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The Reserve Bank of India’s Governor Shaktikanta Das has there is no proposal to increase the overseas investment limits for domestic mutual funds at the moment. He acknowledged that there have been requests from mutual funds and other market players for relaxations of the limits.

He stated ‘We have examined that. But we have not taken a positive decision on it yet. There is no proposal to increase the limits at the moment.’ Meanwhile, Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar said the same issue had come up a year ago as well and it was decided to maintain the status quo then. It can be noted that there is an overall industry-level limit of $7 billion for mutual funds. The RBI regulates the fund inflows and outflows into the country.

Besides, capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had in June last year permitted mutual funds to again invest in foreign stocks within the aggregate mandated limit of $7 billion after a correction in stocks. In January 2022, Sebi asked mutual fund houses to stop taking fresh subscriptions in schemes investing in overseas stocks. The directive to stop subscriptions was mainly on account of the mutual fund industry crossing the mandated limit of $7 billion for overseas investments.