India is nearing a big shift in its long-term goal of achieving open access to and convertibility in its markets with greater global integration and freer non-resident access to debt, Reserve Bank of India deputy governor T. Rabi Sankar said.

“India has come a long way in achieving increasing levels of convertibility on the capital account,” Sankar said in a speech at a forex dealers event on Thursday, referring to the ability to convert local financial assets into foreign financial assets and vice versa.

Sankar said there was an effort to liberalise foreign portfolio investor flows into Indian debt further with the introduction of the fully accessible route (FAR), which places no limit on non-resident investment in specified benchmark securities.

“Since over time, virtually all securities will fall under the FAR category, the move is unambiguously towards an eventual unfettered access for non-residents into government securities,” he added.

He also said efforts to get the country included in global bond indexes and a move towards placing government securities under global custodians, once implemented, will encourage debt flows in the future.