SWF Radar India

Sharmili Phulgirkar and Sidharth Gupta, students at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), write in the The Economic Times that, “It is sensible to launch an SWF as a viable and profitable investment strategy. Contrary to popular belief, India is placed better than at least some of the SWF home nations on a comparison of macroeconomic parameters.”

The Hindustan Times reports that, “The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is not keen on managing a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) and is in favour of setting up a dedicated autonomous entity to administer such a fund when it is set up.”

The Economic Times reports that, “A growing number of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have sought the approval of SEBI to register and invest in the Indian stock market.”

The Economic Times writes that, “A growing number of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), including China's overseas investment arm, Korea Investment Corporation and some from the Gulf region, has sought SEBI approval to register and invest in the Indian stock market.”

The Financial Express reports that, “Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are back on the Centre's agenda. The high-level coordination committee on financial markets has decided that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) would now collect and analyse data on SWF investments through the FDI and FII routes, and share it with the [Indian] government.”

livemint.com writes that, “Four months after it set out to find whether foreign sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) pose a threat to India's interests, [India’s] finance ministry has decided that they don't and, consequently, that there is no need to restrict their investments [in India].”

The Business Standard writes that, “The Reserve Bank of India and the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) are close to finalising new data reporting norms to capture investment from sovereign wealth funds (SWF) in India.”

The Times of India reports that, “Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has relaxed investment norms for investors from abroad allowing non-resident Indians (NRIs) and overseas sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) to register as foreign institutional investors (FIIs). In addition, international or multilateral organisations, foreign governmental agencies and overseas central banks can also register as FIIs now, Sebi said.”

The Business Standard reports that, “The [Indian] government has no plans to establish a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) at present, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha today.”

DNA writes that, “India's case for SWF does not rely on export surpluses, conversion of non-renewable assets into a more diversified portfolio of financial and physical assets, or contingent pension reserve. Instead, in India, a major reason for setting up an SWF is the possible use of forex reserves to finance critical infrastructure needs; and to mitigate quasi-fiscal costs of sterilising reserves.”

The article adds that, “By some measures, India already has a SWF called the India Infrastructure Finance Company.”