India's FPI norms tough, info sought 'very intrusive', says NSE Chauhan
This story was originally published at 15:53 IST on 17 November 2025
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MUMBAI – Regulations for foreign portfolio investors in India have become tougher over the past few years and need to be worked on, National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Ashish Chauhan told policymakers at the Confederation of Indian Industry's Financing Summit in Mumbai. "The amount of information we ask for is very, very sort of intrusive, and many of them (FPIs) do not want to actually give that information, so they are staying away," Chauhan said.
"So, effectively, we need to worry about whether we don't have the queue which we used to have for FPI registrations, because we are either more efficient or maybe we have shortcomings," Chauhan said.
FPIs have been on a selling spree in India. FPI ownership in NSE-listed companies fell to around 17% in the first half of the financial year 2025-26 (Apr-Mar), down 63 basis points, according to NSE data. This is the lowest level of FPI ownership in more than 15 years. Further, this selling has been broad-based--Nifty 50 and Nifty 500 companies saw a decline in FPI ownership to over-13-year lows of 24.1% and 18%, respectively. "Barring a marginal uptick in two quarters, FPI ownership in NSE-listed companies has been on a steady decline since March 2023, mirroring volatility in foreign capital flows," according to the NSE.
Chauhan also called for revising the way India measures volumes in the derivatives market, as current statistics could result in the formulation of wrong policies. He said India should focus on measuring the market in premium terms rather than notional volumes. "India thinks it is the largest derivatives market in the world, but we are not," he said. "The US, on premium terms in stock options alone, does around five times more than India every month." End
Reported by Anand JC and Shakshi Jain
Edited by Rajeev Pai
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