Portfolio managers must provide periodic client reports at intervals not exceeding three months and whenever requested. Reports must disclose portfolio composition and value, transactions, beneficial interests, management expenses, foreseeable investment risks, debt-security payment defaults or default-rating downgrades, and distributor commissions attributable to the client. Client-specific reports may be provided through restricted website access. On termination, portfolio managers must give a detailed statement of accounts and settle the account under the contract; clients retain the right to obtain portfolio details.

Portfolio managers must maintain separate client-wise accounts recording funds, investment and disinvestment transactions, investment-related credits, expense debits, and tax deducted at source. Books of account require yearly audit by a qualified auditor to verify accounting methods, procedures, and legal duties. Portfolio accounts must undergo annual audit by an independent chartered accountant, with the certificate supplied to the client. Clients may appoint a chartered accountant to audit books and accounts relating to their transactions, and portfolio managers must cooperate.

Portfolio managers must comply with a minimum five-year preservation requirement for all books of account and the other records and documents covered by the relevant chapter. The specified materials must be retained for at least five years as part of the general obligations and responsibilities applicable to portfolio managers. The requirement extends to every book, record, and document falling within the chapter's stated scope.

Portfolio managers are required to furnish the Board with a net worth certificate issued by a chartered accountant whenever specified by the Board, as part of the general obligations and responsibilities applicable to portfolio managers. Submission is contingent on the Board's specification, and each required certificate must verify the portfolio manager's net worth through certification by a chartered accountant.

Portfolio managers must maintain financial statements, auditors' reports, statements of financial position, and other documents specified by the Board. Principal Officers must retain physical or digital records supporting each investment transaction or recommendation, including the data, facts, and opinion underlying the decision. Portfolio managers must disclose the location of maintained records and furnish financial and other required documents for the preceding five accounting years when required by the Board.

Parity in land-acquisition compensation requires a beneficiary that accepted and paid comparable awards for land acquired for the same project to maintain a consistent position. Denying similarly situated landowners equivalent compensation would constitute impermissible discrimination by a State instrumentality. Landowners are entitled to compensation at Rs.105 per square foot, with applicable statutory solatium and interest.

Every portfolio manager managing or administering securities must appoint a custodian in respect of those securities. Portfolio managers providing only advisory services are excluded from this requirement.

Foreign portfolio investors may avail portfolio management services from a portfolio manager under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 2026. Eligibility to use these services is expressly extended to foreign portfolio investors within the framework of general obligations and responsibilities applicable to portfolio managers.

Portfolio managers must act under client agreements and may invest or advise in permitted securities, subject to Board-specified conditions for foreign securities, unlisted securities, and derivatives. Mutual fund investments must be made through direct plans without distribution-related client fees. Client-level prudential limits, credit-rating requirements, and alert-based monitoring apply, while investments in unrated securities of related parties or associates are prohibited. Client funds and securities must be segregated and safeguarded, with controlled aggregation, transfer, and securities-lending arrangements. Clients retain early withdrawal rights on termination, registration action, or portfolio manager bankruptcy or liquidation.

Portfolio managers act in a fiduciary capacity, must separately account for each client's securities and maintain client funds in a separate account with a scheduled commercial bank. They must not obtain undue benefits from client assets, borrow on a client's behalf, or lend client securities except as permitted. They must promptly redress investor grievances, value client securities under prescribed norms, report performance uniformly, and maintain policies and conduct controls for compliant management of client funds and securities.

Portfolio managers must enter into written client agreements, subject to specified exemptions, and obtain prior client consent for related-party or associate investments unless exempted. Before contracting, they must provide a certified Disclosure Document addressing fees, risks, conflicts, related-party matters, diversification, financial statements and performance. The document requires annual certification, updating, filing and website availability, with prompt addenda and client disclosure for material changes. Fees may be fixed, return-based or combined, but cannot include assured returns or upfront charges.

Portfolio managers must comply with the Code of Conduct specified in the Second Schedule as part of their general obligations and responsibilities under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 2026.

Co-investment portfolio managers are generally subject, mutatis mutandis, to the Portfolio Managers Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires or application is repugnant to the co-investment framework. Specified provisions concerning Regulations 4, 6, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 27, together with identified sub-clauses of the Third Schedule, are excluded. The remaining provisions apply with necessary modifications.

Co-investment terms must not be more favourable to a co-investor than the corresponding investment terms of the Alternative Investment Fund. Exit terms, including exit timing, must be identical to those applicable to the fund, and early withdrawal is permitted only to the extent that the fund has exited the relevant investee company. All assets under management must be invested in unlisted securities of investee companies in which Category I or Category II Alternative Investment Funds managed by the same manager invest.

Eligible fund managers must provide agreed portfolio management or advisory services to eligible investment funds, make material disclosures, and segregate client funds, securities, books, and accounts. They must appoint a custodian for investments in India unless one has already been appointed, and keep fund monies with scheduled commercial banks unless no Indian securities investment is intended. They must also maintain required records, furnish monthly reports, and comply with anti-money-laundering requirements.

Eligible fund manager registration for a new corporate applicant requires fulfilment of tax-law conditions, compliance with Chapter II requirements unless otherwise specified, payment of First Schedule fees, and a Board-format declaration. An existing portfolio manager may act for an eligible investment fund only after meeting the same tax-law conditions, giving prior intimation to the Board, and submitting prescribed declarations.

Chapter III applies exclusively to eligible fund managers acting as portfolio managers for eligible investment funds investing in Indian or foreign securities. For funds investing in Indian securities, the regulations apply mutatis mutandis, subject to specified exclusions and consistency with Chapter III. For funds investing in foreign securities, applicability is limited to Chapters I, II and III and Regulation 16(2), subject to the same contextual qualification.

A portfolio manager intending to discontinue portfolio-management activity must apply to the Board for surrender of its certificate of registration. The surrender process must follow the manner and conditions specified by the Board, requiring formal compliance for relinquishing registration.

Continuance of registration for portfolio managers requires payment of the prescribed First Schedule fees within the three months preceding expiry of each three-year fee block. Failure to make that payment permits suspension of the registration certificate, requiring the portfolio manager immediately to cease portfolio management activity for the full duration of suspension.

Certificate of registration for a portfolio manager remains conditional on continuous compliance, prompt written disclosure of materially false, misleading or changed information, prescribed net worth maintenance, fit and proper status, and prior approval for a change in control. Investor grievances require adequate redressal within twenty-one calendar days and reporting of complaint particulars. Business activities must commence within three years after registration, subject to Board-specified conditions.