Defaulted debt securities: transactions permitted after issuer or debenture trustee intimation, with mandatory disclosure and timelines.
Issuers must promptly intimate payment status of debt securities; Stock Exchanges suspend trading two working days before redemption and Depositories restrict transfers on and after maturity until status is determined. If issuers do not notify, Debenture Trustees shall assess and report payment status within nine working days of maturity. Upon intimation of default, Depositories and Exchanges shall lift restrictions within two working days, flag the ISIN as "ISIN-defaulted in redemption," disseminate the status, permit reporting of OTC trades with explicit default warnings, and notify account holders of the defaulted status.

Virtual unitholder meetings permitted; framework ensures two-way participation, remote e-voting, transcript publication and safeguards.
InvITs and REITs may hold unitholder meetings via video conferencing or other audio visual means under a specified procedural framework: maintain and upload meeting transcripts; ensure two way participation with capacity for at least one thousand unitholders or actual unitholder count; provide remote e voting before the meeting and e voting during the meeting for eligible present unitholders; chairperson to record that reasonable efforts were made to enable participation; at least one independent director and the auditor or authorised representative must attend; notices must disclose access instructions, e voting procedures for unregistered email holders, helpline details, and be posted on the InvIT/REIT website and stock exchanges where listed.

Extension of compliance timelines for intermediaries extends multiple reporting and certification deadlines and limited exemptions.
SEBI extends timelines for compliance by trading members, clearing members and depository participants: key reporting and certification obligations - including client funding reporting, AI/ML reporting, margin trading compliance certificates, internal audit and net worth certificates, call recordings, enhanced supervision submissions and KYC uploads to KRA systems - are deferred, generally to July 31, 2020; PAN updates for key personnel are allowed three months from the due date. Other conditions of the prior circulars continue to apply and exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories must disseminate these extensions.

Audit of PPM compliance required annually, with findings reported to trustees, manager and SEBI within six months.
SEBI requires an annual Audit of PPM compliance at each financial year-end, with audit findings and corrective steps reported to the Trustee/Board/Designated Partners, the Manager's Board and SEBI within six months; AIFs that have not raised funds must instead submit a Chartered Accountant's certificate of no fund-raising within the same period. For 2019-20 the compliance deadline is December 31, 2020. Associations representing at least one-third of AIFs may notify Benchmarking Agencies for mandatory AIF benchmarking agreements, and the timeline for initial industry benchmarks and AIF performance-versus-benchmark reports is extended to October 1, 2020.

Sponsor investment requirement mandates placement into growth option, with alternate dividend options specified, effective immediately.
The sponsor or asset management company must make the prescribed minimum investment in the scheme's growth option; if growth is unavailable, the investment must be made in the dividend reinvestment option, and if that is unavailable then in the dividend option. The specification is effective immediately and issued under the regulator's powers to protect investors and regulate the securities market.

Fast Track FPO eligibility relaxations permit a reduced offer-size threshold and disclosure-based exceptions for regulatory and audit matters.
Temporary relaxations permit issuers satisfying modified Regulation 155 criteria to use the fast track FPO route by reducing the minimum offer size threshold; requiring specific disclosures for show-cause or prosecution proceedings and their potential adverse impacts; recognising fulfilment of settlement terms where SEBI consent or settlement mechanisms were used; and mandating disclosure or restatement of audited accounts to reflect quantifiable audit qualifications, with appropriate disclosure where impact cannot be ascertained.

Relaxation of listing timelines for debt securities extended to ease disclosure and issuance compliance during the pandemic.
SEBI grants a relaxation of timelines for listing Non-Convertible Debentures, Non-Convertible Redeemable Preference Shares and Commercial Papers by extending the permissible issuance date tied to financials as of September 30, 2019; the amendment revises Clause 5 of the earlier COVID-19 relief circular, is subject to the Companies Act and rules, requires stock exchanges to notify listed entities and takes immediate effect.

Regulatory sandbox allows SEBI-registered entities to live-test FinTech solutions with limited exemptions, reporting and revocation safeguards.
SEBI's Regulatory Sandbox permits SEBI registered entities to live test FinTech solutions on limited real customers under safeguards. Applicants must satisfy eligibility criteria-innovation, need for live testing, prior offline testing, user benefits, risk management, testing readiness and post test deployment plans-and submit a CEO certified application. SEBI reviews suitability within 30 working days, determines test conditions, and may grant testing authorisation for up to 12 months. Selective regulatory relaxations or a limited certificate of registration may be granted, but core investor protection, KYC and AML requirements remain non derogable. Reporting, record keeping and revocation provisions apply.

Mutual fund physical holdings restricted; disposal timelines required for gold/silver and other commodities under new rules.
SEBI restricts mutual fund schemes from investing in physical goods except in gold via Gold ETFs, but permits holding underlying goods only when physical settlement of exchange-traded commodity derivatives occurs; such holdings must be disposed of within prescribed timelines-gold and silver within 180 days, and other commodities by the immediate next expiry day of the same contract series or, if the Final Expiry Date precedes that, within 30 days-while all other conditions of the earlier circular remain unchanged.

Relaxation of filing timelines for alternative and venture capital funds allowing delayed submission of specified monthly regulatory filings.
AIFs and VCFs may submit regulatory filings for the months ending March, April, May and June 2020 on or before August 07, 2020, under the authority of Section 11(1) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, with immediate effect; the Circular is published on the regulator's website under Legal Framework and Circulars.

Power of Attorney treatment in margin arrangements extended to align with depository pledge repledge implementation, authorities direct member notification.
The circular defers the effective date of the provision that holding of Power of Attorney by Trading Members/Clearing Members shall not be treated as equivalent to collection of margin for client demat securities, from its earlier scheduled date to August 1, 2020, due to COVID 19 operational constraints, aligning the change with implementation of the pledge/re pledge mechanism through the Depository System; exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories must notify members and publish the extension.

Delivery centre selection guidelines standardize location criteria for commodity derivatives, requiring infrastructure, liquidity, value chain participation and stakeholder review.
Stock exchanges must apply uniform criteria when identifying delivery centres for physically delivered commodity derivatives, assessing demand-supply dynamics, production catchment, contract liquidity, value chain participation, and infrastructure such as warehouses (with WDRA registration where applicable), transport links, assaying facilities and processing plants; they must obtain stakeholder feedback, review existing and potential centres, report assessments to Product Advisory Committees, and submit relevant information to the regulator for contract approvals and renewals.

Margin pledge requirements clarified; implementation deferred and client confirmation limited to initial pledge and repledging.
Implementation of pledge/re-pledge margin obligations in the depository system is deferred to allow system readiness; trading and clearing members must close existing demat accounts tagged as Client Margin/Collateral within the extended transition period. A Power of Attorney held by a member is not equivalent to collection of margin, effective immediately. Client confirmation by OTP or verifiable mechanism is required only once at initial creation of the pledge; subsequent re-pledging by the member does not require further confirmation.

Post-default curing period flexibility allows CRAs to upgrade ratings after cure, subject to published policies and oversight.
Revision permits CRAs generally to upgrade a cured default to non-investment grade after a 90-day satisfactory performance period, while allowing case-by-case deviations subject to a detailed, published policy. Deviations must be reported to the Ratings Sub-Committee half-yearly with rationale. CRAs must also publish a policy for upgrading defaults to investment grade and may consider scenarios that fundamentally change credit risk, such as technical defaults, management change, acquisition, large long-term fund inflows, or regulatory benefits.

Listing of winding-up mutual fund schemes enables optional investor exit via dematerialised trading on stock exchanges with prescribed listing formalities.
Units of mutual fund schemes under the winding-up process shall be listed on recognized stock exchanges as an optional exit route for investors, subject to listing formalities; initial trading will be in dematerialised form and AMCs must enable transfer of units held as Statement of Account or unit certificates.

Disclosure of material COVID 19 impact: listed entities must report timely, non selective operational and financial effects to investors.
Listed entities should assess and disclose the material impact of the CoVID 19 pandemic on operations and financials, using existing materiality guidelines. Disclosures should be timely, adequate, non selective, and may include operational disruption, restart schedules, measures taken, and quantitative/qualitative effects on capital, profitability, liquidity, debt servicing, assets, internal controls, supply chain, demand and contractual risks; entities should update prior disclosures as material developments occur and include pandemic impact in periodic financial statements where possible.

Relaxation in timelines for regulatory compliance provides extended filing and operational relief for market participants during pandemic disruptions.
The circular extends compliance timelines for trading members, clearing members and depository participants by amending earlier SEBI circulars: specified monthly and quarterly obligations and listed items are extended largely until June 30, 2020; the period of exclusion for another set of provisions is March 23, 2020 to June 30, 2020; and certain items receive a two month extension from their due date. All other conditions of the earlier circulars continue; market infrastructure entities must notify members and publish the circular.

Relaxation of Minimum Public Shareholding compliance shields listed entities from penal measures during the specified relief period.
Recognized stock exchanges and depositories are directed not to initiate, and to withdraw any penal actions already initiated, for listed entities whose deadlines to meet Minimum Public Shareholding requirements fall within the prescribed relief window; exchanges must notify listed entities and publish the circular, which takes effect immediately as a regulatory relaxation under the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements framework.

Relaxation of procedural requirements allows electronic service of offer documents and electronic inspection for open offers and buy-backs.
Relaxation permits electronic transmission of letters of offer, tender forms and related materials for open offers and buy-back tender offers up to July 31, 2020, provided the documents are published on the company, registrar, stock exchange and manager websites. Acquirers/companies and lead managers must undertake complementary outreach (post, SMS, television, digital ads) and publish advertisements notifying shareholders of electronic dispatch and web availability in the same newspapers as the original public statements; additional newspapers and electronic media may be used. Electronic inspection of material documents must be provided.

Aadhaar authentication permission allows designated market entities to provide e KYC for investor KYC subject to UIDAI and regulatory compliance.
Permission is granted for designated market entities to perform Aadhaar Authentication via the e-KYC facility for investor KYC, provided they register with UIDAI as KUAs, enable SEBI-registered intermediaries to register as sub-KUAs under UIDAI-prescribed agreements, and comply with UIDAI privacy and security standards and applicable regulatory requirements; stock exchanges and depositories must notify participants, amend rules for implementation, report monthly on status, and monitor compliance, with permissions subject to withdrawal if standards are not maintained.