The Securities and Exchange Board of India vide its Notification dated 30th March 2020 has temporarily eased the processing of documents for Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) till June 30, 2020. SEBI has decided to grant the relaxations in a situation where FPIs are not in a position to send original and/ or certified documents due to outbreak of Covid 19 pandemic.
SEBI has, through Operational guidelines for Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs)&Designated Depository Participants (DDPs) issued under Securities and Exchange Board of India (FPI) Regulations, 2019, directed depository participants and custodians to process the request for registration, continuance, KYC and any other material change on the basis of scanned version of signed documents (instead of originals) and copies of documents which are not certified, received from e-mail IDs of their global custodians or existing clients where these details are already captured in records or e-mail IDs of new clients received from domains which are duly encrypted.
These documents can be uploaded for KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs) and other intermediaries may rely on the papers.
The above temporary relaxations shall be applicable till 30th June 2020. The depository participants and custodians shall ensure to obtain the original and/or certified documents within 30 days from the aforesaid deadline. In case required documents for registration or KYC are not received by the deadline, the accounts of such FPIs will be blocked for any fresh purchase. In case documents are still not received within 3 months of said deadline, DDPs & Custodians shall report these cases to SEBI for appropriate action.
Click here to read the Notification.
