Continuous disclosures by REITs: mandated financial, audit, manager fee and investor protection reporting obligations to exchanges.
REITs must make ongoing disclosures of financial and non financial information to stock exchanges: half yearly and annual financials prepared on accrual basis under Ind AS (standalone and consolidated) with specified timelines and comparative periods; key condensed financial statements, statements of Net Distributable Cash Flows, manager fee disclosures, auditor qualified impact statements, and auditor review/audit requirements. Non financial obligations include simplified listing agreements, periodic unit holding patterns, annual credit rating reviews, a timely updated website, investor grievance reporting, and quarterly statements of deviations in use of issue proceeds until full utilisation.

Position limits for brokers and FPIs in stock derivatives revised to a set share of market-wide limit; exchanges to implement.
Combined futures and options positions for Stock Brokers, Category I & II FPIs, and Mutual Funds are limited to 20% of the applicable Market Wide Position Limit (MWPL); MWPL and client-level limits remain unchanged. Stock exchanges must amend systems and bye-laws, notify brokers, publish the change, and report implementation status to the regulator under its statutory market-regulation and investor-protection powers.

Disclosure of financial information requires REITs to include audited historical financials, interim updates, projections, NDCF and auditor certification.
Offer documents must present audited REIT financials for the last three completed years and, if required, interim statements not older than six months, prepared under Indian Accounting Standards and including balance sheet, profit and loss/income and expenditure, changes in unit holders' equity, cash flows, net assets at fair value, total returns at fair value and notes. Disclosures must cover property-wise rental income, earnings per unit, contingent liabilities, commitments, related party transactions, capitalisation statement, debt payment history, adjustments for errors or policy changes, and material-item disclosure under manager-determined materiality.

Private placement filing requirement: companies must submit PAS-4 and PAS-5 to SEBI as PDF on compact disc.
Companies issuing debt securities on private placement must use Form PAS-4 for the offer letter and maintain records in Form PAS-5; where listed, a copy of PAS-5 together with PAS-4 must be filed with the securities regulator within thirty days of circulation. Forms PAS-4 and PAS-5 shall be filed in PDF format only, submitted on a compact disc, pursuant to the regulator's powers under securities law and applicable issue-and-listing regulations.

System-driven disclosures: Depositories must send daily promoter transaction data directly to stock exchanges for public dissemination.
Depositories shall provide daily transaction data of promoters/promoter group directly to stock exchanges, which will disseminate disclosures of all transactions in dematerialised securities beyond the applicable threshold limits, replacing the earlier data flow through registrars and share transfer agents; other procedural requirements from the prior circular remain in force.

Enhanced supervision timelines revised; enforcement deferred and phased implementation announced for broker and depository participant measures.
The Circular postpones implementation of enhanced supervision measures for stock brokers and depository participants, setting April 1, 2017 as the overall effective date and providing a revised schedule in the Annexure that assigns staggered commencement dates and periodicities to specific provisions of the earlier circular, thereby creating phased compliance obligations for market intermediaries.

Public issue guidelines for REITs impose detailed procedural, disclosure and post-issue compliance obligations for issuers and merchant bankers.
The guidelines establish a detailed framework for the public issue of REIT units, mandating appointment of a lead merchant banker and intermediaries, sequential filing of draft, offer and final offer documents with public hosting and Board observation timelines, prescribed due diligence certifications at multiple stages, allocation rules including anchor investor provisions and lock-in, pricing and book-building procedures with pre-announcements and final cut-off allotment, electronic bidding and ASBA requirements, strict public communication controls, post-issue reporting and lock-in compliance, and continuing merchant banker obligations and record maintenance.

Master Circular consolidates SEBI guidance for stock exchanges and clearing corporations and supersedes the earlier compilation.
Master Circular consolidates SEBI circulars, directions and communications for stock exchanges and clearing corporations issued up to March 31, 2016, superseding the prior master circular of May 26, 2015. It centralises guidance across operational domains-trading, technology, settlement, risk management, derivatives, exchange administration and depository connectivity-to assist compliance and supervisory oversight.

Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures applicability requires systemically important commodity exchanges to comply until clearing is transferred.
Commodity derivatives exchanges that provide in-house clearing and settlement and meet the specified turnover threshold are designated as systemically important FMIs and must comply with the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures applicable to central counterparties until their clearing and settlement functions are transferred to recognised clearing corporations; SEBI may grant transitional timelines and review the quantitative criteria.

Master Circular for Depositories: consolidates KYC, BSDA, DIS, CAS, cybersecurity and FMIs operational requirements.
Prescribes SEBI's consolidated operational requirements for depositories, DPs and BO accounts: PAN as primary identifier; accepted PoI/PoA list; voluntary Aadhaar e KYC with biometric/OTP flows; SARAL simplified account opening; BSDA eligibility, charge caps and statement/SMS rules; standardized DIS issuance, serialisation, scanning and validation; timelines for T+2 activities, transmission and ISIN activation; annual system audits, BCP/DR standards and board approved cyber security and resilience framework; central DN database and Consolidated Account Statement implementation.

Direct securities transfer to clearing corporation streamlines tender-offer settlements and enables direct payouts to shareholders.
Direct transfer of shares using the early pay-in mechanism requires shareholders' securities to be moved to the Clearing Corporation prior to bid placement; depositories must supply investor PAN, demat and bank details to the CC. The CC will apply such securities to settlement, return unaccepted shares directly to shareholders, and make direct funds payouts for accepted shares to shareholders' bank accounts, with rejected transfers routed to the seller broker's accounts for onward transfer.

Spread margin withdrawal must occur by the start of tender period or expiry day, tightening risk management timing.
Withdrawal of spread margin benefit for spread positions must occur no later than the start of the tender period or the start of the expiry day, whichever is earlier, replacing the prior deadline that permitted withdrawal by an earlier expiry related day; exchanges must update risk management norms and notify members and publish the change on their websites.

Co-location connectivity allowed between exchanges and brokers; outsourced colocation remains exchange's responsibility with fair access.
SEBI mandates direct connectivity between colocation facilities of recognised stock exchanges and between a broker's servers across such facilities, to be offered fairly to colocated brokers. Colocation services outsourced to third parties are deemed provided by the stock exchange, which retains control and accountability and must submit quarterly compliance reports after board consideration. LAN-based access by brokers or data vendors falls within the definition of colocation, and all provisions of the earlier colocation circular apply, excluding commodity derivatives exchanges.

Continuous disclosures by InvITs require standardized financial and non financial reporting, audit and investor facing compliance mechanisms.
SEBI requires InvITs to submit half yearly and annual financial information on standalone and consolidated bases prepared under accrual accounting and Ind AS, within specified timelines, including key financial statements and comparative figures. Annual reports must be audited while half yearly reports may be limited reviewed; auditors must have ICAI peer review certificates and opine on NDCFs. Additional mandated disclosures include Statements of Net Distributable Cash Flows, manager fee justifications, sectoral investment breakups, contingent liabilities, related party transactions, and quarterly statements of deviations in use of issue proceeds, together with website, listing, credit rating and investor grievance compliances.

IFSC market structure guidelines require unified markets, extended trading hours and CPMI IOSCO aligned risk management for exchanges.
Guidelines set a single market structure for IFSC exchanges, require exchanges to set trading hours and at least twice daily settlement, and permit trading of products permitted in FATF/IOSCO jurisdictions subject to prior approval. Clearing corporations must adopt a CPMI IOSCO aligned risk management framework with robust margining, stress testing and ring fencing; eligible collateral includes major foreign currencies, IFSC term deposits, Indian securities with foreign depositories, foreign securities, liquid mutual fund units and gold, with cash and cash equivalents comprising a majority of liquid assets. A settlement guarantee Fund and BCP/DR measures are mandated, and entities must comply with SEBI directives.

Freezing of promoter demat accounts secures unpaid listing regulation fines by restricting transferability of securities.
Where a listed entity fails to pay fines within the notice period, the recognized stock exchange shall, after expiry of that period, instruct depositories to freeze holdings in other securities in promoter and promoter group demat accounts to the extent of liability calculated quarterly. For two consecutive periods of non compliance and failure to comply with exchange notices, the exchange may direct freezing of the entire promoter and promoter group shareholding in the listed entity, with additional freezes in other securities to cover liability. Exchanges decide which securities and holdings to freeze and depositories must furnish holdings information.

Insider trading safeguards require pre-clearance, trading-plan exemptions, and strict compliance officer monitoring of employee dealings.
SEBI consolidates and updates guidelines requiring pre-clearance by the Compliance Officer for covered secondary market transactions by access persons, seven-trading-day validity for approvals, and a cooling-off mechanism where the Mutual Fund has transacted in the same security, with an exemption for publicly disclosed trading plans compliant with SEBI (PIT) Regulations, 2015. The Compliance Officer must monitor scheme and employee trades, and employees are prohibited from carry-forward purchases, short sales, front running and self-dealing; periodic transaction disclosures and annual holdings statements to the Compliance Officer are mandated.

PAN verification online permitted for FPIs; physical PAN copy required within sixty days or before outward remittance.
Intermediaries may verify an FPI's PAN online from an Income Tax authorised website at account opening; however, FPIs must provide a copy of the PAN card to their intermediaries within sixty days of account opening or before remitting funds out of India, whichever is earlier. The circular directs DDPs, custodians, depositories, exchanges and KRAs to implement and notify their FPI clients.

Day count convention for debt securities clarified: Actual/Actual leap-year denominator and holiday payment scheduling maintained.
If a coupon payment date falls on a holiday, payment may be made on the next working day while the original coupon schedule remains unchanged; postponed payments do not alter subsequent scheduled coupon dates or accrual periods. For leap years where February 29 falls within the tenor, a 366-day denominator under the Actual/Actual day count convention applies for the whole one-year period regardless of coupon frequency. Interest and redemption payments must be made only on days when the money market is functioning in Mumbai.

Central KYC Records Registry obligation: intermediaries must upload existing clients' KYC, exchanges must monitor compliance.
Registered intermediaries must upload existing individual clients' KYC to the Central KYC Records Registry using the CKYCR template and follow prescribed phased timelines; exchanges and depositories must notify participants, amend rules as needed, monitor compliance through half yearly audits and inspections, and report implementation status, with boards of asset managers, trustees and directors responsible for internal compliance.