India’s inclusion into global indices faces further delays

The much-awaited inclusion of Indian debt in JP Morgan Government Bond Index Emerging Markets GBI-EM faces further delay.

Initially expected to be announced in September, this is now unlikely to be confirmed before the new year, and it remains unclear how issues around capital gains tax and settlement will be resolved, experts told FinanceAsia.

“Initial concerns included the rupee’s partial capital account convertibility and limits on foreign ownership of Indian debt. China doesn’t have a fully convertible currency so this is not a necessary condition for inclusion, and foreign ownership limits on Indian government debt have now been removed for certain bonds, so the...