Iran War: India Investment Opportunity for FPIs

Mumbai, Mar 19 (PTI) Equity market corrections following the Middle East conflict present a "tremendous opportunity" for foreign portfolio investors to up their bets in India, a senior Sebi official said on Thursday.

Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, a whole-time member at the capital markets regulator, said the Indian capital market is "quite attractive" now and presents a good opportunity to investors registered as FPIs.

"There is a tremendous opportunity to invest in the Indian equity market with the kind of direction which has taken place now in the last few months, particularly after the war that has broken out," he said, speaking at a Russia-India forum for integration of capital markets here.

FPIs continue to be net sellers in the Indian markets in FY26, and in the first 12 days of March alone, there has been a sell-off of over Rs 77,000 crore by them, as per reports.

Speaking at the event, Varshney assured all help to facilitate Russian investments into the country and also proposed setting up working groups to take care of any specific requirements on the same.


He urged Russian companies to also opt for initial public offerings (IPOs) in India, pointing out that some foreign companies' local arms enjoy a higher valuation in India than the parent in the home market.

Varshney said 23 Russian entities have registered with Sebi as FPIs, and can access both the debt and equities markets locally.

Speaking at the same event, Sergey Glazyev, the state secretary of the Union state of Russia and Belarus, pitched for a new international payment system which will be driven by a new digital currency.

"We should create a new financial architecture which is based on national currency and international transparency and trust to each other," he said.

The US will not be successful in the war that it has begun in Iran with Israel, and the focus of the world economy will shift to South and East Asia, Glazyev added.

Largest equity bourse NSE's chief executive and managing director Ashishkumar Chauhan said the Russia-India partnership is one of depth, continuity and strategic relevance, and the task is to translate that into practical financial architecture.