made, it is proposed to permit banks to offer partial credit enhancement to corporate bonds by way of providing funded and un - funded credit facilities for infrastructure projects but not by way of guarantee. the final instructions are expected to be issued shortly. foreign portfolio investors ( fpis ) : i. rationalisation of investment limits : fpi investment limits have been rationalised, whereby existing limits and subdivisions have been merged in two broad categories – government securities and corporate bonds. the sublimits for fpis in government securities ( $ 10 billion ) and dated securities ( $ 15 billion ) and other categories have been merged to retain the overall cap of $ 25 billion. in case of corporate bonds, the ceiling of $ 1 billion for qualified foreign investors ( qfis ), $ 25 billion for fpis and $ 25 billion for fpis in longterm infra bonds, have been merged – retaining the overall cap for corporate bonds at $ 51 billion. ii. rationalization of allocation of debt limits : method for allocation of debt limits in corporate bond market through auction has been changed. as per revised scheme, fiis can now invest in corporate debt without purchasing debt limits till the overall investment reaches 90 % after which the auction mechanism would be initiated for allocation of the remaining limits. consequent to the changes, the restrictions on re - investment by fpis, shall no longer apply in respect of limits held / investments made by fiis in the corporate debt category, till the limits are available on tap. iii. withholding tax rate : the rate of withholding tax on interest payments on the borrowings of infrastructure debt funds ( idf ), investments made by a nonresident in rupee denominated long - term infrastructure bonds and interest on fiis ’ investment made in bonds issued by indian companies and government securities have been reduced from 20 per cent to 5 per cent. iv. new foreign portfolio investor ( fpi ) regulations : recently, sebi has notified new fpi regulations to put in place an easier registration process and operating framework for overseas entities seeking to invest in indian capital markets. the new regulations replace the existing sebi regulations for fiis and the new class of investors, fpis, would encompass all fiis, their subaccounts and qfis. v. the budget for 2015 – 16 has proposed to extend the period of applicability of reduced rate of tax at 5 % in respect of income of foreign investors ( fiis and qfis )

him on the head. themistocles looked at him calmly and said : “ strike me, if you will, but listen to me. ” according to plutarch, the spartan commander was so taken aback by themistocles ’ s reaction that he backed down and let him persuade the council of his winning strategy. i can ’ t promise you the outcome of all discussions will be the same. but i think it is increasingly important that central bankers speak up on these matters, even if what we have to say is unpleasant to and opposed by at least some domestic national audiences. many of us are no strangers to raised staffs – at least metaphorical ones. but tonight we are in friendlier company, and with no persian fleet in sight, let ’ s raise our glasses instead, and toast to peace, social prosperity and to the health of our common currency which connects us all, the euro.