Citi eFPI @ Citi Cuts India FPI Registration to 5 Days

In Short

• Citi launched eFPI @ Citi to reduce Foreign Portfolio Investor registration time in India to five business days.
• The service aims to make entry into India’s capital markets faster for overseas funds.
• Rollout starts with regulated funds from the US, Ireland, and Luxembourg, then expands to more jurisdictions.

What Happened

Citi said its new eFPI @ Citi service can register Foreign Portfolio Investors, also called FPIs, in India within five business days. Citi made the announcement on September 10, 2026 at India’s Global Fintech Fest.

FPIs are overseas investors, like mutual funds and pension funds, that buy and sell Indian shares and bonds. Before this launch, the FPI onboarding and registration process could take weeks or even months.

Citi’s approach is digital onboarding, which means forms, checks, and document steps move online instead of being handled through slower manual workflows. Citi said the service aligns with India’s regulator SEBI, which has been pushing market participants to use technology to help foreign investors access Indian capital markets faster.

A key part of the setup is integration with India’s National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL). NSDL is a core market utility that holds electronic records of securities ownership, similar to a central vault for demat accounts, which are electronic securities accounts. NSDL said it will work with Citi through API integration, meaning the two systems can exchange data directly in a structured way.

The service is rolling out in phases. Phase I covers regulated public funds, including mutual funds and unit trusts, from the US, Ireland, and Luxembourg. Phase II is planned for Singapore, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Why It Matters

Faster FPI registration reduces friction for global funds that want exposure to Indian equities and debt. In practice, it can shorten the time between an investment decision and actual trading.

For fintech and capital markets operators across Africa, the move is another signal that investor onboarding is becoming a software problem. It also shows how custodians and depositories are using APIs to make market access more predictable for cross-border investors.

Citi said it oversees about a third of FPI assets under custody in India, which may help it scale this workflow quickly across large institutional clients. Citi is positioning the service as a way to make India easier to invest in, as more global investors consider the market a long-term allocation.