A portfolio manager is a body corporate that, under a client contract, advises, directs or undertakes management or administration of the client's securities, goods or funds. A discretionary portfolio manager may exercise complete investment discretion, while a non-discretionary portfolio manager acts according to client directions. The investment agreement governs the parties' rights, liabilities, obligations and authority, and the investment approach identifies permissible securities and instruments. A Co-investment Portfolio Manager is confined to specified alternative investment fund investors and related unlisted investments.

Portfolio-manager registration and related operational and general obligations are regulated under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 2026. The framework covers registration, operational obligations, general obligations and responsibilities, and connected or incidental matters, and takes effect on April 1, 2027.

Non-compliance with the chapter or circulars issued under it empowers the Board to take appropriate action, including action under Chapter V, applicable provisions of the relevant Act, and other regulations issued by the Board. Supervisory bodies may also be directed to take appropriate action for the same violations.

Regulation 16P establishes advertisement reporting requirements for advertisements issued by regulated entities. Compliance applies in the manner and according to the requirements specified by the Board from time to time. The provision was inserted into the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Intermediaries) Regulations, 2008, and takes effect on the one hundred eightieth day following publication.

Electronic verification of documents under rule 26(1) may be completed through Aadhaar-based EVC, EVC generated through net-banking login on the common portal, or EVC generated on the common portal. Where authentication uses any of these methods, verification must be completed within two days after issuance of the relevant document. The framework is deemed effective from 23 June 2017.

Regulation 16O prohibits advertisements containing misleading content, testimonials, assumptions, projections, or assurances of guaranteed, risk-free, indicative or fixed returns. It also bars unfair comparisons, disparagement, misleading asset-class comparisons, exploitation of investor inexperience, unauthorised use of institutional imagery, and improper past-performance claims. Vague unsupported descriptions such as high yield, high rated or high returns, as well as indecent, legally prohibited or otherwise specified communications, are prohibited.

Regulation 16N permits advertising use only of ratings or rankings assigned by a Past Risk and Return Verification Agency. Advertisements must explain the ratings or rankings directly or provide website details enabling access to their meaning and methodology, and must state that they are only one factor in choosing a regulated entity's services. The ratings or rankings must originate from a study or survey covering all relevant market participants in the relevant category to ensure comparability and objectivity.

Long-term capital gains from equity-share sales qualified for exemption under Section 10(38) where the shares were acquired through banking channels, dematerialised, and sold through a recognised stock exchange after the prescribed holding period. Consistent coordinate-bench decisions involving materially identical transactions in the same scrip supported treating the transaction as genuine. The scrip was not treated as a penny stock or paper company, so the gains retained their exempt character.

Regulation 16M prohibits regulated entities from engaging in dark patterns specified in Annexure I to the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023, issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority. The provision, inserted on 8 October 2026, applies from the one hundred eightieth day after publication on 9 October 2026.

Regulation 16L requires advertisements by regulated entities to be true, fair, accurate, complete and unambiguous, with clear disclosures for examples, statistical data, graphs and charts. It prohibits misleading presentation, exploitation of investor inexperience, excessive complex language, and incentives for trading, service use, account activation, investments or mobile application downloads. Suspended entities cannot advertise. Unauthorised third-party advertisements require action within seven days, reporting to the supervisory body, and prominent website disclosure of the incident and action taken.

Celebrity endorsements may promote a regulated entity at the brand or entity level and may identify its products or services. They cannot contain direct or indirect inducements or claims concerning a particular product or service. Advertisements featuring celebrities require prior supervisory approval, or approval from the Board where no supervisory body has been specified. Endorsement costs cannot be passed to clients or charged to a mutual fund scheme, and prescribed disclaimers must be included.

Equal treatment in land acquisition requires uniform compensation where lands are similarly situated, acquired under the same notification, and taken for the same project. Land in the same village with comparable potential for non-agricultural and urban use qualifies for parity with comparable acquired lands. Market value was assessed at Rs.105 per square foot, together with applicable solatium and statutory benefits.

Regulation 16J excludes educational, factual, regulatory, client-responsive and other specified non-promotional communications from advertisement classification. Educational communications require minimal incidental branding, no promotional call-to-action or inducement, and post facto reporting where supported by earmarked education and awareness funds. Research shared with existing clients or investors must not claim entity performance. Any communication promoting products or services, or soliciting interest in them, is treated as an advertisement.

Regulation 16I requires each advertisement by a regulated entity to state its name, SEBI registration number and, where applicable, logo, and to display or communicate Board-specified disclaimers in the prescribed manner. For SMS, pop-ups, push notifications and comparable character-limited electronic communications, where those details and disclaimers cannot be included, a hyperlink to the relevant material on the regulated entity's official website is required.

Regulation 16H applies the Common Advertisement Code to every advertisement issued by a regulated entity concerning products or services within the Board's regulatory purview. Its coverage depends on the issuer being a regulated entity and the advertisement relating to products or services under that regulatory purview.

Advertisement covers communications, endorsements and representations distributed through print, broadcast, digital, outdoor and similar media for promoting, inviting or soliciting engagement with a regulated entity's products, services, brand or entity. Celebrity includes specified public figures, influencers, sports persons, programme participants, virtual influencers and persons capable of influencing viewers, but excludes specified senior personnel of an issuing regulated entity appearing in its advertisement. Regulated entities include securities-market intermediaries, mutual funds, asset management companies and portfolio managers, with designated supervisory bodies assigned to each category.

Registered persons with aggregate turnover of up to Rs. 1.5 crore in the preceding or current financial year may follow a special procedure for furnishing outward-supply details. Eligible persons may furnish FORM GSTR-1 quarterly for supplies of goods, services, or both. The quarterly filing dates cover the periods from July-September 2018 through January-March 2019, while related time limits for furnishing details or returns are to be notified subsequently.

Interactive Display Systems (ViewBoard) are classifiable under subheading 84714190 as automatic data processing machines where they satisfy the Chapter 84 conditions for storing programmes and data, free programmability, user-specified arithmetical computation, and logical programme execution. Their in-built CPU, RAM, storage, Android operating system, touchscreen, network access, and ability to install software and independently process, store and manipulate data support that classification. The monitor provisions do not apply because the systems are not separately presented display units and display is only one of several independent functions.

Land acquisition market value may be determined from comparable sale instances in neighbouring areas where no sale exemplars exist within the same revenue estate. Appropriate deductions must account for differences in the acquired land's location and characteristics. The valuation exercise treated the available evidence as the best material for assessing market value, and no additional material supported a higher valuation. The market values fixed by the High Court therefore remain applicable, with compensation to be deposited and disbursed according to law.

Unregistered persons may seek GST refund after cancellation of construction-service agreements or premature termination of long-term insurance policies where the supplier's credit-note period has expired. The applicant must obtain temporary registration, complete Aadhaar authentication, provide a PAN-linked bank account, and file FORM GST RFD-01 with statement 8, supplier certification, and evidence of having borne the tax incidence. Separate claims and registrations are required for different suppliers or jurisdictions. The cancellation letter determines the relevant date where services remain unprovided, and a partial supplier repayment permits only proportionate tax refund.