Investment adviser conduct: restrictions on free trials, mandatory risk profiling, non-cash fee collection and public complaint disclosure.
Advisers are prohibited from offering free trials or accepting part payments; must complete client risk profiling and obtain client consent to the profile; accept fees only via traceable banking channels (crossed cheque, demand draft or direct credit through NEFT/RTGS/IMPS/UPI) and must not accept cash; and must display monthly complaint statistics and reasons for pendency prominently on their website or app to enhance transparency and investor protection.

Minor investment guardian rules require updated KYC and bank details and suspension of systematic instructions until majority.
Payments for investments in a minor's mutual fund account must come only from the minor's bank account or a joint minor guardian account; on majority the investor must provide updated KYC and bank details and transactions are suspended until status is updated. AMCs must suspend SIP/STP/SWP standing instructions on attainment of majority and employ image based processing, common transmission and NOC forms, a uniform document set and a standard unclaimed funds process for transmission claims, with AMFI prescribing mandatory templates and procedures.

Commercial Paper listing framework: allows limited review unaudited stub period financials with required disclosures and consolidation reporting option.
Amendments allow listed issuers compliant with SEBI LODR and issuers with outstanding Commercial Paper compliant with Annexure II to file unaudited financials with limited review for a stub period, subject to disclosures including risk factors. Issuers required to prepare financials for consolidation into a parent's consolidated results may submit either the prescribed standalone financial results or the quarterly results prepared for consolidation. The circular is issued under SEBI authority and posted on SEBI's website.

Private placement: InvITs must file draft placement memorandum through a merchant banker with prescribed disclosures and due diligence.
InvITs issuing units by private placement and proposing to list must file a draft placement memorandum with the Board and stock exchange(s) through a registered merchant banker at least thirty days prior to opening; the draft must include Schedule III disclosures and be accompanied by a Form A due diligence certificate, the Board will issue observations within fifteen working days counted from the latest of several specified events, and the merchant banker must incorporate comments and provide a Form B due diligence certificate before final filing.

Stewardship responsibilities for institutional investors: mandatory code requires policies on monitoring, conflicts, intervention, and voting.
All mutual funds and all categories of alternative investment funds investing in listed equities must implement a mandatory Stewardship Code requiring a publicly disclosed comprehensive policy on monitoring, engagement, voting, conflicts of interest, intervention and periodic reporting; the Code mandates conflict management procedures, calibrated monitoring (including ESG and insider trading safeguards), clear escalation and intervention mechanisms, a detailed voting and disclosure framework (including proxy adviser use and rationale for votes), and periodic public reporting to clients and beneficiaries.

Statement of Deviation or Variation for proceeds of public, rights, preferential issues and QIPs must follow SEBI's Annex A format quarterly.
Listed entities must submit a standardized Statement of Deviation or Variation in the Annex A format quarterly, describing deviations in use of proceeds and category-wise variations between projected and actual utilisation, reviewed by the audit committee (or Board if no audit committee), with committee comments and any auditor remarks filed with stock exchanges; disclosures are required until proceeds are fully utilised and must accompany quarterly financial results within prescribed timelines.

Management and advisory services by AMCs limited to specified FPI categories, with transitional continuance for existing agreements.
AMCs may provide management and advisory services only to specified FPI categories: government and government related investors, appropriately regulated entities (pension funds, insurance or reinsurance entities, banks and mutual funds), and appropriately regulated FPIs where those categories hold more than fifty percent. AMCs may continue pre existing agreements with other FPIs only for the agreement term or one year from the circular, whichever is earlier. The proviso to clause (vi) of Regulation 24(b) applies to these permitted categories and the provisions are effective immediately.

Offer document filing location tied to estimated issue size; large issues file at head office, others at regional offices.
SEBI requires draft offer documents to be filed at the SEBI Head Office for issues above the specified size threshold and at the regional office having jurisdiction over the issuer's registered office for issues at or below the threshold; the circular lists regional mappings, modifies an earlier 2012 circular, is effective for filings on or after its issuance date, and is issued under SEBI's statutory authority, with a later rescission noted.

Group exposure limits: excess debt holdings grandfathered to maturity; AMCs and AMFI must publish and quarterly disclose lists.
The circular revises rules on group exposure by allowing investments in excess of prescribed limits made on or before October 1, 2019 to be grandfathered only until the instruments' maturity as applicable on that date, and requires AMCs to publish lists of their group companies while AMFI must publish a consolidated list with group identifiers and sector classification; these disclosures are to be updated on the first working day of each calendar quarter beginning January 1, 2020.

Index replication requirements for Debt ETFs ensure issuer diversification, duration alignment and investment grade credit quality.
Prescribes norms for Debt ETFs/Index Funds including issuer level aggregation, minimum issuer diversification, single issuer weight caps, investment grade constituent ratings, and defined maturity criteria. Funds must replicate indices fully where feasible; permissible substitution rules allow same issuer issuances within a duration tolerance and, if necessary, substitution from other index issuers or non index issuers up to a portfolio cap, while maintaining portfolio duration close to the index. Deviations must be recorded; downgrades below required rating trigger prompt rebalancing. Issuers must publish index methodology and constituents and ensure quarterly compliance and transitional adherence.

Cut-off time for margin collection set at 5pm, applying RPF to end-of-day client portfolios to compute minimum margins.
For commodity derivative contracts with trading beyond 5:00 PM, a 5:00 PM cut-off shall determine the minimum threshold of margins to be collected by members: the Risk Parameter File generated at that cut-off will be applied to clients' end-of-day portfolios to compute minimum margin, and end-of-day portfolios shall be valued for Extreme Loss Margin using the half-hour weighted average trade price at the cut-off. Contracts trading until 5:00 PM will have margin collection on an end-of-day basis; clearing corporation-member margin norms remain unchanged.

Permissible Jurisdictions for Depository Receipts defined; issuers must list DRs only on specified international exchanges.
Issuance of Depository Receipts is permitted only in Permissible Jurisdictions and such DRs must be listed on specified International Exchanges; the Central Government has notified the list of Permissible Jurisdictions and SEBI has listed the corresponding International Exchanges in Annexure A. Stock exchanges and depositories must amend bye laws, rules and regulations, notify issuers and custodians, and disseminate the provisions on their websites to implement the framework under SEBI's regulatory powers.

Overnight fund investments permitted for clearing corporations, treated as liquid assets, with a combined limit on liquid investments.
Clearing corporations may invest in Overnight Funds, which will be treated as Liquid Assets for net worth calculation, provided that combined holdings in Liquid Funds and Overnight Funds remain within the existing limit relative to a clearing corporation's investible resources; this amendment supplements prior permissions for specified fixed deposits, central government securities and liquid debt mutual fund schemes and is effective immediately.

Preferential issue of units: listed InvITs subject to prescribed eligibility, pricing, lock in and disclosure requirements.
Guidelines set the regulatory framework for listed InvITs to conduct preferential issues and institutional placements only after unitholder approval, minimum prior listing periods, and in principle exchange approval; they impose dematerialised allotment, caps on private placement recipients, distinct pricing methods for frequently and infrequently traded units (market VWAP formulas or NAV-based valuation), specified lock in and transfer restrictions by allottee category, strict allotment timelines with refund and interest liabilities on default, and detailed disclosure and placement document requirements with lead manager due diligence.

Preferential issue and institutional placement rules for REITs set conditions, pricing, lock in, listing and refund liabilities.
Guidelines set conditions and procedures for a listed REIT's preferential issue or institutional placement: require unitholders' resolution, prior listing tenure, in-principle stock exchange approval, compliance with listing obligations, dematerialised allotment, payment through trustee bank account, listing application and allotment reporting, prescribed pricing methodologies for frequently and infrequently traded units (including NAV-based pricing where applicable), lock-in and transfer restrictions for sponsors and other allottees, specified allotment timelines, and refund liability with interest for non-compliance; annexures prescribe detailed disclosure, placement document content, valuation and due diligence requirements.

Disclosure of loan defaults: listed entities must report interest or principal payment defaults within prescribed short timelines.
Listed entities with listed equity, convertible securities, NCDs or NCRPS must disclose defaults on loans from banks/financial institutions and on unlisted debt securities. Default means non-payment on the pre-agreed date or, for revolving facilities, an excess outstanding balance over sanctioned limit/drawing power for more than 30 days. Loan defaults continuing beyond 30 days must be disclosed promptly but not later than 24 hours from the 30th day; defaults on unlisted debt securities must be disclosed promptly but not later than 24 hours from occurrence. Specific per-instance and quarterly tabular formats and timing requirements are prescribed.

Margin collection requirements mandate upfront VaR and ELM from clients, with reporting obligations and disciplinary penalties for short-collection.
Trading Members and Clearing Members in the cash segment must collect VaR margins and Extreme Loss Margin (ELM) upfront from clients; other margins must be collected promptly within a short prescribed window. Institutional investor exemptions and an exception where adequate initial margins already cover potential losses are preserved. TMs/CMs must report actual short-collection or non-collection of client margins to the stock exchange within the prescribed reporting timeframe, and stock exchanges must apply disciplinary frameworks for short-collection and for false or incorrect reporting.

UCC-demat mapping: exchanges must share UCC data with depositories to detect securities diversion and enable reconciliation.
Stock exchanges must share UCC data (including PAN, segment, TM/CM code and UCC) with depositories, which shall map UCCs to clients' demat accounts using PAN and validate any addition with the stock exchange or client; clients may request de-linking or addition of UCCs through their depository participants, and exchanges and depositories must maintain complaint-resolution mechanisms and controls to prevent misuse of inactive or non-operational UCCs.

Contract specification modifications: three tier regime sets exchange authority, committee oversight, and SEBI approval with required notifications.
Modification of contract specifications for commodity derivatives is categorised into three classes with distinct authorization and notice requirements: Category A permits non material changes at exchange level for launched and running contracts; Category B permits material changes at exchange level for yet to be launched contracts or running contracts with nil open interest subject to Product Advisory Committee deliberation and post facto Regulatory Oversight Committee approval; Category C requires Product Advisory Committee and Regulatory Oversight Committee deliberation followed by prior SEBI approval. Exchanges must notify SEBI and market participants of proposed modifications and reasons within specified timelines, except for exigent surveillance measures.

Continuous disclosure obligations ensure timely financial reporting and escrow-based payment security for municipal debt obligations.
Amendments under the ILDM Regulations require listed municipal debt issuers to submit half-yearly unaudited and annual audited financial results within prescribed timelines with comparative information and governance body sign-off, disclose financial ratios and any material adverse changes affecting debt servicing, certify timely payment of interest or principal to stock exchanges, implement an escrow payment mechanism with specified accounts monitored by a debenture trustee, disclose quarterly escrow balances and transfer notes, permit defined investments of escrow and interim proceeds with a trustee lien, and ensure annual credit rating review and prompt dissemination of rating changes.