Expert committee set up to advise IFSC on investment funds

IFSCA has been constituted as a unified regulator to develop and regulate financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Service Centres (IFSCs) in India.

Since the fund industry plays an increasingly important role in intermediating between seekers of capital and investors, IFSC has been actively engaging with stakeholders to enhance the global reach of GIFT-IFSC. The regulatory approach has been to benchmark with global standards and adopt a facilitative framework to provide ease of operations for seeker as well as provider of capital.

IFSCA is in the process of developing a comprehensive and consistent regulatory framework based on global best practices with a special focus on ease of doing business.

The expert committee with Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co Ltd, as its chairman, comprises leaders from the entire fund management ecosystem, including from areas such as technology, distribution, legal, compliance, and operations.

The committee has been constituted to holistically review the global best practices and make recommendations to IFSCA on the roadmap for the industry. The terms of reference of the expert committee include:

* Advise IFSCA on long term vision for operations of investment funds in IFSC;

* Make recommendations with respect to structure of investment funds in IFSC - the recommendations may be two-fold: short term policies that can be implemented by IFSCA immediately (i.e. less than 3 months) and for the mid-term (6 months to 1 year);

* Identify issues that may be critical for development of the investment funds industry at IFSCs, including inter-regulatory issues; and

* Any other relevant item on building the ecosystem inter-alia on asset managers, hedge funds, PE, VC, sovereign funds, family offices, and the accompanying professional services.