Online dispute resolution for the securities market: a common ODR Portal mandates time bound conciliation and arbitration for investor disputes.
Establishes a common Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Portal run by Market Infrastructure Institutions with empaneled ODR Institutions to resolve investor disputes via time bound conciliation (21 days plus limited extension) and/or arbitration (document only or hearings depending on claim value). It prescribes scope, allocation by round robin, mandatory enrolment of Market Participants, fee slabs, mandatory deposits (100% of admissible claim value by respondent), qualification and conduct norms for conciliators/arbitrators, MIIs' governance responsibilities, integration with SCORES, phased implementation timelines, and publication and audit obligations.

Settlement of running account: brokers may conduct client fund settlements on Friday or Saturday to reduce operational risk.
Settlement of client running accounts may occur on Friday and/or Saturday; TMs shall settle at clients' choice on monthly and quarterly bases on dates stipulated by Stock Exchanges, which shall publish an annual settlement calendar. Funds received from clients whose running account has been settled must remain in the Up Streaming Client Nodal Bank Account and must not be used to settle other clients' running accounts; Stock Exchanges shall implement monitoring mechanisms, require TM reporting, and continue online oversight to ensure timely settlement and non-retention of excess client funds.

Online bond platform regulation tightened: permitted products, mandatory seller agreements, immediate transaction notices and standardized risk warnings required.
Modifications restrict OBPP offerings to listed debt instruments, debt proposed for listing via public offering, listed government securities, listed sovereign gold bonds and other products regulated by other financial sector regulators; such cross-regulator products must be hosted separately and carry a clear disclaimer identifying the regulator. OBPPs must divest non permitted offerings, enter written agreements with third party sellers defining rights and obligations before onboarding, and issue prompt electronic order receipts, deal sheets on execution and quote receipts to sellers. Advertising must carry a prescribed risk warning and non compliance attracts action under applicable securities law.

Social Stock Exchange updates: new NPO registration rules and procedures and conditions for Zero Coupon Zero Principal issuances.
SEBI updates the SSE framework: NPO registration requires valid Income-tax registrations (12-month validity), disclosure of pending regulatory notices and fines, and 80G tax-deduction disclosure; social impact reporting must show past impact trends, beneficiary counts, cost per beneficiary and overheads. It establishes a public issuance procedure for Zero Coupon Zero Principal Instruments-draft filing, 21-day public comment, exchange observations within 30 days, and final filing-and mandates material disclosures. ZCZP must be dematerialized, non-transferable till maturity, have minimum issue Rs.50 lakhs, minimum application Rs.10,000, and minimum 75% subscription with refund below 75%; SSE to maintain allotment records and specify further issue norms.

Choice of nomination deadline extended for demat accounts and mutual fund folios, with ongoing compliance communication duties.
The compliance deadline for submission of the choice of nomination in eligible demat accounts and mutual fund folios has been extended to June 30, 2024. Depository Participants, AMCs and RTAs must encourage non-compliant holders to complete nomination or opt out of nomination through fortnightly email and SMS communications. Other nomination-related requirements under the existing Master Circulars remain unchanged.

Online dispute resolution: independent Indian-seat mediation, conciliation and arbitration required; enrolment, deposit and fee rules specified.
Amendment clarifies that online mediation, conciliation and arbitration for securities-market disputes must be conducted by independent institutions with seat in India (online proceedings permitted), that fees and costs are as prescribed or agreed, and that claims involving specified intermediaries and regulated entities fall within this framework; it also mandates immediate ODR Portal enrolment for newly registered intermediaries and listed issuers, sets deposit and participation obligations for market participants in online arbitration, revises fee slabs and expands Schedules A and B.

Business continuity for clearing corporations via SaaS RMS enabling one CC to operate risk management using another CC's RMS software.
The Circular mandates a SaaS contingency for Clearing Corporations' RMS where a client CC operates an instance using another CC's RMS software; the client CC is responsible for real time risk management and detecting performance issues while the service provider supplies functioning software. SaaS RMS must provide specified risk and collateral functions (intraday risk management, real time margining, violation messaging, custodial confirmations, collateral handling, member interfaces, and EPI handling). Invocation and activation timelines (30 minutes each), quarterly mock sessions, agreements, SOPs, interoperability enhancements, rule changes, member notice and reporting obligations are required, with revised Business Continuity Policies due to the regulator within two months.

Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures: strengthened PFMI compliance, risk management, and disclosure obligations for clearing corporations and depositories.
SEBI requires Recognized Clearing Corporations and Depositories to implement the 24 PFMI principles to strengthen legal basis, governance, and comprehensive risk management frameworks. CCPs face quantitative obligations on credit, collateral, margin, and liquidity and must adopt default management, segregation and portability, and sufficient financial resources for extreme but plausible stress scenarios. FMIs must undertake periodic self assessment and public disclosure-quarterly for quantitative and annually for qualitative items-while the ROC performs annual monitoring and reports to the board and SEBI. FMIs must amend rules, implement systems, and publish disclosures on their websites.

Accreditation of investors: KYC-based certification enables extended multi-year validity and requires due diligence disclaimer and verification.
Accreditation Agencies may grant accreditation solely on applicants' KYC and financial information, accessing KYC records across KRAs where applicable; accreditation certificates must carry a disclaimer that such assessment does not exempt intermediaries or pooled vehicles from performing their own due diligence. Validity of certificates is extended to multi year periods depending on prior years' compliance or net worth for newly incorporated entities, and Annexures set out eligibility thresholds, documentary requirements and procedures for verification, client agreements, consent withdrawal and investor undertakings.

Upstreaming of client funds mandates brokers to remit clear balances to clearing corporations by EOD via cash, FDRs or MFOS.
SBs/CMs must upstream all clients' clear credit balances to CCs on End of Day basis only as cash, lien marked FDRs created from USCNBA, or pledged MFOS units created from client funds; FDRs must meet CC exposure norms, be lien marked with CC precedence, be pre terminable, tenor not exceeding one year and one day, and not be used as security for borrowing. MFOS units must be dematerialized, held in a dedicated Client Nodal MFOS Account and pledged/re pledged to CCs identifying end clients. USCNBA and DSCNBA account nomenclature and operational, monitoring and reporting requirements apply.

Dematerialisation of AIF units requires use of an Aggregate Escrow Demat Account until investors provide demat details.
Mandates dematerialisation of AIF units and requires units for investors who have not provided demat details to be credited to a designated Aggregate Escrow Demat Account; transfers from that account are restricted to transfers into investors' demat accounts upon receipt of demat details within five working days, with investor wise KYC, bank details, audit trail, and monthly reporting to Depositories and Custodians, and adherence to implementation standards jointly formulated by industry and depositories.

Net Distributable Cash Flow computation standardized for REITs, aligning HoldCo/SPV and Trust level cashflow rules for distributions.
Revised framework standardizes computation of Net Distributable Cash Flow (NDCF) for REITs and HoldCos/SPVs by specifying allowable additions (operating cashflows, SPV distributions, treasury income, net proceeds from asset or share sales after taxes, transaction costs, related debt settlements and planned reinvestments) and deductions (finance costs excluding amortisation, principal debt repayments except refinanced debt, contractual/statutory reserve requirements, and capital expenditure not funded by debt/equity or existing reserves). It clarifies intra-group treatment, timing for including SPV NDCF, prohibition on debt-funded distributions (limited treasury exceptions), and disclosure of restricted or surplus cash.

Net Distributable Cash Flow computation standardised for InvITs, defining eligible receipts, permissible deductions and distribution constraints.
Revised framework standardises computation of Net Distributable Cash Flow (NDCF) for InvITs and their HoldCos/SPVs, specifying included items (operating cash flows, NDCF distributions from SPVs, treasury income, net sale proceeds) and excluded or deducted items (finance cost excluding amortisation, principal debt repayments except refinanced debt, required contractual or statutory reserves, and unfunded capital expenditure). NDCF at SPV must be reflected at Trust level for the period even if cash transfers occur later, cumulative minimum distributions must be maintained, and restrictions apply to distributions funded by external debt with limited treasury exceptions.

Implementation timeline extension: SEBI postpones SCORES ODR integration compliance, allowing more time for entities to complete integration.
SEBI has deferred the effective date for implementation of the SCORES to ODR linkage and related processing and monitoring obligations for Entities and Designated Bodies to April 01, 2024; Designated Bodies must obtain SCORES authentication and/or API integration to comply, and Entities must continue to file the Action Taken Report on SCORES within 21 calendar days of receipt of complaints.

Investor service request norms remove folio freezing and referral provisions under PAN, KYC and nomination requirements.
Simplified norms for processing investor service requests by RTAs and for furnishing PAN, KYC details and nomination remove the provisions relating to freezing of folios and referral of frozen folios to the administering authority under the Benami Transactions (Prohibitions) Act, 1988 and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The circular deletes references to "freezing/frozen" and does away with the referral mechanism previously linked to such folios.

Most Important Terms and Conditions require brokers to present standardised MITC and obtain client acknowledgement to highlight core obligations.
Prescribes a standardised Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC) that brokers must inform and obtain client acknowledgement of, alongside uniform documents provided free of charge. The Brokers' Industry Standards Forum will publish MITC form and implementation standards, with SEBI to publish if ISF does not. New client onboarding must comply from April 1, 2024; existing clients must be informed via preservable communication by June 1, 2024. Stock exchanges must update rules, publish standards and report implementation status to SEBI.

Unclaimed amounts transfer to Investor Protection and Education Fund: procedure requires InvITs to escrow, disclose and process unitholder claims.
The framework requires Investment Managers to transfer distribution amounts unpaid or unclaimed fifteen days after declaration into an escrow-styled Unpaid Distribution Account within seven working days, designate a Nodal Officer, publish searchable details on the InvIT website, and maintain claim policies and records. Amounts unclaimed for seven years must be transferred, with accrued interest, to the Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF) within thirty days; defaults attract prescribed penalties. Unitholders must claim from the InvIT, which may pay and then seek reimbursement from IPEF using prescribed forms; the Board will verify refund applications and may require further information.

Unclaimed distributions procedure: REITs must escrow unpaid amounts and enable structured claims and refunds to protect investors.
REIT Managers must transfer distributions remaining unpaid or unclaimed after the short payment window into an escrow-style Unpaid Distribution Account, designate a Nodal Officer, publish searchable details and a claim policy on the REIT website, process verified claims by electronic payment within prescribed timelines, and preserve records. Amounts unclaimed for the statutory extended period must be transferred, with accrued interest, to the Investor Protection and Education Fund, with specified information submitted to the Board; late transfers attract fixed and continuing penalties. Managers may seek reimbursement from the Fund via prescribed refund applications and must indemnify the Board against future disputes, while the Board verifies and processes refunds.

Unclaimed amounts transfer framework requires listed non-convertible security issuers to escrow unclaimed payments and provide investor claim mechanisms.
Listed entities must transfer unclaimed interest, dividend and redemption amounts to an Escrow Account within seven days after a thirty-day claim period, pay penal interest to investors for delayed transfer, designate and disclose a Nodal Officer, provide a searchable website facility and a published claim policy, and preserve records. For non-company issuers, amounts unclaimed for seven years must be transferred to the IPEF with prescribed filing, disclosure and refund procedures; listed entities may seek reimbursement from IPEF after processing investor claims and must indemnify the Board against future disputes.

Mutual fund offer documents must adopt a revised SID/KIM/SAI format with standardized disclosures and transition deadlines.
SEBI revises and standardizes the format and disclosure framework for mutual fund offer documents (SID, KIM, SAI), mandates adoption by April 1, 2024 with transition timelines, amends specified Master Circular clauses to require web hosted portfolio disclosures, SAI disclosures on aggregate investments by AMC directors and key personnel, optional segregated portfolios only where SID enables them, and benchmark risk o meter disclosure on front pages and application forms; AMFI to align KIM and SAI formats within two months.