Mumbai: Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed fresh acceptance of mutual funds Pennies to the extent of the aggregate in international plans industry $7 billion limit. In a letter to industry body Association of Mutual Funds of India (amphi) Last week, the capital markets regulator said asset managers can resume subscriptions and create Investment ‘Up to the available headroom without violating the foreign investment utilization limit’ in foreign funds or securities. ET has reviewed the note.

However, some mutual funds may not accept investor inflows into these products due to lack of clarity on the limits available.

While there is no anticipated redemption in international schemes, mutual fund executives and distributors speculate that there may be less headroom to accept the new inflows. This is because amid the reform there has been no sharp outflow of international plans.

“We estimate the total headroom for the industry to be just 2-3% of the $7 billion range,” said the CEO of a domestic fund house. This means the industry will be able to add only ₹800-1200 crore of international assets.

Emails sent to SEBI and AMFI remained unanswered till print out.

AMFI, as advised by SEBI, had asked all fund houses to suspend fresh investments in schemes which intend to invest in foreign securities with effect from February 2. The regulator has a $7 billion limit on investments in foreign stocks of the mutual fund industry. It was believed that mutual funds have crossed the 95 percent mark. The RBI, which decides on foreign investment rules by domestic individuals and entities, has not allowed a higher limit.

ET spoke to top executives of four fund houses, who were unsure how to open the scheme for subscription. Fund officials said that mutual funds will have to assess their limits separately. While some fund houses await further guidance from AMFI, others have decided against accepting the fresh inflows

“We have very little scope as we have already reached the $1 billion total fund house limit. We are getting more information,” said a top executive of a domestic mutual fund running a large international product.