India’s markets regulator SEBI and the Reserve Bank are collaborating on new digital frameworks to enable bond index trading, streamline foreign portfolio investor onboarding, and deepen the country’s corporate bond market, signalling a significant shift towards faster, tech-driven market access.
India’s markets regulator and the central bank are working on a framework that could allow trading in bond indices and related derivatives, while also speeding up the route for foreign portfolio investors to enter the country’s markets, according to Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Association of Portfolio Managers in India’s annual conference, Pandey said the Securities and Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, was discussing how bond indices could be traded on exchanges. He added that the Reserve Bank of India had prepared draft guidance and sought comments, and that SEBI was pushing for the framework to be concluded.
The push comes as Indian regulators try to make foreign investment access faster and less cumbersome. Pandey said SEBI and the Reserve Bank were working more closely on foreign portfolio investor onboarding and had already cut processing time to about five days in testing, compared with systems that can take more than a month. The effort has included digital signatures, e-power of attorney, a common application portal and tracking tools to reduce dependence on physical paperwork, notarisation and apostille requirements.
Pandey also said the Reserve Bank was considering allowing foreign commercial banks to certify FPI registration documents and using the SWIFT messaging network to transmit those certifications. Industry reports earlier this year said SEBI was targeting a five-day onboarding timeline through end-to-end digitisation, standardised documentation and tighter coordination with other regulators. Other coverage has pointed to the SWAGAT-FI framework, which was designed to give trusted foreign investors a single-window route into the market.
Beyond foreign inflows, SEBI is also trying to deepen India’s corporate bond market. Pandey said the regulator is working on market-making rules covering liquidity, market infrastructure and repo access, alongside proposals for fixed income channel partners to broaden distribution through regulated online bond platforms. He said the next stage of market development would rely more heavily on technology, but investment accountability would still need to rest with identifiable human decision-makers. Pandey also clarified that SEBI has not formed any committee to consider whether stock exchanges should be allowed to trade their own shares through a “permitted to trade” route.
Pandey said the portfolio management services industry still has room to grow at a rapid pace, adding that assets under management had reached about ₹9.2 lakh crore by August 2026, up from around ₹1.4 lakh crore at the end of FY16. He said regulators’ job was to remove friction and let investors decide where capital should go, underscoring a broader policy shift towards simpler rules, greater digital use and wider market access.
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