Foreign funds in a bind over Sebi's curbs on overseas investments by MFs

After the Sebi diktat, international funds had stopped taking fresh inflows into their schemes

The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi's) restrictions on overseas investments by mutual funds (MFs) have put the brakes on international offerings. Sources said asset management companies in the process of filing scheme documents for at least a dozen international schemes are awaiting clarity from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Sebi.

Last month, the markets regulator had advised a halt on subscription in schemes intending to invest in overseas securities with immediate effect to avoid breach of industry-wide limits of $7 billion for investment in overseas securities.

However, investments in overseas exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue as the $1-billion limit