Mumbai, July 20: California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers), one of the largest pension funds in the US, today registered as a foreign institutional investor in India. The move is seen as a huge vote of confidence for the Indian capital markets.

Companies across the world take Calpers — known to be a stickler for corporate governance — seriously because of the massive investment resources at its disposal.

Calpers is the largest public pension fund with assets totalling $166 billion. The system provides retirement and health benefits to 1.4 million state and local public employees and their families.

Recently, the fund’s board of administration decided to add the Philippines, India and Peru to its list of permissible emerging equity markets.

Earlier, Sean Harrigan, president of the Calpers board of administration, had said: “These three countries have made significant progress and have demonstrated that they now meet our high standards for investment.”

Being a pension fund, the investment strategy would also be more long-term in nature than hedge funds.

The upcoming TCS issue may also get a boost with this development.