SEBI and the RBI are launching digital processes to speed up foreign portfolio investor (FPI) registration and creating new bond indices to boost corporate debt liquidity. Meanwhile, with assets in Portfolio Management Services (PMS) crossing ₹9.2 trillion, the regulator is introducing stricter rules for fund managers to improve transparency and risk management.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have announced a push to modernize the Indian capital market infrastructure. The authorities are moving to replace old, paper-based registration processes with digital systems to make it easier and faster for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to enter the Indian market. By testing faster onboarding windows and allowing electronic documents, regulators aim to reduce the time global funds spend on paperwork before they can start investing.
Alongside this, the regulators are working on developing exchange-traded bond indices. Currently, the Indian corporate bond market often lacks the liquidity and transparency found in government bond segments. These new indices are designed to create standardized benchmarks for corporate debt. For investors, this development is expected to make it easier to track bond price movements and encourage the growth of passive investment strategies, which are currently more common in the stock market than the debt market.
While market access is being improved, the wealth management sector is undergoing a regulatory shift. The Portfolio Management Services (PMS) industry, which caters largely to high-net-worth investors, has grown rapidly. Assets under management (AUM) in this sector have climbed from ₹1.4 trillion in 2016 to ₹9.2 trillion as of August 2026. This reflects a consistent growth rate of about 20 percent annually, showing a strong shift in how large investors are choosing to manage their wealth.
However, this quick expansion has led the regulator to refine its oversight. SEBI is now implementing a framework to ensure that fund managers operate with stricter suitability standards. This means managers must now provide more clarity on how they account for concentration risk, liquidity, and volatility when handling client money. The goal is to ensure that performance claims are backed by a clear explanation of the risks involved, rather than just highlighting past returns.
For investors, these changes represent a move toward a more formal and transparent investment environment. While the easier FPI registration and new bond indices could improve market liquidity and bring in more global capital, the stricter PMS rules are aimed at protecting individual investors from aggressive or unclear investment practices. Investors may track the launch of the new bond indices and watch for how fund managers adjust their disclosure practices under the revised PMS framework.