Position limits revised and monitoring tied to prior-day open interest; passive breaches exempt from penalties and forced unwind.
Aggregate Trading Member position limits for index futures and index options are raised to a higher fixed threshold or market-share percentage and remain applicable separately by contract type. Market open interest for monitoring will be measured using the prior trading day's closing open interest; passive breaches arising solely from a decline in market open interest will not be penalised or require unwinding. Exchanges and clearing corporations must amend their bye-laws, implement the changes, and notify participants.

Regulatory corrigendum: MIIs must follow master circular references and face accountability for technical glitches, with submission opportunity.
Corrigendum aligns the SEBI circular on payment of Financial Disincentives by MIIs for Technical Glitches with specified provisions of the Master Circular for Commodity Derivatives Segment, mapping particular paragraphs to para 16.8, para 16.8.1 and Clauses 3-8 of Annexure ZF. It inserts provisions requiring SEBI to afford MIIs an opportunity to submit facts on identified technical glitches and obliges MIIs to carry out internal examinations to determine individual accountability and record outcomes in performance appraisals, while preserving SEBI's right to initiate enforcement action.

Monitoring shareholding of MIIs enforces shareholding limits, fit-and-proper criteria and triggers freezes on excess holdings.
MIIs must disclose category-wise shareholding publicly, appoint a Designated Depository (DD) to monitor paid-up equity and breaches on an End of Day basis, and inform exchanges of threshold breaches. The DD will generate daily aggregate reports, alert on caution and breach levels, coordinate with other depositories, and on breaches apply ISIN-level freezes, disable e-voting for excess holdings, and freeze corporate benefits directing them to investor protection or settlement guarantee funds; listed excess holdings are divested via a special trading window, unlisted divestment follows regulator directions.

Direct payout of securities: settlement pay-out timing revised so securities are credited to clients on the same settlement day.
Clearing Corporations must credit securities directly to clients' demat accounts in the equity cash segment (including netted cash and F&O physical settlement), and the timing for securities pay-out on the settlement day is revised so securities are credited on the same settlement day instead of the following working day, with corresponding amendments required to the activity schedule and market participants' rules.

Payout to client demat accounts deadline extended to allow orderly implementation; exchanges and depositories must update systems and bylaws.
Mandate to effect pay-out of securities directly to the client's demat account is deferred to allow orderly implementation after delayed operational guidelines from Clearing Corporations; Exchanges, Clearing Corporations and Depositories must notify members, implement systems and procedures, and amend bye laws, rules and regulations to ensure compliance under SEBI and Depositories Act powers.

Specific due diligence by AIFs required to prevent regulatory circumvention, triggering compliance, reporting and investor exclusion measures.
SEBI prescribes specific due diligence by AIFs, their managers and Key Management Personnel to prevent circumvention of QIB/QB benefits, RBI prudential norms on stressed assets, and NDI Rules on border-country investments. Triggers include schemes where same group investors contribute fifty percent or more of corpus (for QIB/QB and border-country scrutiny) and specified twenty five percent/control-based tests for RBI regulated investors; due diligence must follow implementation standards formulated by the Standard Setting Forum for AIFs. Non compliant proposed or existing investments must either exclude relevant investors or be withheld, and must be reported to custodians who compile and furnish information to SEBI.

Social Enterprises on Social Stock Exchange: SEBI extends deadlines for annual disclosures and impact reports to January 31, 2025.
SEBI partially modified its May 27, 2024 circular to extend the outer timelines under the LODR Regulations for Social Enterprises' annual disclosures and annual impact report for 2023-24, setting the revised deadline for both submissions at January 31, 2025.

Relaxation of LODR disclosure obligations extended; entities must follow Master Circular conditions and regulatory provisions.
Extension of the temporary relaxation allowing listed entities not to send physical copies of financial statements and related documents for AGMs and to apply earlier relief on voting-related dispatch requirements for electronic general meetings is granted until September 30, 2025; entities must comply with paragraph 5.1 and 5.2 of section VI J of chapter VI of the Master Circular dated July 11, 2023, and note that the relaxations are issued under regulatory powers and remain subject to the Companies Act and applicable rules.

Upfront option premium collection mandated; calendar-spread benefits revoked on expiry and intraday position monitoring strengthened.
SEBI requires upfront collection of options premium from buyers as part of initial margin, mandates separate margin treatment and withdrawal of calendar-spread benefits for contracts expiring on the same day, prescribes intra-day monitoring of position limits with random snapshots, increases tail-risk coverage for short options expiring that day, recalibrates minimum contract-size criteria for new index derivatives, and limits weekly expiries to one benchmark per exchange, with exchanges and clearing corporations directed to amend rules and systems for phased implementation.

Stress testing enhancements for equity derivatives mandate Stressed VaR, filtered historic simulation and factor-model based MRC determinations.
The circular adds three stress-testing methodologies-Stressed VaR (stress-period variance-covariance matrix, doubled volatility, Monte Carlo, 100% option volatility shock), Filtered Historic Simulation (EWMA =0.94 rescaling of historical returns), and a Factor Model (largest three-day NIFTY moves since 2000 scaled by stock beta with 100% option volatility shock)-to determine the MRC of the Core SGF for equity derivatives, mandates a 3-day SPOR, permits a conditional one-time inter-segment transfer of excess ECM funds and penalties to EDX, sets timelines for initial additional contributions and staggered ongoing contributions, and requires CCs to implement SOPs and disclosure and to categorize CCs for exposure modelling.

Listing timeline reduction enables faster issuer access to funds and earlier investor liquidity through accelerated public-issue listings.
Reduction of the listing timeline for public issues of debt securities and non-convertible redeemable preference shares to T+3 working days (optionally for one year, then mandatory) to accelerate issuer access to funds and investor liquidity. During the voluntary year, the refund/unblocking and interest obligations under regulation 37(2) will apply only after T+6 if the issuer fails to meet the chosen T+3 timeline. The T+3 timeline must be disclosed in offer documents and stock exchanges will monitor compliance; an Annexure prescribes the timebound operational steps to achieve listing within the T+3 schedule.

Foreign Venture Capital Investors must engage DDPs for registration, KYC, beneficial owner checks and monthly reporting under new operational guidelines.
FVCIs must register and operate through DDPs: existing FVCIs must engage a DDP by March 31, 2025 or face staged liquidation; DDPs conduct eligibility, country, regulatory and beneficial ownership due diligence (referencing IOSCO, SEBI bilateral MoUs, BIS and FATF), process Form-A applications, grant SEBI-generated registration numbers, monitor compliance, report monthly to SEBI, and notify SEBI within seven days of sanctions-list or fit-and-proper failures. KYC, BO identification per PML Rules, record retention, data-security controls at KRAs, renewal, surrender, change-of-DDP and material-change procedures are specified.

Market infrastructure institutions must undergo triennial independent external evaluations under a SEBI specified weighted rating framework.
SEBI requires independent external evaluation of all recognised stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories using Board approved weighted criteria (technology resilience 40%; investor protection 17%; regulatory role 15%; compliance 10%; governance 8%; resources 5%; fair access 5%), a common rating framework, and triennial assessments (first for FY2024-25, report by 30 Sept 2025). External agencies need SEBI NOC, market domain expertise and no conflict of interest. MD and KMP performance metrics must reflect institutional criteria with MD evaluations giving at least 50% weight to critical operations and regulatory outcomes.

UPI mandatory for retail applications through intermediaries in public issues; requires bank account linked UPI ID for fund blocking.
Individual investors applying through intermediaries in public issues of debt securities, non-convertible redeemable preference shares, municipal debt securities and securitised debt instruments must use UPI for blocking of funds and provide their bank account-linked UPI ID in the bid cum application form for applications within the retail threshold; alternative channels (SCSBs and stock exchange platform) remain available and the mandate applies to issues opening on or after the stated commencement date.

SEBI master circular consolidates surveillance rules: trading restrictions, intermediary controls, PIT disclosures and PAN freezes for designated persons.
Master Circular consolidates SEBI surveillance circulars, prescribes Trade-for-Trade treatment for certain corporate events, mandates intermediaries' internal controls to prevent circulation of unauthenticated information, standardizes PIT disclosure formats and reporting of Code of Conduct violations, endorses system-driven disclosures under Regulation 7(2), and establishes a DD-mediated process to freeze PAN at security level for Designated Persons during trading-window closures with specified timelines for notification, data sharing, freezing, exemptions and reporting.

Financial disincentive policy limited to market infrastructure institutions; MIIs given opportunity to respond before penalty.
SEBI limits automatic monetary penalties for technical glitches to Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs), removing separate disincentives on MDs and CTOs. SEBI will invite the concerned MII to submit facts before imposing any disincentive; MIIs must conduct internal examinations for individual accountability and may take personnel actions, while SEBI may still initiate enforcement against individuals if warranted. MIIs must file a compliance report within ninety days detailing computation and payment, and disclose such payments on their websites and in annual reports.

Credit Default Swaps flexibility expands mutual funds' ability to buy and sell CDS with tightened cover, disclosure, and risk rules.
SEBI permits Mutual Funds to buy and sell Credit Default Swaps (CDS) with risk management limits: buy CDS only to hedge credit risk on held debt (not exceeding protected security exposure), close positions within fifteen working days after selling the protected security, and attribute exposure to the higher rated of reference entity or CDS seller for concentration limits. Funds may sell CDS only as synthetic debt securities backed by earmarked Cash/G Sec/T bills with cover, buffer and daily review; such synthetic positions count as notional exposure for issuer, group and sectoral limits and gross exposure, and schemes must comply with operational, disclosure, and valuation rules.

Valuation framework for AIF portfolios updated to standardise guidelines, valuer eligibility, and reporting timelines.
Valuation of AIF portfolios distinguishes securities governed by mutual fund valuation norms from those requiring industry-endorsed guidelines; eligible industry associations endorsing guidelines must represent at least one-third of registered AIFs and consider AIPAC recommendations, with IPEV Guidelines endorsed. Harmonisation for thinly traded and non-traded securities is required for applicability on or after March 31, 2025. Changes to comply with the standardised approach or within prescribed guidelines are not 'Material Change', but valuations under old and new methodologies must be disclosed. Independent valuers must be Registered Valuer Entities and authorized valuers must hold specified professional qualifications; reporting based on audited investee data is extended to seven months and compliance must be certified.

T+2 trading of bonus shares enabled, allowing market trading two working days after the record date under SEBI procedure.
Enables T+2 trading for equity bonus shares by requiring issuers to obtain in principle approval within five working days of board approval, deem allotment on T+1, and for exchanges to notify acceptance and the deemed allotment date. Depositories must receive documents for credit by 12:00 PM on T+1 and issuers must upload distinctive number ranges; shares will be tradable on T+2. Direct credit into permanent ISINs is permitted for bonus issues. The procedure applies to bonus issues announced on or after October 1, 2024, and non compliance attracts penalties under existing SEBI guidance.

Centralized fee collection mechanism for registered investment advisers and research analysts enables transparent client payments through an ASB portal.
Optional Centralized Fee Collection Mechanism (CeFCoM) allows clients to pay fees to registered Investment Advisers and Research Analysts through a designated platform administered by a recognized Administration and Supervisory Body (ASB), creating a closed, transparent payment ecosystem; ASB and registrants are to encourage use and the implementing market infrastructure entity will specify the operational framework and rollout.