Anti Money Laundering obligations require intermediaries to implement KYC/CDD, monitor transactions and report suspicious activity to FIU IND.
Consolidated Master Circular requires SEBI registered intermediaries to adopt written AML procedures, KYC/CDD and client acceptance policies, verify beneficial ownership, apply a risk based approach with enhanced due diligence for higher risk clients (including PEPs and Clients of Special Category), monitor and preserve transaction records to permit reconstruction, and report Cash Transaction Reports and Suspicious Transaction Reports to FIU IND in prescribed formats and timeframes. Intermediaries must designate a Principal Officer for reporting, prohibit tipping off, provide employee screening and AML training, implement investor education, and apply the more stringent standard when overseas host country rules differ; freezing and sanction obligations under UAPA must be complied with.

Auction session timing shortened to same-day post-pay-in, accelerating delivery to buying brokers and reducing settlement delay.
Change to the auction timing and settlement sequence for seller defaults: short-delivered securities will be procured through an auction session conducted on the same calendar day after completion of pay-in, with auction-related pay-in/pay-out and close-out occurring the following day. For combined settlements arising from disparate holidays, the first settlement's auction is held the same day and settled next day, while the second settlement's auction is held the following day and settled thereafter. Exchanges must update systems, bye-laws and notify brokers for implementation.

Dematerialisation requirement for shifting from trade-for-trade to rolling settlement; exchanges obtain RTA certificate and ensure no grounds for TFTS continuation.
Shifting securities from Trade for Trade Settlement to Rolling Settlement is permitted for companies with connectivity to both depositories provided at least half of non promoter holdings are in dematerialized form verified by an RTA certificate (or by a practicing Company Secretary/Chartered Accountant if no RTA exists), and provided there are no other grounds for continued TFTS; stock exchanges must report action taken to SEBI in their development reports.

Minimum public shareholding compliance: companies must use issuance, offer for sale, or secondary market sales to raise public float.
Issuers must enhance shareholding transparency by filing the shareholding pattern one day prior to listing, quarterly within prescribed timelines, and within ten days where capital restructuring changes paid up capital by more than 2%; Depository Receipt custodial holdings must be segregated into promoter/promoter group and public. Issuers required to reach minimum public shareholding must adopt issuance, offer for sale, or secondary market sale (the latter subject to prior Specified Stock Exchange approval). Unclaimed physical shares are to be transferred to a dematerialised Unclaimed Suspense Account with frozen voting rights and annual report disclosures. Issuers must fix pre announced dividend/bonus pay dates, disclose media agreements on websites and exchanges, and maintain a functional updated corporate website.

Third-party correspondence address acceptance permitted when DP completes KYC and PMLA due diligence; annual statement to permanent address required.
Depository Participants may accept a third party correspondence address for a beneficial owner's demat account if authorised by the beneficial owner, provided the DP obtains proof of identity and address for the third party and complies with Know Your Client norms and Rule 9 customer due diligence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Rules, 2005; statements of transactions and holdings must be sent to the beneficial owner's permanent address at least once a year, and the provision excludes Portfolio Management Services clients.

Smart order routing: brokers must secure client consent and exchanges must decide applications within prescribed timelines.
Stock brokers must inform clients of SOR features, risks, rights and liabilities and obtain a broker-client agreement or addendum; exchanges must permit SOR for all order types, allow approved brokers to offer SOR from any server location, and require re-approval only for addition of a new exchange or material system changes. Exchanges must decide SOR applications within thirty calendar days, not treat testing as part of completeness, schedule testing within that period if needed, and communicate reasons for any rejection to the broker and other exchanges.

Physical verification of gold: trustees must report auditor confirmation and asset allocation compliance in half yearly reports.
Trustees must include in their half yearly report a statement confirming whether Gold ETF assets comply with the scheme asset allocation and whether the statutory auditor conducted physical verification of the underlying gold; this amends the trustee reporting annexure to add those two discrete reporting items and requires trustees and AMCs to capture and transmit the auditor's confirmation in periodic reports.

Dematerialisation requirement: exchanges may shift securities from trade-for-trade to rolling settlement upon demat and certification conditions.
Securities of companies that have established connectivity with both depositories may be shifted from Trade for Trade Settlement to Rolling Settlement if at least fifty percent of other-than-promoter holdings are dematerialised, supported by a certificate from the Registrar and Transfer Agent or, where no separate RTA exists, from a practising company secretary or chartered accountant, and if there are no other grounds for continuing Trade for Trade Settlement; stock exchanges must report actions in their monthly or quarterly development reports.

Allocation of debt limits to foreign investors via bidding and FCFS enforces maturity, infrastructure eligibility, and utilisation rules.
Additional FII investment capacity in government securities and corporate bonds (restricted to infrastructure issuers with residual maturity over five years) is allocated via competitive bidding and a first-come first-served window. Bidding rules set per-entity allocation ceilings, minimum bid sizes and tick sizes, and require authorisation where bids are made on behalf of multiple entities; FCFS allocations use a dedicated submission channel with a per-request cap and a non-utilisation charge tied to average successful bid premia. Utilisation and replacement timelines differ by instrument and route, custodians must confirm compliance and report fortnightly, and primary issue investments require committed listing within a short period.

Interval scheme rules require listing and restrict redemptions to specified transaction periods, with strict NAV cut-off and fund availability conditions.
Interval schemes must be listed and permit redemption only during a specified transaction period of minimum two working days, with each interval at least fifteen days; investments are limited to securities maturing on or before the opening of the next specified transaction period, including constraints on put/call residual periods. Uniform NAV cut-off rules require applications and full subscription funds to be credited and available for utilization before the cut-off without availing credit, with parallel requirements for switch-ins and for income/debt schemes.

Mutual fund transactions via stock exchange infrastructure permitted; clearing members and depositories may process trades subject to conduct and operating rules.
Clearing members may facilitate purchase and redemption of mutual fund units through broker/clearing member pool accounts, and depository participants may process redemption requests for dematerialised units; payment of redemption proceeds to, and crediting of units into, the broker/clearing member pool account discharges the mutual fund/AMC of its obligation to the individual investor, with brokers/clearing members responsible for onward settlement to investors.

Display of Registered Broker Details required to be prominent across public portals and client communications to protect investors.
Stock brokers must prominently display their name as registered with SEBI, their logo if any, registration number, complete address and telephone numbers on websites, notice/display boards, advertisements, publications, know-your-client forms and member-client agreements; and must include, in contract notes, statements of funds and securities and client correspondence, the broker's registered name and logo, registration number, complete address and telephone numbers, plus the compliance officer's name, telephone number and e-mail address. Exchanges must enforce, amend bye-laws, include inspections and report non-compliance annually.

Portfolio Managers must accept initial lump-sum investments meeting the Rs.5 lakh minimum and provide three-year performance disclosure.
Portfolio managers must ensure the first single lump-sum investment from a client meets the minimum investment requirement under Regulation 15(1A) and must disclose portfolio performance by investment category for the past three years in the prescribed format per Regulation 14(2)(b)(iv), provide the disclosure document to clients at least two days before agreement signing, publish the latest disclosure document where possible, and refrain from organizing or marketing portfolios as mutual-fund style "schemes."

Code of Conduct for Investor Associations requires annual compliance, disclosure, governance standards and prohibition on promoting issuers.
The circular mandates a Code of Conduct for SEBI recognised Investor Associations requiring disclosure of objectives to members, adherence to honesty, integrity and fairness, adequate staffing and infrastructure, comprehensive record keeping backed by operation manuals, regular updating and dissemination of regulatory developments, and cooperation with SEBI. Governance limits include representation only by executive committee/governing board members and disqualification of persons against whom adverse Board orders have been passed. IAs must not promote issuers or act as agents and must submit an annual letter of compliance.

Exercise style flexibility allows exchanges to adopt European or American stock options, with uniform application and SEBI approval for changes.
Allows stock exchanges to adopt either European or American exercise styles for stock options, requiring that an exchange apply its chosen style uniformly to all eligible stocks and obtain SEBI approval before changing styles. Contract specifications and the risk management framework applicable to American style options apply to European style options unless SEBI approves modifications. Exchanges introducing European style options must implement systems and procedures, amend bye-laws and rules, and notify market participants and the public at least one month prior to implementation.

Minimum non promoter demat shareholding requirement: government holdings may be excluded and exchanges must amend rules.
For computing the minimum non promoter dematerialised shareholding obligation, government holdings in the non promoter category may be excluded; stock exchanges must implement systems, amend relevant bye laws rules and regulations, notify member brokers and report implementation status in Monthly Development Reports under the regulator's investor protection and market development powers.

Merger of mutual fund schemes not deemed change in fundamental attributes if conditions met and SEBI approvals obtained.
Merger of mutual fund schemes is not a change in the fundamental attributes of the surviving scheme if the surviving scheme's fundamental attributes remain unchanged and the mutual fund demonstrates that the merger is justified and that unitholders' interests are not adversely affected; board and trustee approvals are required, the proposal must be filed with SEBI, SEBI will communicate observations within the prescribed timeframe, and the letter to unitholders may be issued only after incorporation of SEBI's final observations and filing of final copies.

Dematerialisation requirement enables shift from trade-for-trade to rolling settlement when majority holdings are in demat form.
Shifting securities from Trade for Trade Settlement to normal Rolling Settlement is conditioned on companies having established connectivity with both depositories and on at least 50% of other than promoter holdings being dematerialised, certified by the Registrar and Transfer Agent or, if none, by a practicing company secretary or chartered accountant; exchanges must ensure no other grounds for TFTS continuation and report actions to SEBI.

Filing requirement for draft offer documents now mandates regional filing for smaller issues and central filing for larger issues.
SEBI requires draft offer documents to be filed with the SEBI regional office corresponding to the issuer's registered office for issues up to the specified threshold, while issues above that threshold must be filed at SEBI Bhavan (Head Office). Merchant bankers must file five copies of the draft offer documents or offer documents with the designated office. The instruction is issued under Section 11 read with Section 11A of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992.

ASBA facility: syndicate members may submit investor ASBA forms to SCSBs with commission and processing fee rules.
ASBA facility permits syndicate and sub-syndicate members to procure investor ASBA forms and submit them to SCSBs after uploading bid details on the stock exchanges' bidding platform; SCSBs will verify signatures, block funds and forward forms to the registrar. Syndicate members are entitled to selling commission for procured ASBA forms; SCSBs receive a per-form processing fee only for ASBA forms submitted to them by syndicate/sub-syndicate members, while SCSBs procuring forms directly receive selling commission only. Merchant bankers must disclose the range of SCSB processing fees in the offer document.