FDI & FII IN INDIA A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED BY ARJYA CHAKRABARTI (Under the guidance of Prof. S.S. SAHA) IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE IN BACHELOR OF COMMERCE (HONOURS) ST. XAVIER’S COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS) UNDER THE UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA ACADEMIC YEAR 2010-2011 ROLL NUMBER: 563 ROOM NUMBER: 32 1
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FDI & FII IN INDIA
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
A PROJECT REPORT
SUBMITTED BY
ARJYA CHAKRABARTI
(Under the guidance of Prof. S.S. SAHA)
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE
IN
BACHELOR OF COMMERCE (HONOURS)
ST. XAVIER’S COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS)
UNDER THE UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA
ACADEMIC YEAR 2010-2011
ROLL NUMBER: 563
ROOM NUMBER: 32
SEMESTER: 6
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A project cannot be completed alone. It requires the effort of many individuals. I take this opportunity to thank all those people who helped me to complete this project.
I express my sincere and deep gratitude to Father Dominic Savio, Vice Principal (St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata) for giving me the privilege of being part of the ‘Project’ in partial fulfillment of the requirement in regard to B.com 3rd year degree course.
I express my sincere gratitude to Prof. S.S. SAHA for giving us the opportunity to undergo this project. I further thank him for lending a helping hand when it came to solving my problems related to this project. This project would not have been possible without his valuable time and support.
This project is an attempt to talk about the SCENARIO OF FDI & FII IN INDIA IN THE LAST DECADE.
Last but not the least I am very much thankful to all the sources which I have approached and collected data from.
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Table of contents
Serial no. TITLE Pages
1. Chapter – I : Introduction 5
1.1 A Brief Summary 6
1.2 Research Problem 7
1.3 Literature Review 8
1.4 Research Methodology 10
1.5 Limitations 10
2. Chapter – II : FDI & FII An Overview 11
2.1 Foreign Direct Investment 12
2.2 Foreign Institutional Investment 22
3. Chapter – III : FDI vs FII, Comparative Analysis 29
4. Chapter – IV : Conclusion 39
4.1 Areas Of Further Research 40
4.2 References & Bibliography 41
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List of Tables
Serial no. TITLE Pages
1. Sectors attracting highest FDI 17
2. SEBI Registered FIIs 27
3. Net Foreign Institutional Investment (FII) in the last 10 Years 30
4. Foreign Direct Investment in India in the last 10 Years 31
5. A Comparison between the Net FII, FDI & the Sensex 33
6. A Comparison between the GDP, Net FII & FDI of the last 10 Years 35
7. Foreign Exchange Rate, Net FII & FDI Inflow of last 10 Years 37
List of Charts
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Serial no. TITLE Pages
1. FDI Across Various Sectors 19
2. Pictorial Representation of Registered FIIs 29
3. Net Investments shown graphically 31
4. Graphical Representation of FDI 32
5. FDI & FII Inflows in the last 10 Years - A Comparison 33
6. Diagram showing comparison between FDI Inflow & Sensex 34
7. Diagram showing comparison between net FII & Sensex 35
8. Diagram showing comparison between GDP & FDI 36
9. Diagram showing comparison between GDP & Net FII 37
10. Graphical representation of Net FII & the Foreign Exchange Rate 38
11. Graphical representation of FDI & the Foreign Exchange Rate 39
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CHAPTER – I
INTRODUCTION
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A BRIEF SUMMARY
The Government of India has recognized the key role of the foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign
institutional investment (FII) in its process of economic development, not only as an addition to its own
domestic capital but also as an important source of technology and other global trade practices. In order to
attract the required amount of FDI and FII, it has bought about a number of changes in its economic policies and
has put in its practice a liberal and more transparent FDI and FII policy with a view to attract more foreign direct
institutional investment inflows into its economy. These changes have heralded the liberalization era of the
foreign investment policy regime into India and have brought about a structural breakthrough in the volume of
FDI and FII inflows in the economy.
Growth of Indian economy is playing hide and seek with the double digit growth (Gross Domestic Product)
mark. The latter is a key index, which the foreign investors check before committing large sums of money for
investment. Of its own, the Indian economy will find it difficult to reach this target, except for an occasional
burst of activity; like the one in 2003. To sustain it, outside help is needed and domestic house is to be placed
under strict discipline.
Democracy is a great buzzword, if it translates into order and political stability. Labor unrest, political
opportunism and corporate irregularities are a few issues, which tarnish democracy and discourage outside
investors.1 But the current government in both its terms has opened up the economy to welcome foreign
investment to keep up with the strong domestic demand for quality goods and services.
This has attracted unprecedented amount of foreign investment in the last decade, but of the two forms of
foreign investment – foreign portfolio investment (FPI)2 and foreign direct investment (FDI), the former has
reached our shores much more than the latter.
As FPI essentially interacts with the real economy via the stock market, the effect of stock market on the
country’s economic development will also be examined. Research shows that the perceived benefits of foreign
portfolio investment have not been realized in India. It can be seen that the mainstream argument that the entry
of foreign portfolio investors will boost a country's stock market and consequently the economy, does not seem
be working in India. The influx of FIIs has indeed influenced the secondary market segment of the Indian stock
market. But the supposed linkage effects with the real economy have not worked in the way the mainstream
model predicts. Instead there has been an increased uncertainty and skepticism about the stock market in this
country. On the other hand, the surge in foreign portfolio investment in the Indian economy has introduced some
serious problems of macroeconomic management for the policymakers like inflation, currency appreciation etc.
On the other hand FDI is what the government really needs to attract in various sectors like infrastructure,
education etc. it is much more stable than the foreign institutional investment which comes via the stock market
route, and has more accountability and brings fundamental and tangible benefits to the economy.
1 Hari Sud. Paper no. 1208; South Asia Analysis Group
2 Foreign Portfolio Investment: Entry of funds into a country where foreigners make purchases in the country’s stock and bond markets, sometimes for speculation.
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The dependence on FPI is pushing many developing countries, including India, towards a more stock market
oriented financial system. This makes it imperative to evaluate the relative merits and demerits of a stock market
based financial system in a developing country as compared to the Chinese model where conditions are
conducive to foreign investment in the real sector. The global recession in 2008 proved how volatile the money
pumped in by the FIIs into the secondary segment of the financial market is, leading to huge losses for the
domestic investors who had to bear the brunt even though the economy as such was insulated from the adverse
effects of the recession. Whereas the sectors where there was FDI didn’t experience such knee-jerk reactions.
In this context, this report is going to analyze the trends and patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI) and
foreign institutional investment (FII) flows into India during the post liberalization period.
RESEARCH PROBLEM
The opening up of the Indian economy served as a great boon for our country as the foreign investors saw vast
opportunities in it and started investing through the various routes allowed by the government of India. It is
important to keep record of all such inflows to form strict regulatory procedures, search for areas or sectors that
needs more investment etc, which is what this research proposes to do i.e. collect data regarding inflow of
foreign direct investment and foreign institutional investment from credible sources for a specified timeline and
tabulate such data to perform trend analysis of these investments to understand whether these investments
fluctuate rapidly or move in a fixed pattern and also what provides impetus to these investments or what are the
parameters that trigger a massive pull-out of them. As it is seen that FII is a volatile investment as compared to
FDI the factors affecting the inflow of both types of investment are explored and their investment annually is
compared on the basis of certain common parameters.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Institutional investors have grown in importance in the mature economies in recent years and come to
supplant banks as the primary custodians of people's savings.
- T .T Ram Mohan,
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 40, No. 24 (Jun. 11-17, 2005), pp. 2395-2399
2. It is time to realize that in spite of the impression given by the financial media, the movements on the
stock markets and the Sensex do not necessarily imply any fundamental changes in the economy and
these movements affect a very small minority of the country's population.
- Parthapratim Pal
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 40, No. 8 (Feb. 19-25, 2005), pp. 765-772
3. The main emerging feature of India's equity market is its gradual integration with the global market
and its consequent problems due to the hot money movement by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).
- Kishore C. Samal
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 32, No. 42 (Oct. 18-24, 1997), pp. 2729-2732
4. One must prevent the inflow/outflow of speculative 'hot money'. That can be achieved partially (though
very successfully) by a reasonably high 'capital gains' tax.
- Arun Ghosh
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 30, No. 21 (May 27, 1995), pp. 1235-1237
5. The combination of trading driven substantially by conditions in other markets and large price
pressures from the trading of foreigners raises the possibility that foreign trading can be destabilizing in
emerging markets.
- Anthony Richards
The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 40, (Mar 2005), pp. 1-27
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6. Thus the impact of the reforms in India on the policy environment for Foreign Direct Investment
presents a mixed picture. The industrial reforms have gone far, though they need to be supplemented
by more infrastructure reforms, which are a critical missing link.
- Kulwinder Singh
Centre for Civil Society, New Delhi
Research Internship Programme, 2005
7. If at all, it would seem that foreign firms have greater credibility amongst consumers for offering
quality products and providing customer satisfaction.
- S. Ganesh
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 32, No. 22 (May 31 - Jun. 6, 1997), pp. 1265-1274
8. For a country that quarantined its economy from the rest of the world for much of the last 60 years,
India has increasingly relied on foreign investment in recent years. It has helped bridge the gap
between domestic savings and the growing capital needs of the private sector and the government,
which is borrowing money to pay for welfare programs and subsidies.
- Vikas Bajaj
The New York Times; India Finds Itself Awash in Foreign Investment
REVIEW GAP
It is seen that that eminent scholars have greatly established the ill effects of ‘speculative’ 3 money or ‘hot’
money and suggested ways to put forth stricter norms and procedures to control the flow of such money and
protect the financial markets from getting artificially inflated and create a bubble which could explode at the
slightest provocation. Also it can be gathered from previous studies that there is a clamour for easing of policy
restrictions to allow more foreign direct investment. Policies regarding FDI have not moved with the same pace
as the policies regarding FII i.e. the former’s policies are still considered conservative by the foreign investors.
Therefore this study makes a humble effort to get an overview of both types investments first then study their
trends and make a comparative analysis between the two to see which factors are they most sensitive to, whether
the two types of investment are equally sensitive to the same factors, which is more stable and also which type
of investment direct or portfolio is preferred by an emerging economy like India.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3 Speculation: Speculation typically involves the lending of money or the purchase of assets, equity or debt but in a manner that has not been given thorough analysis or is deemed to have low margin of safety or a significant risk of the loss of the principal investment.
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The research has been carried out by collection of secondary data with the use of primarily the internet, books
on banking and finance, various business magazines, journals, newspapers. No primary data has been used here
like face to face interviews or telephonic interviews, questionnaires etc.
The secondary data collected regarding the foreign direct investment and foreign institutional investment is for a
time period of ten years starting from the year 2000-01 till 2009-10. The denomination for the inflows has been
converted to rupees in crores from US dollars by taking an average exchange rate for both types of investments.
For the purpose of comparison between FDI and FII the raw data has been arranged into a table for better
observation and then this numerical data has been incorporated into bar charts and line charts. These are
statistical tools used to read their pattern and conduct trend analysis.
The FDI and FII have been compared with various variables that affect their inflow in to the country by the
above mentioned tools with the use of spreadsheets.
LIMITATIONS
Limitations are conditions that restricts the scope of the study period or may affect the results of the research. It
cannot be controlled by the researchers and can even affect the analysis of reseach adversely.
One of the limiting factors of my project was that I have taken only three variables for a time period of ten years
for analysis due to time constraints. Since the sample size is small so the results can be different from actual
facts and may not give an appropriate judgement.
Also all the data have been collected from secondary sources. Information collected first hand from
professionals and scholars through interviews would have given the report a larger perspective.
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Chapter – II
FOREIGN DIRECT
INVESTMENT & FOREIGN
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTMENT
– AN OVERVIEW
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Foreign direct investment (FDI)
It is defined as a company from one country making a physical investment into building a factory in another
country. It is the establishment of an enterprise by a foreigner.
Its definition can be extended to include investments made to acquire lasting interest in enterprises operating
outside of the economy of the investor. The FDI relationship consists of a parent enterprise and a foreign
affiliate which together form an international business4 or a multinational corporation (MNC).
Types of Foreign Direct Investors
A foreign direct investor may be classified in any sector of the economy and could be any one of the following:
1) An individual
2) A group of related individuals
3) An incorporated or unincorporated entity
4) A public company or private company
5) A group of related enterprises
6) A government body
7) An estate (law)
8) Trust or other societal organization
9) Any combination of the above
Pre-liberalization Period (1947–1991)
Indian economic policy after independence was influenced by the colonial experience, which was seen by
Indian leaders as exploitative, and by those leaders' exposure to democratic socialism as well as the progress
achieved by the economy of the Soviet Union. Domestic policy tended towards protectionism, with a strong
emphasis on import substitution, industrialization, economic interventionism, a large public sector, business
regulation, and central planning, while trade and foreign investment policies were relatively liberal. Five-Year
Plans of India resembled central planning in the Soviet Union. Steel, mining, machine tools, water,
telecommunications, insurance, and electrical plants, among other industries, were effectively nationalized in
the mid-1950s.
4 International business is a term used to collectively describe topics relating to the operations of firms with interests in multiple countries.
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Post-liberalization Period (since 1991)
In the late 1970s, the government led by Morarji Desai eased restrictions on capacity expansion for incumbent
companies, removed price controls, reduced corporate taxes and promoted the creation of small scale industries
in large numbers. However, the subsequent government policy of Fabian socialism hampered the benefits of the
economy, leading to high fiscal deficits and a worsening current account. The collapse of the Soviet Union,
which was India's major trading partner, and the first Gulf War, which caused a spike in oil prices, caused a
major balance-of-payments crisis for India, which found itself facing the prospect of defaulting on its loans.
India asked for a $1.8 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which in return
demanded reforms. In response, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, along with his finance minister Manmohan
Singh, initiated the economic liberalization of 1991. The reforms did away with the License Raj (investment,
industrial and import licensing), reduced tariffs and interest rates and ended many public monopolies, allowing
automatic approval of foreign direct investment in many sectors. By the turn of the 20th century, India had
progressed towards a free-market economy, with a substantial reduction in state control of the economy and
increased financial liberalization. This has been accompanied by increases in life expectancy, literacy rates and
food security, although the beneficiaries have largely been urban residents.
Categories of Foreign Direct Investment: An Overview
FDIs can be broadly classified into two types: outward FDIs and inward FDIs. This classification is based on the
types of restrictions imposed, and the various prerequisites required for these investments. An outward-bound
FDI is backed by the government against all types of associated risks. This form of FDI is subject to tax
incentives as well as disincentives of various forms. Risk coverage provided to the domestic industries and
subsidies granted to the local firms stand in the way of outward FDIs, which are also known as 'direct
investments abroad.'
Different economic factors encourage inward FDIs. These include interest loans, tax breaks, grants, subsidies,
and the removal of restrictions and limitations. Factors detrimental to the growth of FDIs include necessities of
differential performance and limitations related with ownership patterns.
Other categorizations of FDI exist as well. Vertical Foreign Direct Investment takes place when a multinational
corporation owns some shares of a foreign enterprise, which supplies input for it or uses the output produced by
the MNC. Horizontal foreign direct investments happen when a multinational company carries out a similar
business operation in different nations.
Foreign Direct Investment is guided by different motives. FDIs that are undertaken to strengthen the existing
market structure or explore the opportunities of new markets can be called 'market-seeking FDIs.' 'Resource-
seeking FDIs' are aimed at factors of production which have more operational efficiency than those available in
the home country of the investor.
Some foreign direct investments involve the transfer of strategic assets. FDI activities may also be carried out to
ensure optimization of available opportunities and economies of scale. In this case, the foreign direct investment
is termed as 'efficiency-seeking.'
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Foreign Direct Investment in India
In India, Foreign Direct Investment Policy allows for investment only in case of the following form of
investments:
Through financial alliance
Through joint schemes and technical alliance
Through capital markets, via Euro issues
Through private placements or preferential allotments
Foreign Investment through GDRs (Euro Issues) –
Indian companies are allowed to raise equity capital in the international market through the issue of Global
Depository Receipt (GDRs). GDR investments are treated as FDI and are designated in dollars and are not
subject to any ceilings on investment. An applicant company seeking Government's approval in this regard
should have consistent track record for good performance (financial or otherwise) for a minimum period of 3
years. This condition would be relaxed for infrastructure projects such as power generation, telecommunication,
petroleum exploration and refining, ports, airports and roads.
1. Clearance from FIPB – There is no restriction on the number of Euro-issue to be floated by a company or a
group of companies in the financial year. A company engaged in the manufacture of items covered under
Annex-III of the New Industrial Policy whose direct foreign investment after a proposed Euro issue is likely to
exceed 51% or which is implementing a project not contained in Annex-III, would need to obtain prior FIPB
clearance before seeking final approval from Ministry of Finance.
2. Use of GDRs – The proceeds of the GDRs can be used for financing capital goods imports, capital
expenditure including domestic purchase/installation of plant, equipment and building and investment in
software development, prepayment or scheduled repayment of earlier external borrowings, and equity
investment in JV/WOSs in India.
Foreign direct investments in India are approved through two routes –
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1. Automatic approval by RBI – The Reserve Bank of India accords automatic approval within a period of two
weeks (subject to compliance of norms) to all proposals and permits foreign equity up to 24%; 50%; 51%; 74%
and 100% is allowed depending on the category of industries and the sector wise caps applicable. The lists are
comprehensive and cover most industries of interest to foreign companies. Investments in high priority
industries or for trading companies primarily engaged in exporting are given almost automatic approval by the
RBI.
2. The FIPB Route – Processing of non-automatic approval cases – FIPB stands for Foreign Investment
Promotion Board which approves all other cases where the parameters of automatic approval are not met.
Normal processing time is 4 to 6 weeks. Its approach is liberal for all sectors and all types of proposals, and
rejections are few. It is not necessary for foreign investors to have a local partner, even when the foreign
investor wishes to hold less than the entire equity of the company. The portion of the equity not proposed to be
held by the foreign investor can be offered to the public.
Foreign Direct Investment in India is not allowed under the following industrial sectors:
Arms and ammunition
Atomic Energy
Coal and lignite
Rail Transport
Mining of metals like iron, manganese, chrome, sulfur, gold, diamonds, copper, zinc
FDI in India across Different Sectors -
Hotel & Tourism
Hotels include restaurants, beach resorts and business ventures providing accommodation and food facilities to
tourist. Tourism would include travel agencies, tour operators, transport facilities, leisure, entertainment,
amusement, sports and health units.
100 per cent FDI is permitted for this sector through the automatic route.
Trading
For trading companies 100 per cent FDI is allowed for
Exports
Bulk Imports
Cash and Carry wholesale trading.
Power
For business activities in power sector like electricity generation, transmission and distribution other than atomic
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plants the FDI allowed is up to 100 per cent.
Drugs & Pharmaceuticals
For the production of drugs and pharmaceutical a FDI of 100 per cent is allowed, subject to the fact that the
venture does not attract compulsory licensing, does not involve use of recombinant DNA technology.
Private Banking
FDI of 49 per cent is allowed in the Banking sector through the automatic route provided the investment adheres
to guidelines issued by RBI.
Insurance Sector
For the Insurance sector FDI allowed is 26 per cent through the automatic route on condition of getting license
from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).
Telecommunication
For basic, cellular, value added services and mobile personal communications by satellite, FDI is 49
per cent.
For ISPs with gateways, radio-paging and end to end bandwidth, FDI is allowed up to 74 per cent. But
any FDI above 49 per cent would require government approval.
Business Processing Outsourcing
FDI of 100 per cent is permitted provided such investments satisfy certain prerequisites.
NRI's And OCB's
They can have direct investment in industry, trade and infrastructure
Up to 100 per cent equity is allowed in the following sectors
34 High Priority Industry Groups
Export Trading Companies
Hotels and Tourism-related Projects
Hospitals, Diagnostic Centers
Shipping
Deep Sea Fishing
Oil Exploration
Power
Housing and Real Estate Development
Highways, Bridges and Ports
Sick Industrial Units
Industries Requiring Compulsory Licensing Industries Reserved for Small Scale Sector
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Table 1: Sectors attracting highest FDI
Rank Sector
Cumulative Inflows
(from August 1991
to March 2007)
Amount in Rs. Cr
Percentage with total
inflows (%)
1. Electrical Equipments 36034 24.82
2. Services Sector 34238 23.58
3. Telecommunications 16691 11.49
4. Transportation Industry 15427 10.62
5. Fuels (Power + Oil
Refinery)
12105 8.33
6. Chemicals 9510 6.55
7. Construction Activities 6396 4.40
8. Drugs &
Pharmaceuticals
5281 3.63
9. Food Processing
Industries
5143 3.54
10. Cement & Gypsum
Industries
4329 2.98
TOTAL FDI INFLOWS 145154
Source: Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (www.dipp.nic.in)
company, bank, institutional portfolio manager, university funds, endowments, foundations, charitable trusts,
charitable societies, a trustee or power of attorney holder incorporated or established outside India proposing to
make proprietary investments or with no single investor holding more than 10 per cent of the shares or units of
the fund.
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ii) As Sub-accounts: The sub account is generally the underlying fund on whose behalf the FII invests. The
following entities are eligible to be registered as sub- accounts, viz. partnership firms, private company, public
company, pension fund, investment trust, and individuals.
FIIs registered with SEBI fall under the following categories:
a) Regular FIIs- those who are required to invest not less than 70 % of their investment in Equity-related
instruments and 30 % in non-equity instruments.
b) 100 % debt-fund FIIs- those who are permitted to invest only in debt instruments.
The Government guidelines for FII of 1992 allowed, inter-alia, entities such as asset management companies,
nominee companies and incorporated/institutional portfolio managers or their power of attorney holders
(providing discretionary and non-discretionary portfolio management services) to be registered as FIIs. While
the guidelines did not have a specific provision regarding clients, in the application form the details of clients on
whose behalf investments were being made were sought.
While granting registration to the FII, permission was also granted for making investments in the names of such
clients. Asset management companies/portfolio managers are basically in the business of managing funds and
investing them on behalf of their funds/clients. Hence, the intention of the guidelines was to allow these
categories of investors to invest funds in India on behalf of their 'clients'. These 'clients' later came to be known
as sub-accounts. The broad strategy consisted of having a wide variety of clients, including individuals,
intermediated through institutional investors, who would be registered as FIIs in India. FIIs are eligible to
purchase shares and convertible debentures issued by Indian companies under the Portfolio Investment Scheme.
Prohibitions on Investments:
FIIs are not permitted to invest in equity issued by an Asset Reconstruction Company. They are also not allowed
to invest in any company which is engaged or proposes to engage in the following activities:
1. Business of chit fund
2. Nidhi Company5
3. Agricultural or plantation activities
5 Nidhi Company is a company registered under Companies Act and notified as a nidhi company by Central Government under Section 620-A of Companies Act. It is a non-banking finance company doing the business of lending and borrowing with its members or shareholders.
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4. Real estate business or construction of farm houses (real estate business does not include development
of townships, construction of residential/commercial premises, roads or bridges).
5. Trading in Transferable Development Rights (TDRs)
Registration Process of FIIs
FIIs are required to obtain a certificate by SEBI for dealing in securities. SEBI grants the certificate SEBI by
taking into account the following criteria:
i) The applicant's track record, professional competence, financial soundness, experience, general reputation of
fairness and integrity.
ii) Whether the applicant is regulated by an appropriate foreign regulatory authority.
iii) Whether the applicant has been granted permission under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Regulation
Act, 1973 (46 of 1973) by the Reserve Bank of India for making investments in India as a Foreign Institutional
Investor.
iv) Whether the applicant is a) an institution established or incorporated outside India as a pension fund, mutual
fund, investment trust, insurance company or reinsurance company. b) an International or Multilateral
Organization or an agency thereof or a Foreign Governmental Agency or a Foreign Central Bank. c) an asset
management company, investment manager or advisor, nominee company, bank or institutional portfolio
manager, established or incorporated outside India and proposing to make investments in India on behalf of
broad based funds and its proprietary funds in if any or d) university fund, endowments, foundations or
charitable trusts or charitable societies.
v) Whether the grant of certificate to the applicant is in the interest of the development of the securities market.
vi) Whether the applicant is a fit and proper person.
The SEBIs initial registration is valid for a period of three years from the date of its grant of renewal.
Investment Conditions and Restrictions for FIIs:
1. A Foreign Institutional Investor may invest only in the following:-
(a) Securities in the primary and secondary markets including shares, debentures and warrants of companies,
unlisted, listed or to be listed on a recognized stock exchange in India.
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(b) Units of schemes floated by domestic mutual funds including Unit Trust of India, whether listed or not listed
in a recognized stock exchange
(c) Dated Government securities.
(d) Derivatives traded on a recognized stock exchange.
(e) Commercial paper.
(f) Security receipts
2. The total investments in equity and equity related instruments (including fully convertible debentures,
convertible portion of partially convertible debentures and tradable warrants) made by a Foreign Institutional
Investor in India, whether on his own account or on account of his sub- accounts, should not be less than
seventy per cent of the aggregate of all the investments of the Foreign Institutional Investor in India, made on
his own account and on account of his sub-accounts. However, this is not applicable to any investment of the
foreign institutional investor either on its own account or on behalf of its sub-accounts in debt securities which
are unlisted or listed or to be listed on any stock exchange if the prior approval of the SEBI has been obtained
for such investments. Further, SEBI while granting approval for the investments may impose conditions as are
necessary with respect to the maximum amount which can be invested in the debt securities by the foreign
institutional investor on its own account or through its sub-accounts. A foreign corporate or individual is not
eligible to invest through the hundred percent debt route.
Even investments made by FIIs in security receipts issued by securitization companies or asset reconstruction
companies under the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest
Act, 2002 are not eligible for the investment limits mentioned above. No foreign institutional investor should
invest in security receipts on behalf of its sub-account.
Increasing Trend of FIIs
Portfolio investments in India include investments in American Depository Receipts (ADRs)/ Global Depository
Receipts (GDRs), Foreign Institutional Investments and investments in offshore funds. Before 1992, only Non-
Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Corporate Bodies were allowed to undertake portfolio investments in
India. Thereafter, the Indian stock markets were opened up for direct participation by FIIs. They were allowed
to invest in all the securities traded on the primary and the secondary market including the equity and other
securities/instruments of companies listed/to be listed on stock exchanges in India. It can be observed from the
table below that India is one of the preferred investment destinations for FIIs over the years.
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Table 2: SEBI Registered FIIs
Year Number of FIIs
2000-01 527
2001-02 490
2002-03 502
2003-04 540
2004-05 685
2005-06 882
2006-07 996
2007-08 1219
2008-09 1334
2009-10 1729
Source: www.sebi.gov.in
Chart 2: Pictorial Representation of Registered FIIs
2000-016%
2001-026%
2002-036%
2003-046%2004-05
8%
2005-0610%
2006-0711%
2007-0814%
2008-0915%
2009-1019%
Number of FIIs
The diversity of FIIs has been increasing with the number of registered FIIs in India steadily rising over the
years. The names of some prominent FIIs registered are: California Public Employees' Retirement System
(CalPERS), United Nations for and on behalf of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, Public School
Retirement System of Missouri, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Trust,
Treasurer of the State North Carolina Equity Investment Fund Pooled Trust, the Growth Fund of America, and