India’s market regulator Sebi has rolled out a major procedural revamp for foreign investors considered low risk. The move is meant to simplify how these investors enter the Indian securities market and reduce the long trail of mandatory paperwork that usually follows them around. Sebi is introducing a single-window route called Single Window Automatic and Generalised Access for Trusted Foreign Investors (SWAGAT-FI), and it is scheduled to take effect on June 1, 2026.
Under the new system, Sebi aims to give smoother access to long-term, low-risk foreign investors—those who are traditionally seen as stable and highly regulated. This group includes government-owned funds, central banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, multilateral agencies, retail funds regulated in their home countries, and insurance companies.
These investors often invest through different entry routes, which usually means repeated documents, KYC checks and compliance cycles. The SWAGAT-FI framework tries to put all of that into one window, making the investment process less fragmented and far easier to manage.
A key feature of SWAGAT-FI is the choice it gives investors to register as both Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) and Foreign Venture Capital Investors (FVCIs) without having to re-submit documents.
This opens two separate doors using the same key:
• As an FPI, they can invest in listed shares and debt instruments.
• As an FVCI, they can invest in unlisted companies such as startups and firms in specified sectors.
The idea, as Sebi suggests, is that large global institutions may prefer to diversify across both public and private markets without getting stuck in repeated verification loops.
Sebi has also eased the long-term upkeep for these investors by extending the validity period for registration renewals, fee payments and KYC updates to 10 years.
Currently, these checks return every three or five years. The longer cycle could reduce administrative burden for funds that usually invest in India for long stretches of time.
Sebi has also made one more change for funds operating from International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) such as GIFT City. Retail schemes in IFSCs that have an Indian resident as sponsor or manager will now be allowed to register as FPIs. Until now, this facility was limited largely to alternative investment funds.
There was also a mismatch between the contribution limits set by Sebi and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). To avoid confusion and possible violations, Sebi has clarified that Indian resident sponsors can contribute only up to 10% of the fund’s corpus, or its assets under management in the case of retail schemes.
As of June 30, 2025, India had 11,913 registered FPIs holding assets worth ₹80.83 lakh crore. Sebi estimates that the investors classified under SWAGAT-FI make up more than 70% of the total assets held by FPIs.
Given their size and influence, a simpler entry and compliance structure could make India appear more accessible at a time when global capital often looks for predictable and stable regulatory environments.
The long-term impact depends on how global markets behave, how India’s regulations evolve, and how these large investors respond once the framework becomes operational in June 2026.