SEBI has redenominated all FPI and FVCI fees from US dollars to Indian rupees, effective 30 December 2026, moving Category I registration from $2,500 to Rs 2,30,000. Foreign investors will pay a rupee-equivalent amount in eligible foreign exchange through their designated depository participant.
In a 2026 notification, SEBI amended the SEBI (Foreign Portfolio Investors) Regulations, 2019 and the SEBI (Foreign Venture Capital Investors) Regulations, 2000 to state every registration and continuance fee in rupees rather than US dollars. The regulator had billed these fees in dollars for years, which forced manual invoicing and left it carrying exchange-rate deductions on money coming in. Moving the fees to rupees closes that gap for SEBI and shifts the currency-conversion step onto foreign investors and the custodians who file for them.
This article sets out what SEBI changed, the new rupee fee schedule against the old dollar figures, when the change takes effect, how FPIs and FVCIs will pay, why SEBI made the move, and what it means for foreign investors.
What did SEBI change in the FPI and FVCI fee structure?
SEBI changed the currency in which foreign portfolio investors and foreign venture capital investors pay their fees, replacing US dollars with Indian rupees across registration, continuance and related charges. The change runs through the SEBI (Foreign Portfolio Investors) Regulations, 2019 and the SEBI (Foreign Venture Capital Investors) Regulations, 2000, the two frameworks that govern how foreign money enters Indian listed and unlisted securities. Each dollar figure in the fee provisions has been substituted with a rupee figure, payable in eligible foreign exchange of the same value.
This is a change to the unit of account, not a rewrite of the registration regime. An FPI still registers through a designated depository participant, an FVCI still registers directly with SEBI, and the categories and eligibility conditions stay where they were. What moves is the number on the invoice and the currency it is written in. The regulations that govern foreign portfolio investment in India continue to apply in full; only the fee clauses read differently.
The people who feel the change are foreign investors and the intermediaries who act for them: FPIs across both categories, FVCIs putting money into unlisted Indian companies, offshore derivative instrument subscribers, and the designated depository participants that collect and remit the fees. SEBI framed the move as an administrative reform rather than a policy shift on foreign capital, and the fee amounts themselves were reset to round rupee figures rather than left as exact conversions of the old dollar prices.
How much are the new FPI and FVCI fees in rupees?
The new FPI and FVCI fees are set in round rupee amounts that replace the earlier dollar prices, with Category I FPI registration and FVCI registration both fixed at Rs 2,30,000 in place of $2,500. The rupee figures are not exact currency conversions of the old dollar prices; SEBI reset them to clean round numbers, so the effective cost shifts slightly depending on the prevailing exchange rate.
How do the FPI Category I and Category II fees compare?
FPI Category I registration moves from $2,500 to Rs 2,30,000, and Category II registration moves from $250 to Rs 23,000. The continuance fee that keeps a registration alive mirrors the registration amount for each category, so a Category I FPI pays Rs 2,30,000 again at renewal and a Category II FPI pays Rs 23,000. The offshore derivative instrument subscriber fee moves from $800 to Rs 75,000, and the fee tied to the Regulation 43B exemption route moves from $1,000 to Rs 90,000.
What are the new FVCI registration and continuance fees?
An FVCI now pays Rs 2,30,000 to register, up from the dollar figure of $2,500, and its continuance fee moves from $100 to Rs 9,000. Late payment carries a daily charge of Rs 500 in place of the earlier $5 a day, subject to a ceiling of Rs 15,000 that replaces the old cap of $150. On the FPI side the late fee is Rs 4,500 a day for Category I and Rs 500 a day for Category II, in place of $50 and $5 respectively.
Read the new schedule as a like-for-like swap of currency with rounded amounts, not as a broad increase or cut. The direction of the change in real terms depends entirely on where the rupee sits against the dollar on the day a fee falls due.
FPI and FVCI fees: old US dollar price vs new rupee price
Effective 30 December 2026. FPI continuance fees mirror the registration amount for each category.
| Fee | Old (USD) | New (INR) |
|---|---|---|
| FPI Category I registration | $2,500 | Rs 2,30,000 |
| FPI Category II registration | $250 | Rs 23,000 |
| FVCI registration | $2,500 | Rs 2,30,000 |
| FVCI continuance | $100 | Rs 9,000 |
| FPI late fee (Category I) | $50/day | Rs 4,500/day |
| FPI late fee (Category II) | $5/day | Rs 500/day |
| FVCI late fee | $5/day (max $150) | Rs 500/day (max Rs 15,000) |
| ODI subscriber fee | $800 | Rs 75,000 |
| Regulation 43B exemption fee | $1,000 | Rs 90,000 |
Source: SEBI notification dated 3 July 2026 amending the FPI Regulations, 2019 and FVCI Regulations, 2000. iPleaders
When does the new rupee fee structure take effect?
The new rupee fee structure takes effect on 30 December 2026, which is 180 days after SEBI notified the amendment on 3 July 2026. SEBI built in that six-month runway so foreign investors and their custodians could adjust their fee-payment and accounting processes before the dollar option closed.
The sequence ran from a board memorandum dated 19 June 2026 to the gazette notification on 3 July 2026, and then to the effective date six months on. Fees that fall due before 30 December 2026 stay on the existing dollar basis, and fees due on or after that date are paid in rupees. An FPI or FVCI with a registration or continuance payment landing near the cutover should confirm with its designated depository participant which currency applies to that specific payment, because the trigger is the date the fee falls due rather than the date the application was started.
How will FPIs and FVCIs pay SEBI fees in rupees?
An FPI or FVCI pays its fee to the designated depository participant in eligible foreign exchange equal to the rupee amount, and the participant then remits that fee to SEBI in rupees within five working days of the registration being granted. The foreign investor does not send rupees directly; it sends convertible foreign currency worth the specified rupee figure, and the intermediary handles the conversion and the onward payment.
What is the role of the designated depository participant?
The designated depository participant is the licensed intermediary that processes an FPI registration and now sits at the centre of the fee mechanism. It collects the fee from the investor in eligible foreign exchange, converts it, and pays SEBI the rupee amount within the five-working-day window. This is the same intermediary that already runs an FPI’s onboarding and know your customer checks for foreign portfolio investors, so the fee step folds into a relationship the investor already holds.
Which exchange rate applies to the payment?
The payment is the eligible foreign exchange equivalent of the fixed rupee figure, so the foreign-currency amount the investor sends varies with the exchange rate on the day of payment. Because SEBI now receives a fixed rupee sum, the exchange-rate movement between billing and settlement sits with the investor and the participant rather than with the regulator. That is the practical core of the reform: the currency risk on the conversion has moved from SEBI to the payer.
How an FPI or FVCI fee reaches SEBI in rupees
Foreign investor
The FPI or FVCI pays eligible foreign exchange equal to the fixed rupee fee.
Designated depository participant
The DDP collects the fee, converts the foreign exchange, and holds the rupee amount.
SEBI
The DDP remits the fee to SEBI in rupees within five working days of registration being granted.
Source: SEBI notification dated 3 July 2026; new FPI and FVCI fee-payment mechanism. iPleaders
Why did SEBI redenominate FPI and FVCI fees to rupees?
SEBI redenominated the fees to rupees to remove the manual accounting, reconciliation problems and reporting delays that dollar collection had created. When fees arrived in dollars, SEBI had to invoice and account for them by hand, absorb foreign-exchange deductions applied to inbound remittances, and work without real-time visibility of what had actually been received, which slowed its financial reporting.
Fixing the fee in rupees lets SEBI account for a known, exact figure the moment it is due, rather than a dollar sum that shrinks unpredictably by the time it lands. The regulator no longer carries the conversion loss on money coming in, and its books reconcile against a single domestic-currency number. The reform sits alongside SEBI’s other 2026 housekeeping measures on market intermediaries and foreign investors, part of a run of changes tidying process rather than reshaping policy, much as the cross-border rules that shape foreign investment into India have been refined in stages rather than overhauled at once.
What the rupee fee shift means for foreign investors
For foreign investors the shift is mainly one of currency and process rather than a large change in cost, but it moves the exchange-rate timing risk on the fee onto the investor and its custodian. The headline amounts are now fixed in rupees, so the real dollar cost of registering or continuing rises or falls with the rupee, and treasury teams that budgeted in dollars will need to budget against a rupee figure instead.
The practical steps are narrow. An FPI or FVCI should confirm the new rupee amount for its category, agree with its designated depository participant how the eligible foreign exchange will be funded and converted, and check which currency governs any fee falling due around the 30 December 2026 cutover. Investors coming in through the FVCI route into unlisted companies should factor the reset registration and continuance figures into their entry costs, and the guidance on how foreign venture capital investors invest in India still describes the underlying route the fees attach to.
The change also fits a wider pattern of India pricing its regulatory interface in its own currency, seen across recent SEBI action such as the SEBI (Buy-Back of Securities) Amendment Regulations, 2026. For a foreign investor already managing rupee exposure on the underlying portfolio, paying the regulator in rupee terms is a modest addition, and the same discipline that governs FEMA compliance for foreign investment inflows covers the currency handling on the fee.
Frequently asked questions
Are the new rupee SEBI fees higher than the old dollar fees?
The rupee amounts are rounded figures rather than exact conversions, so whether they are higher or lower in real terms depends on the rupee-dollar rate on the payment date. Category I FPI and FVCI registration is fixed at Rs 2,30,000 in place of $2,500, and the direction of the change in dollar terms tracks the exchange rate.
Do existing FPIs and FVCIs have to pay again because of the change?
No. The change fixes the currency and amount of fees that fall due; it does not create a fresh charge on an existing registration. An existing FPI or FVCI pays the new rupee figure only when its next continuance or other fee falls due on or after 30 December 2026.
What exchange rate applies when paying the rupee fees in foreign currency?
The investor pays eligible foreign exchange equal to the fixed rupee amount, so the foreign-currency figure is set by the exchange rate on the day of payment. The designated depository participant handles the conversion and remits the rupee amount to SEBI.
Which SEBI regulations were amended to make fees payable in rupees?
SEBI amended the SEBI (Foreign Portfolio Investors) Regulations, 2019 and the SEBI (Foreign Venture Capital Investors) Regulations, 2000. The amendment substitutes the dollar fee figures in those regulations with rupee figures payable in eligible foreign exchange.
What is the late fee for FPIs and FVCIs under the new rupee schedule?
A Category I FPI pays Rs 4,500 a day and a Category II FPI pays Rs 500 a day for late payment. An FVCI pays Rs 500 a day, capped at Rs 15,000.
Does the change affect how quickly an FPI or FVCI can register?
The registration process itself is unchanged; the fee is still paid through the designated depository participant, which remits it to SEBI within five working days of registration being granted. The reform changes the currency and accounting of the fee, not the onboarding timeline.
References
- SEBI notification amending the SEBI (Foreign Portfolio Investors) Regulations, 2019 and the SEBI (Foreign Venture Capital Investors) Regulations, 2000, dated 3 July 2026 (effective 30 December 2026).
- SEBI board memorandum on rupee denomination of FPI and FVCI fees, dated 19 June 2026.
- Business Standard, report on SEBI notifying FPI regulation changes mandating fee payment in INR (July 2026).
- TaxGuru, note on SEBI’s INR-based FPI and FVCI fee structure and the revised fee schedule (2026).
This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Fee figures and effective dates are drawn from the SEBI notification and contemporaneous reporting; confirm the current position against the official SEBI regulations and your designated depository participant before acting.
