Anti Money Laundering compliance: intermediaries must apply risk based KYC, CDD, monitoring and reporting obligations to clients.
The Master Circular mandates that securities market intermediaries implement written AML/CFT policies approved by senior management, apply a risk based Client Due Diligence process including KYC and beneficial ownership identification, perform ongoing transaction monitoring, report suspicious and specified transactions to FIU IND within prescribed timelines, maintain and retain client and transaction records to provide an audit trail, and designate a Principal Officer and Designated Director to ensure compliance; reliance on third parties for CDD is permitted subject to conditions, but ultimate responsibility remains with the intermediary.

Expected Loss based rating scale for infrastructure introduced; CRAs must follow new disclosure, withdrawal and governance rules.
Amendments introduce an Expected Loss (EL) based Rating Scale for infrastructure instruments with seven EL categories and require CRAs to prefix rating symbols with their name; they mandate press releases on withdrawal (stating reasons) except in specified cases, set procedures and timelines for initial rating communication, issuer acceptance or review/appeal and public disclosure of non-accepted ratings in prescribed formats, update half-yearly and six-month reporting annexures to capture rating actions and defaults, and strengthen governance by excluding MD/CEOs and business-responsible persons from rating committees and requiring issuer-review committees to be largely distinct and include one-third independent members.

Greenwashing prevention: issuers must ensure compliant use of proceeds and transparent disclosure to investors and ongoing monitoring.
Issuers of green debt securities must use proceeds only for activities within the regulatory definition, continuously monitor transition pathways to confirm reduction of adverse environmental impacts, quantify negative externalities, avoid misleading labels or false third party certification claims, disclose any non compliant use to investors, and, if required by debenture holder majority, undertake early redemption, while adhering to assigned ratings and continuous disclosure obligations.

Minimum public shareholding compliance: prescribed methods include public issuance, promoter divestment, ESOP and ETF transfers with disclosure and undertakings.
SEBI prescribes permissible methods to achieve minimum public shareholding, including public issuance, offer for sale by promoters via prospectus or stock exchange mechanism, rights and bonus issues to public shareholders with promoters forgoing entitlements, QIP allotments, ESOP exercise subject to compliance and caps, promoter open market sales under alternative quantified schemes with prior announcement and undertakings, and transfer of promoter shares to ETFs with disclosure and subscription undertakings; stock exchanges must monitor compliance and report breaches, and the Board may approve other methods on application.

Verification of upfront margin collection now uses fixed beginning of day margin parameters for derivatives, altering compliance checks.
EOD verification of upfront margin collection in derivatives (including commodity derivatives) shall be calculated using fixed Beginning of Day (BOD) margin parameters for the purpose of verifying upfront collection; this change does not affect the margin parameters used by Clearing Corporations for actual margin determination and collection, which will continue to be updated intra day and at EOD. Exchanges and Clearing Corporations must implement systems, amend rules as necessary, notify members, and report implementation in Monthly Development Reports.

RFQ platform obligation: AIFs must execute a prescribed portion of corporate bond secondary trades via RFQ, with intra AIF trades one to one.
AIFs must route a prescribed portion of their monthly secondary market corporate bond trades through the RFQ platform to improve liquidity and transparency. Trades in which an AIF is on both sides must be executed in one-to-one RFQ mode; executions arising from one-to-many RFQ interaction with another AIF will be counted as one-to-many transactions. The mandate is issued under SEBI's regulatory powers and takes effect from the announced implementation date.

Virtual meetings for InvIT unit holders permitted, subject to specified procedural safeguards and disclosure obligations.
SEBI permits Investment Managers of Infrastructure Investment Trusts to conduct unit holder meetings through Video Conferencing or Other Audio Visual means subject to procedural safeguards including maintenance and website upload of recorded transcripts; scheduling considerate of time zones; two way interaction with concurrent or advance questions; opening the facility before and after scheduled time; pre meeting remote e voting and in meeting e voting for those who have not voted remotely; chairperson confirmation of reasonable efforts to enable participation; attendance by an independent director and the auditor or authorised representative; prescribed notice disclosures and helpline support; and disclosure to the stock exchange and trustee with trustee monitoring.

Virtual meetings for REIT unit holders allowed with mandatory safeguards for participation, remote e voting, disclosure and monitoring.
Managers of REITs may conduct unit holder meetings through Video Conferencing or Other Audio Visual Means subject to procedural safeguards: maintain and upload recorded transcripts; schedule with regard to time zones; provide two way participation and question facilities; keep joining open at least fifteen minutes before and after start time; provide remote e voting before the meeting and in meeting e voting for those who have not voted remotely; chairperson must record that reasonable efforts to enable participation and voting were made; require attendance of an independent director and the auditor; and notify the stock exchange and trustee of the meeting format.

AIF participation in credit default swaps permitted with hedging, leverage, earmarking and reporting safeguards under regulatory rules.
AIFs may transact in credit default swaps under specified conditions: Category I and II may buy CDS only for hedging while Category III may buy for hedging or other purposes within leverage limits. Category II and III may sell CDS by earmarking unencumbered government securities equal to exposure; such earmarked securities may meet margin requirements and are not treated as leverage. Total investee exposure including CDS must comply with concentration norms. AIFs must report CDS trades to custodians promptly, custodians must monitor compliance, and breach and rectification protocols apply; transactions must occur on regulated trading platforms and comply with central bank credit derivatives directions.

Multiple commodity contracts allowed on the same commodity; exchanges must amend rules, notify members and report implementation.
Exchanges are permitted to launch multiple derivative contracts on the same commodity to enhance participation; they must amend bye laws, notify members, publish the change on their websites, and communicate implementation status to the regulator. The measure is effective immediately and issued under Section 11(1) to protect investors and promote market development.

Derivatives on corporate bond indices permitted, enabling futures with prescribed index, trading and risk management safeguards.
Permits cash settled futures on indices of corporate debt securities rated AA+ and above, subject to SEBI approval of index methodology, contract specifications, trading, clearing and settlement mechanisms, and a clearing corporation defined risk management framework. Index composition rules impose issuer level aggregation, concentration caps, minimum issuers and periodic review. Contract design requirements cover minimum contract value at introduction, trading hours, tenors, quotation and settlement conventions, position limits by participant category, price bands, and margining based on a one day 99.9% VaR with additional extreme loss and spread margins.

Offer for Sale framework: standardized eligibility, disclosure, allocation and settlement rules for exchange-based share sales.
SEBI issues a comprehensive OFS framework detailing eligibility for promoters, companies and non-promoter sellers; required disclosures including floor price, offer size, allocation methodology and green shoe; defined cooling off periods by liquidity; retail reservation and discounting mechanisms; separate T day/T+1 day bidding windows; margin, deposit and risk management obligations including 100% cash margin for retail; allocation and settlement processes with reserved quotas for certain institutional categories and retail investors; default penalties and withdrawal/cancellation rules; equivalent application to listed REITs/InvITs; and rescission of prior OFS circulars.

Change in control of portfolio managers: investors must be informed and given at least 30 days exit without exit load.
Once prior approval for a change in control is granted, the portfolio manager must inform existing investors/clients before effecting the change and provide an option to exit without any exit load for at least 30 calendar days from the date of communication; for co investment portfolio management services, the portfolio manager must ensure compliance with the second proviso of Regulation 22(2). All other prior circular requirements remain unchanged.

Exchange outage protocol requires prompt notification and coordinated extension of trading hours to enable orderly intraday position closure.
Standardised operational rules define stock exchange outage and require the affected exchange to immediately notify market participants and the regulator, provide periodic updates, conduct a pre-opening session before resumption, and follow Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery protocols. Automatic, coordinated extension of trading hours across exchanges is triggered by specified timing cutoffs to permit orderly closure of intraday positions, with rules for cessation on the affected exchange if normalcy is not restored. Exchanges must adopt a uniform close-out policy and MIIs must update and board-approve their BCPs.

Settlement mechanism flexibility: authorised bank and payment-aggregator channels may be used to settle RFQ platform trades immediately.
SEBI permits, alongside Real-Time Gross Settlement, payment mechanisms provided by banks and payment aggregators authorised by the Reserve Bank of India to be used for settlement of trades executed on the RFQ platform; Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations must put in place necessary infrastructure, amend relevant bye-laws and disseminate the changes, with immediate effect.

Management and advisory services to FPIs from IFSCs allowed with thematic-scheme ban and restricted contra-position trading.
AMCs may provide management and advisory services to FPIs operating from International Financial Services Centres and regulated by the IFSC regulator even if not previously specified, provided such FPIs are prohibited from investing in mutual fund schemes classified as thematic and are subject to a restriction on taking contra-positions in equity and equity derivative securities listed on recognized Indian exchanges for a prescribed post-trade period.

Credit Rating Agencies must follow SEBI mandated registration, standardized rating scales, disclosure, governance, audit and outsourcing rules.
SEBI's Operational Circular consolidates CRA regulatory directives: registration and change of control approvals via the SEBI Intermediary Portal; procedures for transfer, suspension, cancellation and surrender of registration with mandated client communications and migration facilitation; standardized rating symbols and EL scale; detailed requirements for operations manuals, rating processes, press releases and treatment of non cooperation; periodic PD benchmarks and default/transition disclosures; prescribed timelines for reviews and press releases; governance, internal audit, conflict of interest, firewall and outsourcing rules; and continuing SEBI oversight and reporting obligations.

Extension of timelines for entering and verifying non-convertible security data in the security monitoring system; trustees must verify and report.
Issuers must enter details of existing outstanding non-convertible securities into the Security and Covenant Monitoring system by the revised deadline, and Debenture Trustees must verify those entries by the revised verification deadline. Debenture Trustees must submit fortnightly progress reports on issuer data entry and verification status, with each report furnished within five days after the end of the fortnight. The timeline adjustments respond to operational and technical difficulties with the Distributed Ledger Technology-based system and amend earlier operating guidelines.

Security and covenant monitoring requires depositories to perform quarterly compliance checks and report instances of noncompliance to regulator.
Depositories must periodically monitor compliance with SEBI circulars on the Security & Covenant Monitoring System using Distributed Ledger Technology, identify non compliance by issuers, debenture trustees, credit rating agencies and other stakeholders, and submit quarterly reports to the regulator in the prescribed format containing ISIN, stakeholders' compliance status, reference to relevant provisions, reasons for non compliance and date or expected date of compliance; the reporting regime is made operable from the circular's applicability date under the regulator's statutory powers.

Relaxation of physical dispatch requirement under Regulation 58 permits electronic delivery for certain non-convertible security holders until extension.
Limited relaxation of the obligation under Regulation 58(1)(b) permits omission of hard-copy dispatch of salient-feature statements to holders of listed non-convertible securities who have not registered email addresses, allowing electronic delivery instead; stock exchanges must notify issuers and disseminate the circular, which is issued under Section 11(1) of the SEBI Act read with Regulation 101 of the Listing Regulations.