Unblocking and refund timelines for application money reduced, accelerating ASBA account unblocking and refund processing for investors.
SEBI shortens refund and unblocking timelines for application monies in public issues by substituting a reduced four-day period into the specified SEBI (ICDR) Regulations for cases of non-receipt of minimum subscription and for failure to obtain listing or trading permission, reflecting ASBA and UPI operational arrangements and intermediary responsibilities for investor compensation.

FPI surrender guidelines require DDPs to confirm nil balances, no pending proceedings and promptly close accounts.
Surrender of FPI registration requires the DDP to obtain a No Objection Certificate after confirming that the applicant's FPI accounts have nil balances and are blocked, the applicant's CP code is blocked, no dues or proceedings are pending, and thereafter to close all accounts and deactivate the CP code within ten working days of receiving the NOC.

Transfer of business by registered intermediaries requires transferee registration and surrender obligations for transferors.
Where a transferee is not registered in the same capacity it must obtain fresh registration from SEBI before transfer; SEBI will issue a new registration number to the transferee when business is transferred through regulatory or non regulatory processes irrespective of whether the transferor continues to exist. Change in control requires prior approval and fresh registration but retains the same registration number when granted to the same legal entity. If the transferor ceases to exist or completely transfers its business it must surrender its certificate of registration; partial transfers permit the transferor to continue holding its certificate.

Change in control: family transfers and succession treated variably; prior approval and fit and proper checks govern new controllers.
Transfers among immediate relatives and transmissions of shareholding in unlisted corporate intermediaries do not constitute change in control; proprietary firm transfers or transmissions that alter legal formation or ownership do constitute change in control requiring prior approval and fresh registration; partnership firms permit inter se transfers among multiple partners without change in control, but induction of a new partner or alteration on death without deed provisions may constitute change in control. Incoming controlling persons must satisfy fit and proper person criteria under SEBI intermediary regulations.

Combating Financing of Terrorism: SEBI mandates intermediaries to implement revised UAPA Section 51A procedures for compliance.
SEBI directs all registered intermediaries, stock exchanges and depositories to strictly comply with the Government of India's revised procedure for implementation of Section 51A of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 concerning combating financing of terrorism, and to align their AML/CFT processes with this order while continuing to follow SEBI's existing AML/CFT guidelines.

Delivery default penalty updated for sellers in commodity futures, with replacement cost and apportionment mechanisms enforced.
Sellers who default on delivery will incur a penalty consisting of a fixed percentage of the settlement price plus a replacement cost component, with differing replacement cost calculations for agricultural and non agricultural commodities; Clearing Corporations may vary penalties in consultation with the regulator. Penalty apportionment requires a mandatory deposit into the Settlement Guarantee Fund, a limited retention by the Clearing Corporation for administration, and payment of the balance plus replacement cost to the buyer entitled to delivery. Buyer default penalties are to be levied based on losses to the non defaulting seller but capped at delivery margins collected from the defaulting buyer.

Business continuity requirements mandate rapid failover to disaster recovery sites and zero data loss to protect market infrastructure operations.
MIIs must maintain a Primary Data Centre, a geographically separated Disaster Recovery Site and a Near Site to ensure data and transaction integrity and zero data loss; staffing at DR locations must be trained to operate independently; an Incident and Response Team/ Crisis Management Team chaired by the MD or CTO must declare disasters and invoke BCP. Technical parity between sites, synchronous replication to NS, unannounced live trading tests, documented DR drills with root cause analysis, and Board approved BCP DR policies subject to periodic review and system audit are required, with prescribed RTO and RPO targets for critical systems.

Deemed residual maturity for Basel III bonds revised into a phased schedule, impacting valuation and Macaulay duration calculations.
The circular prescribes a phased glide path for the deemed residual maturity applied to Basel III AT 1 and Tier 2 bonds for valuation, requiring Macaulay Duration to be calculated on those deemed maturities; if an issuer does not exercise a call option, all its ISINs are to be valued using 100 years' maturity for AT 1 and contractual maturity for Tier 2, with any issuer stress or adverse news reflected in valuation. AMFI must issue detailed valuation guidelines.

UPI mandate unblock obligations require banks and intermediaries to timely release funds and compensate investors for delays.
SEBI requires Lead Managers to ensure compliance with prescribed timelines and processes for IPO applications using UPI in ASBA, designates SCSB nodal officers, mandates SCSB SMS alerts and Sponsor Bank portals, and prescribes RTAs/SCSBs reporting and BOA+1 unblocking procedures. Non compliance attracts securities law action and a specified compensation mechanism obliges SCSBs (and Post Issue Lead Managers for delayed redressal) to compensate investors for delayed or erroneous blocking/unblocking, with Lead Managers withholding intermediary payments until confirmations of unblock completion are received.

Central KYC expansion to legal entities requires registered intermediaries to upload LE KYC records and use KYC Identifiers.
Extension of the Central KYC Records framework to legal entities mandates Registered Intermediaries to upload legal-entity KYC records using the prescribed Legal Entity template, retrieve client records via KYC Identifier with client consent, communicate generated KYC Identifiers to clients, and migrate legacy KYC records to current Client Due Diligence standards when updated information is obtained. The requirements exclude Foreign Portfolio Investors.

Investment limits on special-feature debt restrict mutual fund exposures and require segregation and adjusted valuation after triggers.
Limits are prescribed for mutual fund investments in debt instruments with special features such as loss-absorbing subordination or conversion triggers; excess holdings as of the circular date are grandfathered but no fresh investments are permitted until within limits. Schemes must provide for creation of segregated portfolios and may transfer affected instruments on a trigger event, with valuation reflecting issuer stress from the trigger date. Perpetual bonds shall be valued with a notional maturity of one hundred years and close-ended debt schemes are barred from investing in perpetual bonds.

Mandatory Unique Client Code and PAN verification required for commodity derivatives trading ensuring client identity verification and e PAN acceptance.
Members trading on commodity derivatives segments must use Unique Client Code for all clients and may not execute trades without uploading UCC details. Members must collect and verify PAN copies for existing and new clients; for e PAN they must verify authenticity on the Income Tax Department website and retain a soft copy. Exchanges must ensure upload of PAN or e PAN as part of the UCC, verify documents against the unique code and retain copies.

Voting obligations for mutual funds require compulsory voting on specified corporate and related-party resolutions and thereafter on all resolutions.
Mutual funds must compulsorily cast votes on specified corporate governance matters and related party transactions; thereafter, voting on all other resolutions will also be compulsory from the specified later date. Funds with no economic interest on the record date may be exempted. Voting should be at the mutual fund level except where scheme-level voting is justified with a recorded rationale. Fund managers must provide quarterly declarations to trustees that votes were cast in unitholders' best interests, and trustees must confirm this in their half-yearly report to the regulator.

Mutual fund regulation updated: gross exposure capped to net assets and governance, disclosure, and procedural reforms introduced
The circular revises multiple MF circulars to cap cumulative gross exposure across equities, debt, derivatives, repos and other permitted assets to the net assets of the scheme; prescribes updated investment pattern disclosures with minimum/maximum allocations and defensive reallocation flexibility; replaces the procedure for change in control of AMCs with conditions including trustees' and board approvals, unitholder communication and a minimum 30 day exit option, undertakings by incoming sponsors/trustees and revision of offer documents; and mandates electronic filings, quarterly voting disclosures, revised reporting timelines, updated dividend and SID/KIM procedures, and treatment of NCPS as debt.

Prevention of market abuse: MIIs must implement codes, internal controls and whistleblower protections to monitor trading and inquiries.
MIIs must adopt a Code of Conduct and Institutional Mechanism to prevent fraud and market abuse, including framing codes by the MD/CEO, appointment of a compliance officer, designation of persons with access to unpublished price sensitive information, implementation of internal controls, Board and Regulatory Oversight Committee review, written inquiry procedures for suspected misconduct, prompt initiation and reporting of inquiries, and an effective whistleblower policy with protections; listed MIIs must follow specified schedules for trading in own and other securities.

Insider trading disclosures: system driven reporting and mandatory company duties ensure automated public dissemination of transactions.
Circular conditions normal segment trading on dematerialisation thresholds (including 100% promoter demat subject to limited exemptions) and requires exchanges to disseminate disclosures; mandates internal codes and supervisory controls for intermediaries to prevent circulation of unauthenticated news; reiterates standardised initial and continual disclosure formats under PIT Regulations, clarifies OFS and Rights Entitlement transactions are exempt from trading window closure when within Board frameworks, prescribes reporting and remittance procedures for Code of Conduct violations to the Investor Protection and Education Fund, and implements system driven disclosures by depositories and exchanges for entities' equity and equity derivative trades.

Virtual meetings for REITs and InvITs extended; annual and other unitholder meetings may be held via VC/OAVM.
Annual unitholder meetings due in calendar year 2021 for REITs and InvITs may be conducted via VC/OAVM until December 31, 2021, and meetings other than annual meetings may be held via VC/OAVM until June 30, 2021, subject to the procedure in Annexure I of the June 22, 2020 circular.

Pre-expiry margin increases on susceptible cash-settled commodity contracts to incentivize open interest reduction as expiry nears.
Pre-expiry margins shall be imposed on cash-settled commodity contracts identified as susceptible to near-zero or negative prices under the Alternate Risk Management Framework; these margins will be levied during the last five trading days prior to expiry and will increase by a fixed daily percentage each day, to be applied by exchanges and clearing corporations, effective from the first trading day of April.

Revised disclosure formats for insiders under SEBI PIT Regulations require updated Forms B-D and dissemination by exchanges.
SEBI updated Forms B, C and D to incorporate inclusion of members of the promoter group and to replace the term employee with Designated Person, prescribing revised annexed templates for initial, continual and connected-person disclosures including reporting of open interest and derivative positions; stock exchanges must notify listed companies and publish the formats, while other previously stipulated conditions remain unchanged.

Master Circular for depositories consolidates SEBI rules on KYC, demat accounts, DIS controls, encumbrances and cyber security.
SEBI's Master Circular for Depositories compiles circulars up to October 31, 2020 into four parts (BO Accounts, DP related, Issuer related, Depositories related), standardizes KYC/PAN requirements and e KYC procedures, prescribes BSDA eligibility and charge caps, mandates DIS serialisation/scanning and timelines, limits permissible uses of Power of Attorney and requires SMS alerts for POA operated accounts, requires recording of NDUs and all encumbrances in depository systems, and imposes cyber security, audit, BCP/DR and disclosure obligations for DPs and depositories.