FPI participation in currency derivatives permitted subject to position limits, underlying exposure requirement and reporting obligations.
FPIs are permitted to trade in the exchange traded currency derivatives segment if eligible under FEMA schedules, subject to position limits per stock exchange. FPIs may take long and short positions up to prescribed thresholds without underlying exposure; exceeding long thresholds requires underlying exposure in Indian debt or equity securities. Short positions have a separate cap and breaches restrict further shorting until compliance. Clearing corporations and custodians must report aggregated positions and underlying exposure market values to the FPI's designated bank.

Minimum AUM requirement for debt schemes mandates maintained corpus and remedial scaling on breach to protect investors.
Open-ended debt oriented schemes must maintain a rolling half-yearly average AUM at or above the prescribed threshold; existing schemes have one year to comply. New fund offers must meet specified minimum subscription amounts for debt oriented, balanced and other schemes. If an open-ended debt scheme breaches the rolling-average requirement, the AMC must scale up the AUM within six months or face applicable regulatory enforcement. Compliance confirmations are to be reported in Half Yearly Trustee Reports.

AIF disclosures: enhanced placement memorandum, reporting, investor exit rights and annual compliance reporting under regulations.
AIFs must enhance investor transparency: Category III funds report end-of-day leverage to custodians by next working day; placement memoranda must include a detailed tabular fees example and disciplinary history, with existing AIFs circulating addenda to investors and filing copies with the regulator. Material changes to placement memoranda trigger defined exit rights for dissenting investors, with managers bearing exit costs and trustees/sponsors overseeing the process. Managers must prepare an annual Compliance Test Report in the prescribed format and report violations to the regulator. Exempted funds must submit prescribed scheme information electronically within the specified period.

FPI investment in non-convertible preference shares permitted, counted against corporate debt limits and allowed on repatriation basis.
Permitting Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to invest on a repatriation basis in non-convertible, redeemable preference shares and debentures of Indian companies listed on recognised exchanges, where such securities may be issued to non-resident holders as bonus under a court-approved scheme subject to tax authority no-objection; such FPI investments are to be reckoned against the Corporate Debt Investment Limit.

Minimum subscription requirement for public debt issues set with refund, oversubscription retention limits and enhanced prospectus disclosures.
SEBI mandates a 75% minimum subscription of the base issue size for public debt issues, sets a minimum base issue size, caps retention of over-subscription generally at 100% of the base size (with shelf and tax-free bond exceptions), requires refunds with interest for unmet minimum subscription, and prescribes enhanced prospectus disclosures including granular allocation of issue proceeds, a 25% cap on general corporate purposes, NBFC-specific lending disclosures, and specified additional clauses and certifications in the offer document.

KYC harmonization for FPIs: DDPs may transfer verified KYC documents to banks on written authorization, with certification.
DDPs may share FPIs' KYC documents with banks upon written authorization; hard copies may be transferred via authorised representatives. DDPs must certify that documents were verified with originals or that notarised copies were obtained where applicable, and both DDPs and banks must keep signed records of the transfer. The requirements apply to new and existing FPI clients.

Securities lending agreements: authorised intermediaries must contract with clearing members and prevent direct lender-borrower arrangements.
The circular mandates that Authorised Intermediaries enter into agreements with Clearing Members specifying rights, responsibilities and obligations, include SLB basic conditions and clearly define roles vis-a -vis clients; AIs must prevent direct agreements between lenders and borrowers, may add provisions for execution, risk management and settlement, and must frame a mandatory, binding rights and obligations document for Clearing Members and clients to govern SLB trades.

Listing transition for companies on de-recognized exchanges: nationwide exchanges must prioritise relisting or facilitate voluntary delisting.
Companies exclusively listed on de-recognized/non-operational stock exchanges may seek prioritised relisting on nationwide exchanges, which must create dedicated cells to process such requests, or opt for voluntary delisting using reverse book building. Voluntary delisting under these provisions is exempt from the Minimum Public Shareholding requirements. Exchanges must identify untraceable or outdated-data companies for the vanishing list; failing relisting or delisting, exchanges must place affected companies on the dissemination board and transfer their databases to SEBI and the respective dissemination boards.

Cash transaction limit increase in mutual funds allows higher permitted cash subscriptions subject to AML compliance and systems.
SEBI increases the permissible cash transaction limit per investor per mutual fund per financial year, subject to Anti-Money Laundering compliance and adequate systems and procedures. It also amends employee trading guidelines to treat liquid schemes like Money Market Mutual Fund schemes: exempting certain liquid-scheme transactions from seven-day reporting, adding liquid schemes to the list of non-applicable products for some restrictions, and including liquid schemes among those units employees are barred from trading in specified situations.

Consolidation of stock exchange circulars centralizes compliance for trading, settlement, risk management and technology obligations.
Compilation consolidates regulatory circulars and directions into a single Master Circular for stock exchanges, superseding the prior compilation and centralizing compliance obligations. It is organized into chapters addressing trading; trading software and technology; settlement; comprehensive risk management for cash and debt segments; exchange traded derivatives; administration of exchanges; and connectivity with depositories and settlement eligibility.

Dematerialisation requirement enables shift from trade-for-trade to rolling settlement when depository connectivity and no other grounds for TFTS are met.
Shift to normal Rolling Settlement is allowed for companies with connectivity to both depositories provided at least fifty percent of non-promoter holdings are dematerialised, certified by the Registrar and Transfer Agent or, if no RTA, by a practicing Company Secretary/Chartered Accountant, and provided there are no other grounds for continuation of Trade-for-Trade Settlement; stock exchanges must report actions taken in monthly/quarterly development reports.

Margining requirements for FPIs impose upfront margin for certain entities and maintain tailored position limits and allocation controls.
Differentiated risk-management for FPIs requires rolling margining for Categories I-III in the cash market, with corporate, individual and family office FPIs subject to upfront margins aligned with non institutional trades; existing position limits apply to Category I and II FPIs while Category III FPIs follow client-equivalent limits. Trade allocation must be pre disclosed through brokers to exchanges and limited to related FPIs; custodians/DDPs must provide FPI identification and categorisation to exchanges. Exchanges and clearing corporations may set additional transition requirements, amend rules, notify participants, update systems, and report implementation to the regulator.

Segregation of activities: DDPs must maintain separate DDP functions, robust infrastructure and submit detailed periodic compliance reports.
The circular requires DDPs under the Foreign Portfolio Investor regime to segregate DDP functions from other businesses, maintain dedicated staff reporting to the chief compliance officer, and provide necessary infrastructure, manuals and monitoring mechanisms. DDPs must submit monthly reports in prescribed detailed formats on applications (fresh registration, continuance, conversion, miscellaneous) and an annual expert audit report on internal controls within three months of the next year, together with quarterly Action Taken Reports addressing audit findings.

Liquidity enhancement schemes: regulated design, disclosure, incentive limits and integrity safeguards to govern market makers' participation.
Revised framework permits stock exchanges to introduce liquidity enhancement schemes in equity cash and derivatives segments subject to board approval, objectivity, transparency, non discrimination and law compliance. Schemes require quarterly board monitoring, semi annual effectiveness reviews, monthly dissemination of outcomes, and fifteen days' prior disclosure of changes. Exchanges must set eligibility benchmarks, limit scheme duration per security, publish eligible lists, and comply with quantitative ceilings on incentives and share based rewards while maintaining systems to detect collusion, prevent self matched incentives, and mandate conflict disclosure by liquidity providers.

Corporate governance reforms: mandatory e-voting and strengthened board, audit and disclosure obligations for listed companies.
Issuers must provide an e-voting facility for all shareholder resolutions and reference the e-voting platform link in notices; Clause 49 mandates principle-based corporate governance reforms including shareholder rights and disclosures, board composition and independent director criteria, standing committees (Audit, Nomination and Remuneration, Risk Management), mandatory Audit Committee review and powers, formal policies and approvals for related party transactions with material ones subject to shareholder special resolution, CEO/CFO certification of financial statements and internal controls, quarterly compliance reporting to exchanges, and auditor or company secretary certification of governance compliance.

Dematerialisation compliance enables shift from trade-for-trade to rolling settlement when depository connectivity and other conditions met.
Stock exchanges may shift securities from TFTS to normal Rolling Settlement where companies have dual depository connectivity and meet two conditions: at least 50% of other than promoter holdings are dematerialized certified by the Registrar and Transfer Agent (or, if no separate RTA exists, by a practicing Company Secretary or Chartered Accountant), and there are no other grounds for continuation of TFTS; exchanges must report actions in Monthly/Quarterly Development Reports.

Margin restoration for USD INR contracts restored to prior rates; exchanges must amend rules and implement by mid April.
The circular restores initial and extreme loss margins for USD INR currency derivatives to their pre July 08, 2013 rates, effective April 15, 2014. Stock exchanges and recognized clearing corporations must amend byelaws, implement systems for the restored margins, notify trading/clearing members, and disseminate the change on their websites under SEBI's statutory regulatory powers to protect investors and promote orderly markets.

Demat account rules: SEBI's master circular consolidates KYC, DIS, BSDA, transmission and depository governance requirements.
Consolidates SEBI circulars up to March 31, 2014 governing depositories, DPs and BO accounts: prescribes KYC (PAN as primary identifier with specified PoI/PoA and exemptions), mandatory Rights and Obligations document, BSDA eligibility and charge limits, DIS standardization/monitoring/scanning and investor safeguards, timelines and simplified documentation for transmission and dematerialisation, DP inspection and risk based categorisation, IT governance and BCP requirements, disclosure and grievance procedures, and adoption/assessment against CPSS IOSCO PFMIs.

Government debt investment restriction requires foreign investors to hold only dated securities with minimum one-year residual maturity.
Foreign Institutional Investors and Qualified Foreign Investors may invest only in dated government securities with a residual maturity of one year or above; existing Treasury Bill holdings may run off on maturity or sale and no further purchases of T Bills are permitted. The total government debt allocation remains capped and is redistributed toward longer maturities, with specified institutional categories retaining dedicated access.

Monthly Average Asset under Management redefinition requires mutual funds to report Monthly AAUM in prescribed disclosure formats.
Directs that the term Asset under Management (AUM) in the March 24, 2014 circular be read as Monthly Average Asset under Management (Monthly AAUM), and requires that data in Annexures A1 and A2 be reported using Monthly AAUM in place of AUM, altering the basis for mutual fund disclosure reporting.