and allowing billionaire Gautam Adani more room for leverage. Adani has denied the allegations and a committee appointed by Indias Supreme Court said in an interim report it doesnt see regulatory failure or signs of price manipulation in the rise and fall of the Adani stocks.
Some more details from the Sebi paper:
*Sebi defines government-owned and related funds as low risk; pension or public retail funds are medium-risk; all others are high-risk
*For now, high-risk FPIs holding more than 50% of their equity asset under management in a single corporate group would have to comply with the requirements for additional disclosures
*The proposed enhanced disclosure norms will apply to 2.6 trillion rupees of foreign investors assets under management or 6% of total FPI equity AUM
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Wednesday, May 31, 2023 at 5:32 am