Merchant banker regulation consolidates registration, capital adequacy, investor disclosures, reporting, outsourcing controls and conflict-management obligations.
Merchant bankers must use the SEBI Intermediary Portal for registration-related applications and periodic reporting, maintain prescribed capital adequacy and liquid net worth, and obtain required professional certifications. They must submit board-reviewed, compliance-certified half-yearly reports, disclose public-issue track records, Investor Charters and complaint data, and follow investor grievance procedures. Core merchant-banking activities and compliance functions cannot be outsourced; permitted outsourcing remains subject to board oversight, due diligence, written controls, confidentiality and continuing merchant banker accountability. Non-regulated activities require arm's-length separate business units, information barriers and stakeholder disclosures.

Intraday borrowing facility for mutual funds requires end-of-day repayment, board-approved policy, and AMC-borne costs.
Intraday borrowings by mutual funds are permitted to address liquidity mismatches arising from differences in market settlement timings, subject to specified conditions. The facility may be used for unitholder pay-outs, scheme investments, MTM obligations, foreign exchange settlements, and repayment of existing borrowings, with borrowing limited to expected receivables and additional borrowing permitted only for redemption and other unitholder pay-outs within the regulatory framework. AMCs must ensure end-of-day repayment, maintain scheme-wise records, obtain board and trustee approval of a policy, and bear the cost of borrowing and related losses.

Investor Protection Fund income norms revised, requiring most annual returns to be retained in corpus and limiting administrative use.
The norms for utilisation of interest or income from the Investor Protection Fund of depositories are revised to bring uniformity and consistency. At least 95% of annual interest or income from IPF investments must be ploughed back to the IPF corpus, while up to 5% may be used for IPF Trust employee costs and other administrative or statutory expenses. Any excess expense is to be borne by the depository, and any unutilised amount must be returned to the IPF.

Unpaid securities pledge rules tightened: automatic CUSPA pledge, client notice, release limits, and narrow extension windows apply.
Trading members must route unpaid securities directly to the client's demat account and create an automatic pledge in favour of a separate CUSPA account, with client notice of the payment obligation and the right of sale on default. A client-facing policy must prescribe the invocation, release and liquidation framework, including a maximum payment period of five trading days, daily monitoring of excess pledge, no exposure based on pledged unpaid securities, automatic release after the sixth trading day if unused, and restricted extensions only in specified exceptional circumstances.

Lighter NISM certification for sales and non-core investment staff, with existing certifications temporarily recognised.
Persons Associated with Investment Advice who perform only sales and other non-core services are subject to a lighter NISM certification regime and must pass the NISM Series-XXV-B examination. PAIA not covered by that category must continue with the NISM Series-X-A and Series-X-B examinations. Existing holders of the Series-X-A and Series-X-B certifications need not obtain Series-XXV-B immediately and may do so before their current certifications expire.

Early pay-in facility in commodity derivatives clarified with margin exemption and continuing mark to market collection.
Early pay-in facility in the commodity derivatives segment applies where certified goods are deposited in a Clearing Corporation-accredited warehouse against relevant derivative contracts. For positions covered by such early pay-in, Clearing Corporations may, based on risk perception, exempt imposition of all types of margins, while continuing to collect mark to market margins from those positions. The revised clarification applies to recognised stock exchanges and clearing corporations having a commodity derivatives segment.

Alternative Investment Fund winding up rules permit retention of proceeds for litigation, liabilities and residual expenses under specified conditions.
Alternative Investment Funds and their schemes may retain liquidation proceeds beyond the permissible fund life only where specified conditions are met, including pending litigation or tax, regulatory or legal liabilities, investor consent for anticipated liabilities, or substantiated residual winding up expenses. Retained monies must be invested as prescribed, disclosed to investors where consent is sought, and, for residual operational expenses, retained for no more than three years from the end of permissible fund life. The scheme is to be wound up after liabilities are satisfied and retained amounts are distributed.

ETF price bands and base price norms revised with dynamic flexing, pre-open auction for commodity ETFs, and close-out rules.
Norms are prescribed for ETFs on base price determination, dynamic or fixed price bands, pre-open call auction for commodity ETFs, and close-out procedure. The base price is initially linked to T-1 day closing price based on the last 30 minutes of VWAP, with fallback to last traded price or closing NAV, and is to be adjusted for corporate actions. Dynamic bands apply to equity, debt and commodity ETFs with specified cooling-off and flexing mechanisms, while overnight and liquid ETFs retain a fixed 5% band. Close-out rules and pre-open call auction provisions are also specified, and the circular operates from 1 September 2026.

Merchant banker compliance timelines extended for separate business units, net worth requirements, liquid net worth, and categorisation intimation.
The Circular extends the compliance timelines for Merchant Bankers under the January 02, 2026 framework. It postpones the transfer of activities to Separate Business Units and compliance with Clause 11.2.10 to December 31, 2026, and shifts the staged net worth and liquid net worth requirements, together with the related categorisation intimation, to March 31, 2027 and March 31, 2028, while leaving all other provisions unchanged.

Alternative Investment Funds regulation consolidated with updated disclosure, investment, governance and reporting requirements under a master circular.
SEBI has consolidated and updated the regulatory framework governing Alternative Investment Funds by superseding the earlier master circular and rescinding the circulars listed in Annexure 21 to the extent they relate to AIFs. The circular standardises registration, PPM disclosure, fund raising, investment conditions, overseas investment, co-investment, governance, valuation, due diligence, reporting, dematerialisation, benchmarking and winding-up related processes, and requires the Compliance Test Report to cover compliance with all chapters of the Master Circular.

Nomination norms in demat accounts and mutual funds now require mandatory single-account nomination, revised opt-out, and simpler online validation.
Modified norms for nomination in demat accounts and mutual fund folios require regulated entities to facilitate a revised nomination framework, with mandatory nomination for all single accounts or folios opened on or after the effective date unless an opt-out declaration is filed, optional nomination for jointly held accounts or folios, and consent of all joint holders for any nominee change. Investors may nominate up to three persons, submit nomination online or offline through prescribed validation methods, opt out through the specified declaration or online option, and provide, change or cancel nominations any number of times, with equal apportionment where nominee shares are not specified.

Mutual fund reporting format revised to reflect new scheme categories and updated MCR templates for monthly disclosures.
Revised Monthly Cumulative Report (MCR) reporting format for mutual funds has been prescribed from June 2026 onwards in view of the introduction of new scheme categories and their consolidation in the Master Circular. The circular replaces the existing MCR format with revised templates set out in Annexure A and Annexure B, covering reporting for mutual fund schemes and SIF formats, including scheme-wise and category-wise data points such as folios, mobilised funds, repurchases, net inflows or outflows, assets under management, segregated portfolios and SIP information.

SPV classification after concession termination continues under InvIT rules, with exit, acquisition and disclosure obligations.
The conclusion or termination of a concession agreement does not alter the status of an SPV holding an infrastructure project under the InvIT framework, subject to specified conditions. The Investment Manager must, within one year from the later of the relevant agreement's end, resolution of pending claims or assessments, or completion of the defect liability period, either exit the investment by sale, liquidation, winding-up or merger, or acquire a new infrastructure project in the SPV. Until exit, detailed annual report disclosures are required at InvIT and SPV level.

InvIT borrowing rules expand permitted use for capital expenditure, major maintenance, and eligible debt refinancing.
Permitted use of fresh borrowings by an InvIT where net borrowings exceed forty-nine percent of asset value includes capital expenditure for asset performance enhancement or capacity augmentation, major maintenance expense for road projects under concession agreement obligations, and refinancing of eligible debt. In refinancing cases, only the principal portion of debt may be refinanced, while accumulated interest, charges and fees are excluded. The circular applies immediately.

Securities market surveillance framework consolidates trading controls, insider-trading disclosures, and PAN freeze restrictions for designated persons.
SEBI's master circular consolidates surveillance requirements for the securities market, including Trade for Trade trading rules, controls on unauthenticated news, financial disincentives for surveillance related lapses at market infrastructure institutions, insider-trading disclosures, system-driven continual disclosures and trading-window restrictions. It also updates the framework for subscription to specified securities during trading-window closure and for freezing PAN at security level for designated persons and their immediate relatives. The rescinded circulars remain effective for prior acts, pending applications, accrued rights, liabilities, penalties and proceedings.

Price data sharing norms for investor education are revised to a thirty-day lag, with special one-day access for NISM simulation labs.
Price data may be shared and used for investor education and awareness activities with a thirty-day lag, replacing the earlier one-day sharing norm and the three-month usage norm for entities solely engaged in education. The revised framework prohibits any monetary incentive to participants and requires MIIs and registered market intermediaries to exercise due diligence when sharing such data. Market price data may be shared with NISM with a one-day lag for use in its simulation lab, supported by legal agreements containing safeguards against misuse and maintenance of an audit trail.

Investor Risk Reduction Access platform discontinued as contingency trading and business continuity measures now cover broker disruptions.
Discontinuation of the Investor Risk Reduction Access (IRRA) platform follows SEBI's view that the platform has become structurally redundant because stock brokers now operate under stronger business continuity, cyber resilience and contingency trading arrangements. The circular records that the IRRA platform, originally introduced as an alternative trading access point during disruptions, was not accessed by brokers after operationalisation. SEBI has therefore discontinued the IRRA platform with immediate effect and advised Stock Exchanges to disseminate the circular to stock brokers.

Significant Indices framework sets AUM thresholds, registration duties, and grievance redressal rules for index providers.
SEBI has specified the criteria for identifying Significant Indices under the Index Provider framework. A listed-security benchmark or index is significant where the daily average cumulative mutual fund AUM tracking or benchmarking it exceeds Rs.20,000 crore for each of the past six months, and an index remains significant unless it falls below the threshold for three continuous years. Index Providers offering listed Significant Indices must seek SEBI registration within six months, subject to limited RBI benchmark exclusions, and separate legal entity requirements apply where index provider activity is carried on departmentally. Grievance redressal applies only to Significant Indices provided by SEBI-registered Index Providers.

AI-driven vulnerability detection demands stronger cyber resilience, coordinated monitoring, and controlled mitigation across regulated entities.
Emerging AI-driven vulnerability detection tools may increase cybersecurity risk by enabling rapid identification and possible exploitation of vulnerabilities, while also raising concerns relating to data confidentiality, application integrity and reliability of outputs. A coordinated vulnerability management approach is therefore required, with information sharing and monitoring across regulated entities to prevent cascading impact. The advisory directs regulated entities to strengthen cyber resilience through immediate patching or virtual patching, regular vulnerability assessment and security audits, structured change management, stronger API security, enhanced SOC monitoring, periodic risk assessment, system hardening, updated asset inventory and consultation for longer-term AI usage and autonomous mitigation.

Fast-track processing of AIF placement memoranda streamlines scheme launch, disclosure compliance, and responsibility of merchant bankers and managers.
A fast-track mechanism is introduced for processing placement memoranda of non-LVF AIF schemes. AIFs may launch schemes after 30 days of filing with SEBI, or from registration in the case of a first scheme, subject to compliance with any SEBI comments before launch and a first close within 12 months. Merchant Bankers and Managers remain responsible for disclosure accuracy, supporting filings, prescribed disclaimer language, and compliance with SEBI requirements.