Resident Indian contribution rule: LRS funding allowed into global funds with limited Indian exposure under amended FPI guidelines.
The circular updates SEBI's Operational Guidelines to allow resident Indian individual contributions to be made through the Liberalised Remittance Scheme and invested only in global funds whose Indian exposure is less than 50%, aligning SEBI regulations with tax-related provisions enabling resident Indian fund managers to operate for offshore funds; DDPs and custodians must inform clients of the change.

Bankers to an Issue registration for payments banks allowed, subject to RBI approval and BTI regulatory conditions.
Non scheduled Payments Banks with prior RBI approval may register as Bankers to an Issue subject to the SEBI (Bankers to an Issue) Regulations, 1994; they may also act as Self Certified Syndicate Banks if they satisfy Board criteria, and all blocking/movement of investor subscription funds must be through the investor's savings account with the payments bank.

Relaxation of compliance timelines: SEBI extends deadlines for KYC, audit and reporting obligations to address COVID-19 disruption.
SEBI extends timelines for specified compliance obligations due to COVID-19, including extended windows for uploading client KYC documents to KRA systems with an interim backlog clearance period; deferred submission deadlines for internal, system and cyber security/cyber resilience audit reports for the March period; deferral of Risk Based Supervision reporting; maintained call recording obligations; and continued permission to operate trading terminals from designated alternate locations subject to immediate mobile confirmation to clients after order execution. Exchanges and Clearing Corporations must notify members and publish the circular.

Instant Access Facility limited to Overnight and Liquid schemes; unclaimed dividend amounts may be invested in low risk overnight funds.
Unclaimed redemption and dividend amounts may be invested in a separate plan of Overnight, Liquid, or Money Market Mutual Fund schemes established specifically for such amounts, provided those plans are placed in the relatively low interest rate and relatively low credit risk cell of the Potential Risk Class matrix; AMCs shall not charge exit load and the plan's TER is capped at the direct plan TER or fifty basis points, whichever is lower. Implementation date for this change is December 1, 2021.

Intra-day NAV applies to ETF transactions with AMCs based on the executed price of underlying securities.
SEBI clarifies that Intra-day Net Asset Value applies to ETF unit transactions conducted directly with Asset Management Companies where the price is determined by the executed price of securities representing the underlying index or commodity(ies); disclosure of this intra-day NAV treatment must be made in the Scheme Information Document, Key Information Memorandum and Common Application Form.

Interoperable RTA platform enables integrated mutual fund transactions and investor services through standardized APIs and data sharing.
RTAs must jointly implement an industry-wide interoperable, API-based platform to enable integrated mutual fund transactions, service request initiation/tracking, complaints handling, and consolidated investment reporting by sharing real-time data with AMCs and Depositories under SEBI-prescribed data standards. The platform must be scalable, comply with SEBI's Cyber Security and Cyber Resilience framework and BCP/DR guidelines, and RTAs are jointly and severally responsible for compliance, system and cyber audits. The rollout is phased (starting with non-financial transactions) with full operationalisation by the prescribed deadline, and new RTAs must adhere to these requirements.

Nomination framework for trading and demat accounts requires prescribed forms, e-sign options, and compliance-linked account restrictions.
SEBI introduced a nomination framework for eligible trading and demat accounts, requiring new account holders to either provide nomination or opt out through prescribed forms, with activation of new accounts only on receipt of the specified formats. Existing eligible account holders must indicate their nomination choice by 31 March 2022, failing which trading accounts are to be frozen for trading and demat accounts frozen for debits. The circular also provides for wet signature, thumb impression with witness, and e-Sign execution, and requires intermediaries to maintain systems, safeguard client records, and implement the prescribed changes.

Deemed recordation timelines for scheme applications ensure uniform processing while allowing exceptions for policy or incomplete filings.
SEBI prescribes that certain scheme-related filings by AMCs will be deemed to be taken on record or treated as having no objection if no queries or modifications are raised within 21 working days, covering changes in fundamental attributes, mergers/consolidations, rollovers and conversions of close ended schemes, and Regulation 24(b) applications; this applies to complete applications, except where policy-level consultation is required, and to submissions received on or after the effective date.

Extension of AGM deadline for top listed entities granted, allowing additional time to hold annual meeting due to pandemic
For the 2020-21 year, the timeline for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the top 100 listed entities by market capitalization is extended such that these entities may hold their AGM within six months from the date of closing of the financial year, relaxing the usual five-month requirement; the circular takes immediate effect and is issued under SEBI's regulatory powers subject to the Companies Act and related rules.

Grievance disclosure obligations for InvITs require public posting and stock exchange filing of all complaints, enhancing transparency and investor protection.
InvITs must disclose all investor complaints, including SCORES complaints, in the Annexure A format on their website and file the same with the recognised stock exchange(s) where their units are listed within 21 days from the end of the financial year or end of the quarter, as applicable; the Annexure captures complaint counts, disposals, pendency by age bands and average redressal time.

Grievance redressal disclosure: REITs must publish and file all complaints including SCORES within prescribed period after reporting periods.
REITs must disclose all complaints, including SCORES complaints, in the Annexure A format on their website and file the same with recognised stock exchange(s) where their units are listed within twenty-one days from the end of the financial year or end of the quarter, as applicable; all other conditions of the earlier circular remain unchanged.

Segregation of client collateral: mandatory reporting, allocation controls and a staged default management regime to protect client assets.
SEBI prescribes a framework mandating daily disaggregated reporting of client collateral by TMs to CMs and by CMs to SEs/CCs, client-accessible portals, strict allocation procedures with CM/CC validations, and rules that allocated collateral plus securities re-pledged are used to meet client margins in a prescribed blocking order. CMs must maintain at least 50% cash-equivalents at the CM level, permit allocation changes subject to adequacy, and follow a four-stage default management process (settlement, portability/return, close-out/provisional appropriation, final attribution) with the CC default waterfall as fallback.

Timeline extension for debenture trustees compliance: relaxations granted for reporting, disclosures, and certificates due to Covid-19 disruptions.
Extension of compliance timelines granted to debenture trustees for specified reporting, certification and disclosure obligations due to Covid-19 disruptions. Covered submissions include Asset Cover Certificate, statements of value of pledged securities and DSRA, guarantor net worth and financial certificates, and valuation and title search reports. The extension also applies to website disclosures such as monitoring of asset cover and quarterly compliance reports, utilization certificates, status of covenant breaches and trustee actions, and maintenance of trustee-supervised accounts. The relaxations are issued under SEBI's regulatory powers to protect investor interests and regulate the securities market.

Expected Loss based rating scale introduced for infrastructure instruments; CRAs must standardise scales and report compliance.
An Expected Loss (EL) based Rating Scale of seven categories (EL 1 to EL 7) is introduced for infrastructure instruments, with CRA name as prefix; CRAs must follow Board guidance for existing ratings. CRAs must standardise rating scales by aligning with scales prescribed by the respective financial sector regulator or, if none prescribed, adopt Board prescribed rating scales. Use of rating scales is restricted to those issued by the Board where a regulator has not prescribed a scale. The circular mandates implementation timelines, board reporting, and regulator notification obligations.

Block mechanism in demat accounts enables blocking of securities for sale orders, facilitating EPI benefit and preventing physical transfers.
SEBI adopts an optional Block Mechanism whereby clients may block securities in their demat accounts in favour of the Clearing Corporation when placing sell orders; depositories retain blocks until pay-in day and share transfer details with Clearing Corporations to match client level net delivery obligations. If matched, Clearing Corporations grant Early Pay-In benefit and blocked securities move to TM and then CM pool accounts under restricted pool-transfer and inter-settlement rules. If unmatched, blocks are cancelled on T day and securities are freed. Blocked securities are treated as margins deemed collected, removing margin shortfall penalties.

Put option valuation: non-exercise requires justification and valuation agencies must ignore remaining puts for pricing.
If a mutual fund does not exercise a put option that would have benefited the scheme, the fund must justify non-exercise to valuation agencies, the AMC board and trustees by the last date of the notice period; valuation agencies must then exclude remaining put options from the security valuation. A put is deemed in favour of the scheme where the yield on the valuation price ignoring the put exceeds the contractual yield or coupon by the prescribed threshold. The circular applies prospectively and is issued to protect investors and regulate valuation.

Advance intimation timelines reduced to ten days for all commodity derivatives contract modifications, standardising notice across categories.
SEBI has revised the advance intimation requirement for contract specification modifications in commodity derivatives so that Category A, Category B and Category C changes each require a 10-day advance intimation; other provisions of the prior circular continue unchanged and the change is effective from the date of this circular under SEBI's regulatory powers.

Same line of business criteria govern delisting of listed subsidiaries via scheme of arrangement, requiring certification and listing tenure.
SEBI requires objective criteria for a listed holding company and listed subsidiary to qualify as being in the same line of business: same NIC three digit principal activity; at least fifty percent of each company's revenue and net tangible assets attributable to the same line of business per the latest audited annual results; post name change revenue continuity on a restated consolidated basis; and mutual self certification. All such criteria must be certified by the statutory auditor and a SEBI registered merchant banker, and the entities must satisfy prescribed listing tenure conditions.

No Objection Certificate timing reduced to two months; merchant banker must confirm ASBA unblocking and complaints resolution.
SEBI reduced the post-listing period for applying for a No Objection Certificate to two months, subject to all issue-related complaints being resolved, and requires the merchant banker to certify that all SCSBs involved in ASBA have unblocked ASBA accounts; applications lacking this confirmation will be treated as incomplete.

Consolidation of regulatory circulars: master circular compiles SEBI directives for stock exchanges and clearing corporations; individual circulars prevail.
SEBI's Master Circular compiles applicable circulars and communications for recognized stock exchanges and clearing corporations, updates references to repealed statutes, organises guidance across trading, technology, settlement, risk management, derivatives and administration, and centralises access to existing regulatory guidance. In case of inconsistency, the underlying circular prevails, and the Master Circular supersedes the prior compilation while remaining a consolidation and reference document available on the regulator's website.