In order to attract more overseas investment into the country, the government is working on bringing new norms for a common KYC (know your customer) for foreign institutional investors (FIIs), Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.
" Government will soon come out with a new set of norms that will have a common KYC across various regulators, be it pension, banking, stocks or insurance. There should be one KYC," Mr Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha.
He added if a new FII applies in India, it has to go through due diligence and once registered it has to go through KYC norms.
At present there are 1,756 FIIs registered in the country, Mr Chidambaram said, adding that it takes a maximum of three weeks for an FII to register with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The Finance Minister was replying to members' queries when the Sebi (Amendment) Bill, 2013, was taken up for consideration and passage in the Rajya Sabha.
The Bill, which sought appointment of a retired High Court judge having held the position for seven years for heading the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), was passed by voice vote.
As per existing provisions, only a serving or retired Supreme Court judge can head the Tribunal, but government was finding it difficult to fill the slot.
Noting that the cumulative investment graph of FIIs in the country is rising, Mr Chidambaram said, "During the year 2012, there has been an investment of $31 billion by FIIs the country. During the current year from January 1 till date, there has been an investment of $10 billion by FIIs."
The Finance Minister said stock markets have risen by 25 per cent and have given a good return, and hoped more foreign investment coming in the stock markets will give further returns to investors.
Mr Chidambaram also assured of serious action in matters of insider trading and said SEBI has been asked to step up systems and surveillance to deal with such matters.
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