Related Party Transaction disclosure: standardized minimum information required for audit committee and shareholders' approval under listing obligations framework.
SEBI incorporates Industry Standards into the Master Circular to require listed entities to provide a standardized minimum set of information to the audit committee and to include specified details in shareholder explanatory statements when seeking approval of Related Party Transactions, aligning these requirements with Regulation 23 of the listing obligations and disclosure framework.

Master Circular consolidates SEBI rules for RTAs on registration, investor service standards, IPO reconciliation, and cyber resilience.
Master Circular consolidates SEBI instructions for RTAs: it supersedes prior RTA circulars and prescribes online registration, prior approval for change in control, mandatory agreements with issuers, records retention, half yearly net worth and compliance reporting, mandatory PAN/KYC for physical folios, standardized investor service processes (including Letters of Confirmation and Suspense Escrow Demat Accounts), URN based online portals for service requests, RTA responsibilities in primary market allotment/reconciliation and UPI/ASBA flows, and enhanced cyber security, BCP/DR and governance requirements for QRTAs.

Stock brokers: SEBI master circular updates registration, supervision, client fund safeguards, system audits and QSB obligations.
SEBI issues an updated Master Circular for Stock Brokers consolidating prior circulars to June 10, 2025, superseding the August 09, 2024 master circular and rescinding specified prior circulars while preserving prior actions and liabilities. It prescribes registration and membership rules (including LLP admission and single registration), risk based inspections, half yearly internal audits and system audit regimes with web based monitoring, G Principle monitoring of client funds, an Early Warning Mechanism for diversion of client securities, and enhanced obligations for Qualified Stock Brokers covering governance, cyber security, business continuity and investor services.

Product Advisory Committee meeting frequency revised: exchanges to convene PACs twice yearly, agricultural PACs at least annually.
SEBI requires Product Advisory Committees for each commodity group to meet at least twice a year, while PACs for agricultural commodities shall meet at least once a year. The revision to the Master Circular on Commodity Derivatives is effective immediately, and stock exchanges must notify members and disseminate the change on their websites. The circular is issued under Section 11(1) of the SEBI Act for investor protection and market regulation.

InvITs must publish an Investor Charter and monthly complaint disclosures, comply with reporting timelines and grievance processes.
SEBI mandates an Investor Charter for InvITs requiring BIA and InvITs to prominently disseminate and periodically update the Charter; registered InvITs must disclose monthly complaint data and redressal status on their websites by the 7th of the succeeding month using the Annexure-B format, comply with specified governance, reporting, valuation and distribution obligations, adhere to borrowing thresholds with unit-holder approval and credit-rating conditions where applicable, and implement prescribed grievance redressal procedures including escalation to SCORES and ODR.

Investor Charter for REITs requires publication of grievance data and strict timelines for disclosures and investor services.
SEBI mandates an Investor Charter for REITs requiring IRA and all registered REITs to publish and display the Charter, communicate it to investors, and review it periodically. REITs must disclose quarterly and annual complaint data and trends on their websites in the Annexure-B format, updating such data by the 7th of the succeeding month. The Charter prescribes investor service timelines, reporting obligations, a grievance escalation path including SCORES and SMART ODR, and assigns monitoring and facilitation duties to the IRA. The circular is effective immediately.

SEBI-registered intermediaries must adopt standardized validated UPI IDs with @valid handles for investor payments and QR verification.
SEBI requires investor-facing intermediaries to obtain standardised, validated UPI IDs comprising a Username with a prescribed category suffix and an NPCI-allocated @valid handle tied to self-certified syndicate banks. Usernames must be created via SEBI's utility, banks allocate handles after due diligence, and intermediaries must publish QR codes showing a white thumbs-up in a green triangle. The @valid handles are exclusively for merchant category code 6211 payment collection, transaction limits follow NPCI caps, and the framework includes a "SEBI Check" tool for investor verification; availability for investors begins October 1, 2025.

Extension of additional liquidation period for migrating VCFs grants more time for unwinding pre-migration schemes under AIF rules.
Extension of the additional liquidation period for VCFs migrating to the AIF Regulations is granted until July 19, 2026 for schemes whose liquidation period has expired but remain unwound; all other migration conditions from the August 19, 2024 circular remain unchanged, and the last date to apply for migration to SEBI remains as previously specified. The extension is effective immediately under SEBI's regulatory powers to oversee AIF migration and protect investor interests.

ESG debt securities framework requires labelled social, sustainability, and linked bonds to meet disclosure, tracking and independent review obligations.
Framework prescribes conditions for issuance and listing of labelled ESG debt securities (social bonds, sustainability bonds, sustainability-linked bonds) requiring that proceeds fund projects aligned with recognised standards; social and sustainability bonds must meet specified initial and continuous disclosures, tracking and external auditor verification; sustainability-linked bonds must link financial/structural terms to predefined KPIs and SPTs with ongoing KPI reporting; issuers must mitigate purpose-washing and appoint independent third-party reviewers with defined scope and independence.

Relaxation of Regulation 58(1)(b) compliance permits web-link disclosure in advertisement instead of hard copies for non-convertible securities.
SEBI provides a conditional relaxation from the hard copy requirement under Regulation 58(1)(b) of the LODR Regulations for issuers of listed non convertible debt securities who complied with MCA General Circular No.09/2024; no penal action will be taken for non dispatch between October 01, 2024 and June 05, 2025. For June 06, 2025 to September 30, 2025, similar relief is granted provided the issuer's advertisement under Regulation 52(8) discloses a web link to the statement of salient features mandated by Section 136 of the Companies Act, 2013.

Margin pledge invocation cum sale: depositories to enable single instruction pledge release and early pay in functionality for pledged securities.
Depositories must implement an automated single instruction mechanism-'pledge release for early pay in'-to release pledges and set early pay in blocks when clients sell margin pledged securities, subject to pay in validation by clearing corporations. Invoked securities (except non exchange mutual fund units) will be blocked for early pay in with an audit trail in the TM/CM's pledge account; invoked non exchange MF units will be moved and auto redeemed via an 'invocation cum redemption' facility. TM/CMs must ensure same day pay in where client trading privileges are frozen. Amendments take effect September 05, 2025, with operating guidelines by July 01, 2025.

Investor Charter obligations require research analysts to publish disclosures and report monthly complaint data for transparency and redress.
SEBI requires research analysts to publish and provide the Investor Charter, disclose material information including conflicts and AI use, maintain client interaction records, protect confidentiality and data privacy, and disclose service timelines. Research analysts must publish monthly complaint data in the Annexure B format by the seventh of the succeeding month, strive to resolve grievances within twenty one days, enable filing via SCORES 2.0 or RAASB with two level review and offer recourse to online dispute resolution, and separately address impersonation complaints per prescribed processes.

Investor Charter disclosure obligations require advisers to publish the charter and monthly complaint data, with immediate effect.
SEBI updates the Investor Charter for Investment Advisers, rescinds the prior 2021 circular and amends the Master Circular, effective immediately. Advisers must publish the Charter (Annexure A) on websites, apps and offices, provide copies at onboarding, disclose registration and complaint status, and report monthly complaint data in the Annexure B format by the 7th of the succeeding month. Requirements include written agreements with fee and conflict disclosures, unbiased risk profiling, record keeping, disclosure of AI usage, and prescribed grievance redressal pathways via SCORES 2.0, IAASB review and SMARTODR.

FutEq Open Interest reform strengthens position limits and intraday monitoring to protect derivatives market integrity.
SEBI requires delta adjusted portfolio level Open Interest (FutEq OI) for futures and options, recalibrates Market Wide Position Limits (MWPL) for single stocks tied to cash market delivery liquidity, and mandates end of day and intraday monitoring against 95% MWPL. During MWPL ban periods, entities must reduce end of day FutEq OI (delta) rather than change sign; passive price driven increases are excluded. Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations must prepare joint SOPs with SEBI for monitoring, intraday snapshots, penalty frameworks, and operationalise position limits and glide path arrangements for index derivatives.

Expiry day limitation to designated weekdays restricts equity derivatives expiries to a chosen weekday, with monthly tenors.
SEBI requires exchanges to limit equity derivatives expiries to one chosen weekday (Tuesday or Thursday), permit one weekly benchmark index options contract on that weekday, and offer all other equity derivatives with a minimum one month tenor expiring in the last week of each month on the exchange's chosen weekday; changes to an existing settlement day require prior SEBI approval and exchanges must update systems and bylaws to implement the framework.

Appointment process for key management personnel now requires independent search, NRC review and Governing Board final approval.
Mandates a governance process for appointment and related actions for specified KMPs (Compliance Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Information Security Officer): MIIs must engage an independent external agency to recommend candidates, the NRC evaluates recommendations and, after discussion with management, forwards recommendations to the Governing Board which makes the final appointment decision. NRC similarly evaluates re-appointments, terminations and resignations, and Governing Boards must give KMPs a reasonable opportunity to be heard before termination. Governing Boards must prescribe cooling-off periods for KMPs joining competing MIIs and record and inform SEBI when a PID is not re-appointed.

Digital KYC accessibility required for intermediaries to enable inclusive digital account opening for persons with disabilities.
The circular requires that the digital KYC process be made accessible to persons with disabilities, including visual impairments, and directs intermediaries to implement digital accessibility measures and follow the revised FAQ on Account Opening by Persons with Disabilities published on the regulator's website, issued under the regulator's statutory regulatory powers.

Internal audit standards require independent auditors to report to the audit committee, strengthening MII governance and oversight.
Internal audit standards require MIIs to conduct an annual, institution wide internal audit across critical operations, regulatory/compliance/risk functions and other activities by independent audit firm(s); the internal auditor shall report exclusively to the Audit Committee, follow time bound procedures for obtaining HoD comments and include dropped observations with justifications, and appraise the Audit Committee at least semi annually in the absence of management.

Electronic Book Provider platform: mandatory for specified private placements with enhanced disclosure, allocation and anchor investor rules.
Revisions require specified private placements of debt, NCRPS and municipal debt to be conducted through the EBP platform while allowing elective EBP use for securitised instruments, money-market instruments and REIT/InvIT units; smaller issues may opt in. Issuers must provide the Placement Memorandum and term sheet to the EBP within prescribed lead times, disclose issue size and green shoe portion (green shoe capped at five times base size) and anchor investor details; anchor allocations are capped by credit-rating bands and must be electronically confirmed by T 1 day. Allotment at cut-off uses pro-rata rules; EBPs must publish detailed issuance data by defined timelines. Certain clauses have staggered effective dates.

Extension of implementation timeline for ODI and segregated portfolio disclosure requirements delays compliance obligation and systems readiness.
SEBI has extended the deferred implementation date for paragraphs 2.2 to 2.7 of its December 17, 2024 circular-covering additional disclosure obligations for ODI subscribers and FPIs with segregated portfolios-to November 17, 2025; all other provisions of that circular remain unchanged and depositories must complete necessary systems and procedures to ensure compliance by the revised date.