Wanting to make BRICS an attractive investment destination, Sebi chairman U K Sinha on Thursday called for setting up an information-sharing mechanism between the regulators of the five major emerging national economies.
“All securities market regulators of BRICS can set up some mechanism to work together and learn from each other’s regulatory development...I think lot of regulatory progress can be made through this which will be mutually beneficial,” Sinha said at a BRICS seminar on investment flows.
To attract foreign fund flows into the BRICS nations is important, Sinha said that the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) would be happy to share its experience with respect to the latest guidelines for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).
Sebi’s latest norms for FPIs have streamlined the process to invest in India, he said
“We will be happy to share our knowledge, our experience with our partner countries (of BRICS) on how FPI regulations have fared in this country,” he said.
He also said the Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) and corporate governance were other areas for sharing of knowledge and experience among BRICS countries.
“Foreign investors need assurance that there is good amount of corporate governance standards. In India, corporate governance norms have been well received throughout the country....we can also work towards a mechanism in this area,” said the Sebi chief.
“So, there is a need to set up some provision to start exchanging information and learning from each other’s experience,” he added.
Significantly, noting that investment flows among the BRICS nations need to be encouraged, time was ripe for active cooperation to develop a BRICS bond market, he observed
“More than a decade ago there was talk of developing an Asian bond market; for some reason we did not succeed. It is important that we start nitty—gritties on how to develop a BRICS bond markets,” the Sebi chairman said.
While International Monetary Fund had forecast a decline in global GDP growth, positive changes are being witnessed in in BRICS countries, he pointed out.
