The rules reach corporations, not companies you own shares in
A PFIC is a foreign corporation whose income or assets are mostly passive. An ordinary Indian operating company, a bank or a manufacturer, fails both tests. Its shares are not a PFIC.
So the exposure comes from the wrapper, not from India.
A managed account holds shares, not units
In an Indian portfolio management service, SEBI requires that the manager must not hold client securities in its own name. You hold the listed shares yourself, in your own demat account.
There is no pooled foreign corporation between you and the companies, so no PFIC arises. You still report the account on the FBAR and on Form 8938, and every sale the manager makes is your own taxable disposal.
The exception: if the mandate holds mutual fund units or other pooled vehicles, PFIC returns for those holdings. Ask for the mandate in writing.
Partnerships and the check-the-box election
PFIC applies to foreign corporations. A vehicle that is genuinely a partnership, or one that has validly elected to be treated as a pass-through, is not itself a PFIC.
Two cautions. A Schedule K-1 does not end the analysis, because you remain an indirect shareholder of any PFIC the fund itself holds. And the election belongs to the fund, not to you.
What to do next
This page explains a rule. It does not work out what you owe, and it is not US tax advice. Take your fund statements to a US CPA or an Enrolled Agent, because the analysis runs per fund, per year.