Common Application Form
Also written CAF · Common Application Form (CAF)
The single electronic form on NSDL's FPI Monitor portal covering FPI registration with SEBI, PAN allotment and KYC for opening a bank and demat account, replacing three separate applications.
In plain language
A foreign investor entering the Indian market used to face several separate applications: one to register as an FPI, one for a tax PAN, and separate KYC paperwork just to open a bank and demat account.
SEBI collapsed all of this into one document, the Common Application Form, or CAF. A single filing now covers all three needs at once.
NSDL built the electronic platform that actually hosts this form: the FPI Monitor.
How it works
The Common Application Form enables FPI applicants to apply for 3 things at once: registration of FPIs with SEBI, allotment of PAN, and carrying out of KYC for opening a bank and demat account. NSDL developed the CAF on its NSDL FPI Portal, the FPI Monitor (www.fpi.nsdl.co.in), for applicants to fill and submit electronically to their DDP.
After the applicant submits the CAF and completes due diligence, the DDP grants registration to the FPI on the NSDL FPI portal, and an FPI Registration certificate is generated automatically by the portal. NSDL has also integrated the FPI portal with the Income Tax Department, through Protean eGov Technologies Limited, so PAN allotment for the FPI happens through the same electronic process rather than as a separate application.
A worked example
A foreign asset management company planning to invest Rs 500 crore in Indian equities appoints a DDP and completes a single Common Application Form on NSDL's FPI Monitor portal, submitting it electronically. That one filing covers its FPI registration application to SEBI, its PAN application, and the KYC needed to open its bank and demat account — three separate processes it would otherwise have had to complete individually.
Once the DDP completes due diligence and is satisfied, it grants FPI registration on the portal itself, and the portal generates the FPI Registration certificate automatically. The integration between the FPI Monitor and the Income Tax Department, through Protean eGov Technologies Limited, means the same CAF submission also results in a PAN being allotted to the fund, without a separate income-tax filing.
Why NISM asks about it
Chapter 12, section 12.1, introduces the Common Application Form immediately after explaining that the FPI regime merged FIIs, Sub Accounts and QFIs into a single class of investor, naming the CAF as the mechanism that streamlines the paperwork for entering that single regime.
Expect a question on the three things the CAF covers in one filing — FPI registration, PAN allotment and KYC for bank/demat account opening — and on the name of the NSDL portal that hosts it, the FPI Monitor.
Common exam traps
- The CAF covers three separate needs in one document: FPI registration, PAN allotment, and KYC for bank and demat account opening. Naming only one or two of these as "the purpose of the CAF" is incomplete.
- NSDL built and hosts the CAF on the FPI Monitor portal — the CAF is the form; FPI Monitor is the platform it lives on.
- The DDP, not SEBI directly, grants FPI registration on the portal, though it does so acting on behalf of SEBI, after its own due diligence.
- Do not confuse the CAF with the FPI Registration certificate — the CAF is the application; the certificate is the outcome the portal generates once registration is granted.
Check yourself
1.The Common Application Form (CAF) enables an FPI applicant to apply for:
- a)Registration with SEBI only
- b)Registration with SEBI, allotment of PAN, and KYC for opening bank and demat accounts
- c)A trading membership on a stock exchange
- d)RBI approval for repatriation of funds
Show the answer
Answer: (b) Registration with SEBI, allotment of PAN, and KYC for opening bank and demat accounts
SEBI has introduced Common Application Form (CAF) which enables FPI applicants to apply for the purpose of (a) registration of FPIs with SEBI (b) allotment of PAN and (c) carrying out of KYC for opening of Bank & Demat Account.
Three separate approvals through one filing — a securities registration, a tax number and the accounts needed to operate.
Where it is filed: NSDL developed the CAF on NSDL FPI Portal viz., FPI Monitor (www.fpi.nsdl.co.in) to be filled by the applicant in an electronic manner. The NSDL FPI portal enables applicants to fill and submit the CAF in an electronic manner to its DDP.
What follows: post due diligence, DDP grants registration to FPI on the NSDL FPI portal. Upon registration, FPI Registration certificate is generated by NSDL FPI portal.
And the PAN comes through the same channel: NSDL has integrated the FPI portal with Income Tax Department (ITD) through Protean eGov Technologies Limited for allotment of PAN for the FPI.
The formal requirement behind it: an application for the grant of certificate as foreign portfolio investor shall be made to the designated depository participant in SEBI prescribed forms and shall be accompanied by the fee as specified in the regulations.
And the reason none of this can be skipped: no person shall buy, sell or otherwise deal in securities as a foreign portfolio investor unless it has obtained a certificate granted by the designated depository participant on behalf of the Board.
2.The Designated Depository Participant and the ________ of the Foreign Portfolio Investor shall be the same entity.
- a)Stock broker
- b)Custodian of the securities
- c)Banker
- d)R&T Agent
Show the answer
Answer: (b) Custodian of the securities
Each FPI shall engage a DDP to avail its services for obtaining a certificate of registration as foreign portfolio investor and at all times the DDP and the Custodian of the FPI shall be the same entity.
Note "at all times" — this is not merely a requirement at registration but a continuing one.
And it explains one of the DDP eligibility conditions. Among the requirements for DDP approval is that the applicant is a custodian of securities registered with SEBI — since the DDP will inevitably also be the custodian, it must already hold that registration.
What the DDP does: DDPs will carry out the necessary due diligence and shall grant registration to FPI and issue registration certificate to the FPI.
And it acts for the regulator, not itself: no person shall buy, sell or otherwise deal in securities as a foreign portfolio investor unless it has obtained a certificate granted by the designated depository participant on behalf of the Board.
How the application reaches it: an application for the grant of certificate as foreign portfolio investor shall be made to the designated depository participant in SEBI prescribed forms and shall be accompanied by the fee as specified in the regulations.
Filed through the CAF: SEBI has introduced Common Application Form (CAF) which enables FPI applicants to apply for the purpose of (a) registration of FPIs with SEBI (b) allotment of PAN and (c) carrying out of KYC for opening of Bank & Demat Account.
3.An FPI registration certificate is granted by:
- a)SEBI directly, on application by the foreign investor
- b)The Designated Depository Participant, on behalf of the Board
- c)The Reserve Bank of India
- d)The stock exchange on which the FPI intends to trade
Show the answer
Answer: (b) The Designated Depository Participant, on behalf of the Board
No person shall buy, sell or otherwise deal in securities as a foreign portfolio investor unless it has obtained a certificate granted by the designated depository participant on behalf of the Board.
The phrase "on behalf of the Board" is the key. The DDP is not registering the FPI in its own right — the function has been delegated to it by SEBI.
And the due diligence goes with the delegation: DDPs will carry out the necessary due diligence and shall grant registration to FPI and issue registration certificate to the FPI.
How the application is made: an application for the grant of certificate as foreign portfolio investor shall be made to the designated depository participant in SEBI prescribed forms and shall be accompanied by the fee as specified in the regulations.
Filed through the CAF: SEBI has introduced Common Application Form (CAF) which enables FPI applicants to apply for the purpose of (a) registration of FPIs with SEBI (b) allotment of PAN and (c) carrying out of KYC for opening of Bank & Demat Account.
Electronically, on NSDL's portal: NSDL developed the CAF on NSDL FPI Portal viz., FPI Monitor (www.fpi.nsdl.co.in) to be filled by the applicant in an electronic manner.
And the certificate issues from the same system: post due diligence, DDP grants registration to FPI on the NSDL FPI portal. Upon registration, FPI Registration certificate is generated by NSDL FPI portal.
A continuing requirement follows: at all times the DDP and the Custodian of the FPI shall be the same entity.
Where this is taught
Free preparation for NISM Series VIRelated terms
- Category-I FPIThe first of the two classes of Foreign Portfolio Investor under SEBI's 2019 FPI Regulations: governments and related investors, pension and university funds, and appropriately regulated entities and funds.
- Designated Depository ParticipantA SEBI-approved custodian and DP, also an AD Category-1 bank, that registers Foreign Portfolio Investors on SEBI's behalf after due diligence - and must be the same entity as the FPI's custodian.
- FPI MonitorThe NSDL electronic portal (www.fpi.nsdl.co.in) where FPI applicants file the Common Application Form, DDPs grant registration and the FPI Registration certificate is generated.
- Category-II FPIThe residual class of Foreign Portfolio Investor under SEBI's 2019 FPI Regulations: everyone not eligible for Category I, such as corporate bodies, family offices, individuals, charities and unregulated funds.
- Bid-cum-Application formThe completed form an investor submits to a Depository Participant to subscribe to a public issue, which the DP acknowledges and then uploads into the stock exchanges' electronic bidding system.