Credit rating agencies: SEBI compiles a master circular standardising registration, rating operations, disclosures, audits and governance.
SEBI's Master Circular consolidates and updates regulatory requirements for Credit Rating Agencies: mandatory online registration and prior approval for change in control; procedures for transfer, suspension, cancellation or surrender of registration including client migration; standardized rating scales, mandatory Operations Manuals, rating criteria, and press release templates; monitoring, default recognition and non cooperation rules with timelines; withdrawal and provisional rating norms; PD benchmark and default/transition reporting; internal audit, outsourcing, firewall and conflict of interest safeguards; and enhanced disclosure, governance and reporting obligations.

Debenture trustees must validate and monitor security, report defaults promptly, and use a central monitoring system for investor protection.
The Master Circular consolidates SEBI directions for Debenture Trustees on registration, governance and detailed operational duties: perform and document independent due diligence at issuance, ensure creation and registration of charges, validate and monitor security cover and covenants using a depository hosted Security and Covenant Monitoring System, issue prescribed due diligence and NOC certificates, report payment/default status to CRAs, Exchanges and Depositories, convene investor meetings for enforcement/ICA with defined notice and majority thresholds, maintain Recovery Expense Fund procedures, publish mandated disclosures and complaint data, comply with outsourcing, conflict of interest and FINNET 2.0 reporting requirements.

e BRC receipt for exports: exporters must ensure bank EDPMS updates or submit e BRC/negative statements to Customs.
The notice directs exporters to ensure e BRCs for Shipping Bills with LEO on or after 01.04.2014 are updated via Authorized Dealer banks' EDPMS so data flows to ICES; where bank updates fail, exporters may submit realized e BRC certificates, prescribed half yearly negative statements, or bank certificates for outstanding shipments to the Assistant Commissioner, BRC Section for reconciliation. IEC holders listed with BRC alerts must approach the Tuticorin BRC Section to remove alerts; Customs may still conduct checks or take action for misrepresentation, and clearance may require ARC/DC approval or settlement of arrears.

Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs): SEBI consolidates circulars, centralises compliance, reporting, and procedural requirements for issuers and intermediaries.
SEBI issued a Master Circular consolidating all InvIT-related circulars up to May 15, 2024, effective on issuance and superseding listed circulars. It deems prior actions, applications and proceedings under superseded circulars as valid under the corresponding provisions, maintains extant SEBI directions applicable to InvITs, and requires entities to submit periodic/continuous reports. The Circular compiles operative rules on online filing, public and private issue procedures, disclosure and audit requirements, NDCF computation, governance, investor grievance handling, unclaimed amounts framework and debt/preferential/institutional placement mechanics.

REIT master circular consolidates SEBI rules on filings, public-issue procedures, NDCF, disclosures and unclaimed amounts handling.
SEBI issues a consolidated Master Circular for REITs superseding listed circulars and requiring stakeholders to comply with a consolidated regime covering online filings; public-issue, preferential, institutional placement and rights issue procedures (including merchant banker duties, ASBA/UPI, anchor and strategic investor rules, allotment and listing timelines); dematerialization; governance, audit and continuous financial disclosures (Ind AS, project-wise cash flows, NDCF framework); handling of unclaimed amounts and transfer to IPEF; and interaction and precedence rules with other SEBI Regulations.

Duty drawback rates revised to clarify cotton yarn counts and adjust tariff items and caps, aiding targeted export sectors.
Amendments to All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback clarify that "counts" in Chapter 52 means counts in New English (Ne) and confirm historical use of Ne; raise AIRs and caps for selected marine products, bags, linens, radio/navigational apparatus and unmanned aircraft; rationalize caps and change descriptions and unit to "piece" for golf gloves; create new tariff items for breaded seafood and sports gloves; and add AIRs for specified defence-sector products, with implementation queries to be directed to the customs office.

KYC validation by KRAs enables portability of client records and conditions access to further transactions.
KRAs must verify PAN, Name and Address of all client KYC records and records verified with official databases and PAN Aadhaar linkage will be treated as Validated Records. Validated Records are portable across intermediaries and need not be re collected by another intermediary. Intermediaries and market infrastructure participants must update systems to implement validation and portability; clients may transact once KYC is completed, while clients whose attributes cannot be verified by KRAs will be restricted from further transactions until verification is achieved.

Certification requirement for key investment team: NISM certification now mandatory for AIF manager eligibility and compliance.
At least one member of the key investment team of an AIF Manager must obtain the NISM Series-XIX-C Alternative Investment Fund Managers certification as an eligibility condition for registration and scheme launches, with transitional compliance required for existing and pending schemes and inclusion of certification compliance in the Manager's Compliance Test Report.

Non-retrospective application: advance authorizations issued earlier remain under prior rules; no QCO amendment or clubbing allowed
Notification No. 71/2023 dated 11.03.2024 does not apply retrospectively: Advance Authorizations issued before that date remain governed by the provisions in force at issuance; amendments to include the QCO exemption on such pre existing AAs are not available, and clubbing of AAs issued under Notification No. 71/2023 with pre existing AAs is not permitted.

Master Circular consolidates SEBI custodial circulars, rescinds prior circulars with savings and requires continued compliance by custodians.
Master Circular consolidates SEBI circulars applicable to registered custodians, requires continued compliance with other SEBI market-intermediary requirements, rescinds prior circulars listed in Annexure A with savings for actions taken or pending under those circulars, and is issued under Section 11(1) of the SEBI Act, taking effect on issuance and published on SEBI's website.

Electronic Test Memo submission mandatory for forwarding samples to revenue labs; paper memos accepted only with senior approval during outages.
Mandatory electronic submission of Test Memos via the CRCL Module in ICES is required for forwarding samples to CRCL and other revenue laboratories; laboratories will not accept paper Test Memos except where unforeseen system issues prevent use of the module and acceptance is authorised by the Additional/Joint Commissioner.

Exemption of mandatory Quality Control Orders: Mines included to enable imports of inputs for export manufacture.
The Ministry of Mines has been added to Appendix-2Y, the list of Departments whose mandatory Quality Control Orders are exempted by DGFT for goods imported as inputs to be utilised or consumed in manufacture of export products, ensuring that such QCO notifications do not bar import by Advance Authorisation holders, EOU and SEZ units for export production.

Customs broker licensing enhancements streamline licensing, offence processing, profile updates, digital document issuance, notifications and security.
CBLMS enhancements expand digital processing for Customs Brokers by introducing a two-part Continuation of License after Death of Proprietor workflow, a comprehensive Offence Module for managing offence reports, hearings, submissions and online penalty payments, and profile-modification applications to update CB/person details, addresses and employee/OPS data. The portal also adds My Profile access, NOC requests, an Issue Document feature for policy-uploaded notices, public broker search, QR code real-time status on licences and passes, in-portal notifications, account lock-out security, and Knowledge Centre user manuals.

Insolvency professionals must upload specified judicial orders to their IBBI assignment dashboard for stakeholder facilitation.
Insolvency professionals must upload specified judicial orders affecting their assignments to the IBBI website via the assignment portal's "Orders" section, after downloading identical PDFs from official judicial forum websites. Required categories include admission, approval of resolution plan, withdrawal/closure, stay, liquidation, dissolution, final orders on preferential/undervalued/fraudulent transactions and wrongful trading, and any order actionable for IBBI; HC and SC orders are to be uploaded where they correspond to these categories, involve IBBI/Ministry, or address vires or applicability of the Code. Uploads must follow the annexed step-by-step process and be verified before submission.

GST appellate review centralisation assigns review and legal cells distinct roles in scrutinising orders and preparing appeal proposals.
The Headquarters Review Cell examines original adjudication, first appellate, and revisional orders for legality or propriety and prepares specified proposals for Commissioner approval. The Additional Commissioner, TPS Headquarters, may direct subordinate officers to apply to the Appellate Authority or Appellate Tribunal for review of relevant orders. Where orders are issued by the Additional Commissioner (Appeals) or the Additional Commissioner, TPS Headquarters, Tribunal-appeal proposals require Commissioner approval. The Legal Cell examines Tribunal, High Court, and Supreme Court orders and prepares High Court and Supreme Court appeal proposals.

Margin requirements for derivative contracts permit cross-border posting and collection of eligible instruments under specified conditions.
Directions permit Authorised Dealers (AD Cat-I and AD Cat-III SPDs) to post and collect margin in India and abroad for permitted derivative contracts, receive and pay interest thereon, and for AD Cat-I banks to do so on behalf of customers. Eligible margin in India includes Indian currency, freely convertible foreign currency, Indian government debt, listed rupee bonds rated AAA, Certificates of Deposit, and A1-rated Commercial Paper; outside India, freely convertible foreign currency and foreign sovereign debt securities rated AA- or equivalent. ADs complying with foreign NCCD margin regimes may follow those jurisdictions' permitted forms and global arrangements. AD Cat-I banks must maintain separate accounts for non-resident cash margin.

Registrars to an Issue and Share Transfer Agents: consolidated SEBI rules on registration, investor servicing, QRTA resilience and reporting.
Master Circular consolidates SEBI's regulatory framework for Registrars to an Issue and Share Transfer Agents, prescribing online registration and change of control procedures, mandatory agreements with issuers, record keeping for eight years, Compliance Officer appointment, half yearly certified reporting, and PAN/KYC requirements. It standardizes investor service processes (demat/remat, duplicate certificates, transmission), mandates online portals with URNs, designates RTAs servicing over 2 crore folios as QRTAs subject to enhanced BCP/DR, cyber audits, governance and reporting, and sets detailed operational roles and timelines for public issues, UPI/ASBA reconciliation, and dispute resolution via SCORES and stock exchange arbitration.

Periodic reporting requirement for investment advisers mandates standardized half yearly submissions to IAASB with detailed Annexure disclosures.
SEBI mandates standardized half yearly periodic reporting by Investment Advisers to the IAASB using the prescribed Annexure I; IAASB to operationalize collection and issue a circular. Reports commence for the half year ending March 31, 2024 with initial submission within fifteen days of the IAASB circular and subsequent reports within seven working days after each period end. Annexure I requires detailed disclosures including firm identifiers, branch and bank details, personnel and NISM certification, shareholding, inspection findings, advertisements, complaints publication, client counts, fees by fee mode, AUA, and granular complaints statistics and ageing.

Alternative Investment Funds must follow SEBI's consolidated master circular covering PPMs, reporting, leverage and governance.
SEBI's Master Circular for Alternative Investment Funds consolidates circulars up to March 31, 2024, supersedes the July 31, 2023 Master Circular and rescinds the circulars listed in Annexure 17 while preserving actions and applications under those circulars. It mandates online filing via the SEBI Intermediary Portal, standardized PPM templates with Merchant Banker due diligence and audit, annual Compliance Test Reports, custodial and dematerialisation requirements, reporting obligations, Category III leverage limits (max 2x NAV) and governance, valuation and accredited investor frameworks.

Duty drawback amendments clarify yarn unit as counts in New English and recalibrate rates and tariff items for exports.
Amendments revise the All Industry Rates of duty drawback by clarifying that counts for Chapter 52 yarn mean counts in New English (Ne), increasing AIRs and caps for specified product groups, rationalizing caps for certain golf gloves, creating new tariff items to distinguish export products (including breaded seafood and sports gloves), changing units for golf glove entries to piece, and adding tariff items to provide drawback benefits to specified defense-sector products.