Gold certificate holding allowed: mutual funds may hold bank-issued GDS certificates in dematerialized or physical form.
Gold certificates issued by banks under the Gold Deposit Scheme for investments by Gold Exchange Traded Funds may be held by mutual funds in either dematerialized form or physical form, pursuant to a modification of paragraph 2(c) of an earlier circular, issued under SEBI's regulatory powers to protect investors and regulate the securities market.

e-KYC acceptance: UIDAI e-KYC now valid proof of identity and address for intermediaries, client authorization required.
SEBI requires regulated intermediaries to accept UIDAI's e-KYC as a valid KYC verification method, treating the information and photograph obtained through e-KYC as sufficient proof of identity and address, provided the client authorizes the intermediary to access their UIDAI data; this directive is issued under the powers of Section 11(1) to protect investors and regulate markets.

Mutual fund distributor access to stock exchange infrastructure enables direct purchase and redemption with direct clearing and demat settlement.
Allows Mutual Fund Distributors registered with AMFI, and permitted by the concerned recognised stock exchange, to use recognised stock exchanges' infrastructure to purchase and redeem mutual fund units directly from mutual funds/AMCs on behalf of clients; distributors shall not handle pay-in, pay-out or unit custody, with clearing corporations and depositories ensuring direct settlement to investor accounts and demat accounts, and exchanges shall prescribe permission criteria and operating guidelines.

Trading suspension procedure: fines as first resort, suspension on consecutive defaults and freezing of promoter shareholding.
Recognised stock exchanges must impose fines as the first remedy for specified listing-condition breaches and reserve suspension of trading for subsequent or consecutive defaults, adopt a uniform fine schedule and SOP in their bye-laws, and coordinate with depositories to freeze or unfreeze promoter and promoter-group shareholdings upon exchange intimation; exchanges must monitor compliance, publish enforcement actions, create a trade-for-trade category for repeated defaults, and follow specified notice, cure and revocation timelines.

Single registration for stock brokers requires exchange approval for additional segments and streamlines fee and compliance obligations.
SEBI requires a single registration per stock exchange or its promoted clearing corporation; new applicants apply through the exchange or clearing corporation to obtain a unique registration number, and entities already registered in any segment need only obtain exchange or clearing-corporation approval to operate in additional segments. Exchanges and clearing corporations must ensure applicants meet the Fit and Proper Criteria, verify corrective actions for past deficiencies, recover outstanding dues, may inspect, and apply fees for additional segments as per the Broker Regulations. Exchanges must amend bylaws, disseminate the changes and report implementation to SEBI.

Investor grievance redressal: shortened timelines and staged monetary relief from exchange protection funds pending arbitration.
SEBI mandates shortened timelines and a staged grievance resolution: exchanges must attempt resolution at exchange level, proceed to conciliation, and permit the Investor Grievance Redressal Committee (IGRC) to determine admissibility. If a claim is admissible, exchanges shall block the claim from the Member's deposit and allow the Member a brief period to elect arbitration; if arbitration is chosen, exchanges may grant staged monetary relief from the Investor Protection Fund (IPF) subject to undertakings, caps, recovery from blocked Member funds, and measures against misuse.

Arbitration appeal fee reform reduces filing costs for small client claims; exchanges and protection funds share ensuing expenses.
The amendment revises appellate arbitration fees: while maintaining the existing maximum fee for appeals generally, clients with claims or counterclaims up to ten lakh rupees shall pay a reduced capped filing fee, and further expenses arising from such appeals shall be borne equally by the stock exchanges and the Investor Protection Fund of the stock exchanges.

Depository connectivity enables shifting securities from trade-for-trade to rolling settlement subject to dematerialisation and certification.
Stock exchanges may shift securities from Trade for Trade Settlement to Normal Rolling Settlement if the issuer has connectivity with both depositories, at least fifty percent of non promoter holdings are dematerialized (certified by the RTA or, if no RTA, by a practicing company secretary/chartered accountant) and there are no other grounds for continued TFTS; exchanges must report actions taken to the regulator in their development reports.

Buy Back disclosure requirements: standardized filing formats set for companies and merchant bankers, affecting daily and post offer reports.
SEBI issues standardized formats to implement disclosure obligations under the Buy Back Regulations: Annexure 1 prescribes a daily report under regulation 15(i) capturing amount earmarked, cumulative amount utilised, statutory maximum shares, previous and current period buyback quantities and cumulative totals; Annexure 2 prescribes a post offer report under regulation 20(j) requiring company/manager details, pre/post capital, offer dates, escrow composition, amount utilised, escrow forfeiture and deposit in the Investor Protection and Education Fund, advertisement and extinguishment status, and compliance with buyback and takeover threshold obligations.

Debt allocation mechanism extended to government securities; investments allowed until prescribed threshold, thereafter auction allocation applies.
SEBI extends the corporate debt allocation mechanism to Government Debt, allowing FIIs/QFIs to invest without purchasing debt limits until the prescribed threshold is reached, after which remaining limits will be allocated via auction. Reinvestment facilities and previous reinvestment restrictions will not apply to Government Debt limits while limits are available on tap. FIIs awarded limits in the August 20, 2013 auction must comply with the utilization period specified in the referenced SEBI circular. The circular takes immediate effect and custodians must notify their FII clients.

DVP-3 settlement eligibility for corporate bonds tied to credit, yield spread, liquidity and clearing guarantee protections.
SEBI prescribes a risk management and settlement framework for corporate bond trading on exchange debt segments enabling DVP-3 settlement for eligible publicly issued and qualifying privately placed bonds; the Clearing Corporation must provide a settlement guarantee and create a Settlement Guarantee Fund; margins include an Initial Margin based on a 99% one-day VaR with minimum floors by residual maturity and an upfront Extreme Loss Margin, with specified liquid asset composition and auction/close-out procedures for shortages.

Know Your Client requirements: classify eligible foreign investors by category with risk based documentation and review on material changes.
SEBI requires eligible foreign investors under the PIS route to be classified into Categories I-III with risk based KYC norms: Category I entities receive substantial document exemptions, Category II entities partial exemptions, and Category III entities must provide full identity, address, financial and UBO documentation. Intermediaries must review and update KYC on any material information change; submitted copies must be self attested and originals produced or attested per verification requirements.

Mutual fund regulation: mandatory SID/SAI filing, disclosures, NAV, valuation and governance rules to protect investors.
The Circular requires mutual funds to file and maintain offer documents-SID and SAI-in prescribed formats with specified filing timelines, public availability of drafts, periodic updation and addenda for changes. It imposes governance duties on AMCs and trustees (audit/valuation committees, independent trustees, systems audits), detailed disclosure and reporting obligations (monthly portfolios, half yearly reports, CTRs, daily transactions), and uniform NAV, valuation and cut off timing rules including methodologies for non traded and debt securities, illiquid securities limits and NPA provisioning.

Principles of Financial Market Infrastructures: mandatory risk management, settlement and disclosure standards for regulated market infrastructures under SEBI oversight.
The circular requires SEBI regulated financial market infrastructures (including payment systems, CSDs/SSSs, CCPs and trade repositories) to implement the Principles of Financial Market Infrastructures, mandating clear legal basis, transparent governance, comprehensive risk management covering credit, liquidity and operational risks, adequate financial resources and FMI specific measures such as settlement finality, collateral and margin standards, default management, segregation and portability, access criteria, link risk management and disclosure obligations, and directs periodic monitoring and assessment by SEBI.

Market-wide circuit breakers trigger pre-open call auctions and daily-reset limits based on previous close to manage index volatility.
Index-based circuit breaker thresholds must be translated daily from the previous day's closing index; trading resumes after a halt with a fifteen-minute pre-open call auction governed by existing call-auction provisions, the halt duration reduced accordingly, and dynamic price bands referenced to the previous day's closing price.

Conflict of interest rules for credit rating agencies require prior approval, disclosures, and ownership restrictions to prevent misuse.
CRAs must adopt policies and procedures to manage conflicts of interest in investments and trading by CRAs, Access Persons and employees, prohibit misuse of price-sensitive information, require prior approval for Access Person transactions in securities of rated or graded entities, mandate initial and ongoing disclosures of holdings and transactions, require Rating Committee members to declare interests, prohibit ownership of issuer securities by employees involved in rating, and publish the adopted policies on the CRA website under SEBI's regulatory authority.

Conflict of interest guidelines require market intermediaries to adopt policies, disclosures and safeguards to manage conflicts and protect clients.
Entities and their associated persons must adopt policies, procedures and internal codes to identify, avoid, manage or disclose conflicts of interest, ensuring client primacy, fair treatment, prohibition on trading on material non public information, use of information barriers, transaction restrictions when handling mandates, and avoidance of incentive structures that misalign client risk. Boards must implement systems, review compliance and align existing policies within the prescribed timeframe; these guidelines supplement existing regulations and aim to protect investors and market integrity.

Software testing requirements for trading systems mandate mandatory exchange testing, auditor certification, approval and non-discriminatory API sharing.
Stock exchanges must implement a mandatory testing framework for trading and risk management software including simulated test environments, regular mock trading sessions with mandatory participation by all algo-enabled user-ids, and User Acceptance Testing; brokers must obtain system auditor certification of tests, seek exchange approval with required documentation prior to deployment, ensure auditors are certified and conflict-free, provide undertakings accepting liability for non-compliance, and exchanges must share APIs non-discriminatorily, enforce penalties for malfunctions and adopt necessary bye-law amendments.

Qualified foreign investor access to to be listed corporate debt permitted, resale restricted to domestic investors until listing.
Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) may invest directly in to be listed Indian corporate debt securities from the issuer, aligning QFI and foreign institutional investor eligibility; if the securities are not listed within the short listing period, QFI holdings must be sold only to domestic participants until listing, and all other prior stipulations remain applicable.

Change of AIF category: procedural requirements and investor withdrawal rights during SEBI approval process clarified
Change of category for an Alternative Investment Fund is allowed only if no investments have been made under the original category and requires SEBI approval; applications must include updated Form A, supporting documents, rationale, and an application fee. If commitments were raised beforehand, investors must be offered penalty-free withdrawal with returned fees and possible partial withdrawal subject to minimum investment; the AIF may only invest in liquid funds or bank deposits pending approval and must circulate a revised placement memorandum after approval.