That would allow American and other international aid money to pour in, and permit investors to rebuild the shattered country.

After that boom, laws permitting mutual funds and other foreign institutional investors to invest here were eased in September 1992.

In February 2008, the government permitted investors to receive loans in foreign currencies from local private banks to finance capital investments.

If that seems odd, consider this: the investment trusts do not even permit investors shopping for the right fund to compare past performances.

Mr. Chidambaram gave impetus to the bond market by permitting foreign institutional investors to invest all of their funds in debt instruments.

It has recently introduced a program that permits relatively small investors to pay brokers a flat percentage of assets under management, rather than by trade.

"One of our objectives was to put information into the marketplace to permit investors on their own to seek relief."

The bill will also permit investors who were trading at the same time, and were on the other side of the trade, to seek damages.

Together, these effects would permit investors to value securities with greater confidence.

The proposal would also permit foreign investors to take their profits out of the country, with no requirement to reinvest the money here.