Insider trading safeguards: expanded definitions and mandatory codes, controls and recordkeeping to protect unpublished price sensitive information.
Amendments broaden the insider trading framework by defining "financially literate", expanding "proposed to be listed", and treating recipients of unpublished price sensitive information shared for a legitimate purpose as insiders. Boards must adopt policies defining legitimate purposes, maintain a structured digital database with identifiers and audit trails, and ensure internal controls. Intermediaries and fiduciaries must adopt codes of conduct per Schedule C identifying designated persons, imposing pre-clearance (with trading-plan exceptions), restricted lists, contra trade rules, disclosure obligations for designated persons, and disciplinary measures including recovery and clawback.

Foreign portfolio investor rules: tightened control and contribution limits with sanctions and compliance-triggered liquidation measures.
Amendments redefine control to include rights to appoint majority directors or control management or policy decisions, and define Investment Manager. They impose contribution and control thresholds for non-resident Indians, overseas citizens of India and resident Indians in the corpus of applicants or existing foreign portfolio investors, provide exceptions for certain offshore funds and regulated investment managers, require clearance from sanctions lists and FATF-identified high-risk jurisdictions, prescribe transitional cure periods with prohibition on fresh purchases and mandatory liquidation for non-compliance, expand disclosure of changes in structure, ownership or control, and mandate clubbing of investment limits for entities with common ownership or control subject to specified exceptions.

Allocation in non-book-built issues: retail investors must receive a majority share, with remainder allocated and reallocation rules.
The amendment mandates that in issues other than by book building the net offer must allocate a minimum fifty per cent to retail individual investors, with the balance to other individual and institutional applicants; unsubscribed portions may be reallocated between categories, and if retail entitlement on a proportionate basis exceeds fifty per cent they receive that higher share.

Manipulative trade practices broadened to include detailed acts and communications influencing investor decisions and expanded liability for market participants.
The amendment expands "dealing in securities" to include various transactions and conduct designed to influence investor decisions and assistance in such acts, and inserts "manipulative" alongside "fraudulent" in Regulation 4. It restructures the list of prohibited acts to cover knowingly designed conduct, inducements to subscribe, artificial price effects through payments, manipulation of reference prices, knowing publication of misleading information relating to securities, dissemination of false advice, and adds exceptions for bona fide holders dealing in stolen or fraudulently issued securities. It also defines "Market Participant" and updates record and Companies Act references.

Pledgee eligibility expanded to include housing finance companies and systemically important NBFCs under takeover regulations.
The amendment adds housing finance companies and systemically important non-banking financial companies to the class of recognised pledgees under the takeover regulations. It inserts an Explanation defining a "housing finance company" as one registered with the National Housing Bank that is either deposit taking or has an asset size of five hundred crores or more, and defines a "systemically important non-banking financial company" by reference to the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements regulations.

Recognition renewal under securities law: company renamed and renewal notification amended to reflect NSE Clearing Limited.
Renewal of recognition was granted under section 4 read with sub section (4) of section 8A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 to National Securities Clearing Corporation Ltd. The Registrar of Companies certified a corporate renaming, and the earlier corporate name in the renewal notification has been substituted with the new name NSE Clearing Limited, amending the prior notification to reflect the name change.

Appointment of Presiding Officer under section 15MA establishes fixed-term statutory tenure with age and tenure limits.
Appointment under section 15MA of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 names Justice Tarun Agarwal as Presiding Officer of the securities appellate forum on a fixed remuneration scale, for a five-year period from assumption of charge, subject to cessation upon reaching the prescribed upper age limit or earlier administrative order.

Renewal of recognition under securities law granted to IFSC exchange for a limited period, subject to regulatory compliance.
Renewal of recognition is granted to India International Exchange (IFSC) Limited under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act for a one year period commencing in late December 2018, authorising contracts in securities subject to the condition that the Exchange shall comply with conditions as may be prescribed by SEBI from time to time.

Recognition renewal: clearing corporation authorised for a limited period subject to regulator prescribed compliance conditions and public interest.
Renewal of recognition is granted to India International Clearing Corporation (IFSC) Ltd under the statutory framework for clearing corporation recognition, subject to continuing fulfillment of statutory and regulatory requirements. The recognition is time limited and conditional; the clearing corporation must comply with conditions specified by the regulator from time to time, and the grant is made on the stated bases of trade interest, securities market interest and public interest.

Expense ratio caps for mutual fund schemes set; equity oriented classification clarified and limits imposed under amended regulations.
Amendment revises regulation 52 to define an equity oriented scheme for expense-limit purposes (schemes investing a minimum of sixty-five per cent of net assets in equity instruments) and prescribes revised total expense ratio ceilings. The total expense ratio excludes issue or redemption expenses but includes investment management and advisory fees. Separate caps are set for fund of funds (by underlying investment type), index funds and ETFs, tiered open-ended scheme limits tied to assets under management with marginal reductions at larger AUM bands, and distinct limits for close-ended and interval schemes; effective 1 April 2019.

Compliance period for incidental acquisitions: mutual fund sponsors must meet regulation 7B compliance within one year after corporate restructures.
The amendment inserts a proviso to regulation 7B providing that if a merger, acquisition, scheme of arrangement or other arrangement involving sponsors, shareholders of asset management companies or trustee companies, their associates or group companies leads to the incidental acquisition of shares, voting rights or board representation in the asset management or trustee companies, compliance with regulation 7B must be completed within a specified transitional period following such arrangement.

Designation of Special Courts enables listed trial courts to exercise jurisdiction under securities and depository laws in their territories.
The Central Government designates specified existing trial courts as Special Courts under the securities and depositories regulatory framework, after obtaining High Court concurrence, and allocates territorial jurisdiction so that the listed courts will exercise statutory jurisdiction in the named States and Union Territories.

Settlement Proceedings Regulations establish a framework for negotiated resolution of securities law contraventions through prescribed procedures.
The Settlement Proceedings Regulations, 2018 establish a regulatory framework authorising negotiated resolution of securities law contraventions by specifying the terms and procedural steps for initiating, considering and concluding settlements, and coordinate settlement processes under the principal securities, contracts and depositories statutes to give uniform legal effect to such settlements.

Regulatory amendment removes a prescribed listing provision, altering issuance and listing rules for securitised debt instruments.
The 2018 Amendment, enacted under statutory rulemaking powers, comes into force on Gazette publication and deletes regulation 35B from the 2008 Regulations governing issuance and listing of securitised debt instruments and security receipts, thereby modifying the prior regulatory text.

Regulation of stock exchange governance: SEBI issues rules on recognition, ownership and governance of exchanges and clearing corporations.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India promulgated the Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations) Regulations, 2018 under statutory powers to establish a regulatory framework governing recognition, ownership structures and governance arrangements for stock exchanges and clearing corporations, including standards for eligibility, ownership limits, transfer of control, and governance safeguards to protect market integrity.

Depositories and Participants regulations establish SEBI's rulemaking under SEBI Act and Depositories Act powers for governance.
Promulgation of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 2018 establishes a consolidated regulatory framework for depositories and participants under the rulemaking powers conferred by section 30 of the principal securities regulator statute read with section 25 of the Depositories Act, creating the statutory basis for supervision, compliance obligations, governance standards and operational rules applicable to depository participants.

Appointment of Administrator establishes a regulated procedure to collect, verify and refund investor claims under supervision.
Appointment of an independent Administrator and a structured mechanism for returning funds to investors are established; the regulations prescribe circumstances for appointment, the Administrator's authority to take custody of assets and records, and a procedural framework for collecting, verifying and disbursing investor claims, with safeguards on documentation, timelines, dispute resolution and regulatory oversight to ensure orderly administration and investor protection.

Membership eligibility tightened by amendment imposing an upper age limit and redefining Member as whole-time member.
The amendment substitutes the word "Member" with "whole-time member" in rule 3(2)'s proviso and inserts a proviso in rule 19A(2) that no person shall hold office as the part-time member after he attains the age of seventy years; the Rules are made under section 29 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 and commence on publication in the Official Gazette.

Age limit for part-time members introduced, barring continued service beyond retirement age under SEBI service rules.
The amendment substitutes the word "Member" with "whole-time member" in the proviso to rule 3(2) and inserts a proviso in rule 19A(2) providing that no person shall hold office as a part-time member after attaining the prescribed upper age limit; the rules take effect on publication in the Official Gazette under section 29 of the SEBI Act.

Buy back regulations establish SEBI's binding framework for conditions, procedures and compliance in securities buy backs.
SEBI issued the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Buy Back of Securities) Regulations, 2018 under sections 11(1), 11(2) and 30 of the SEBI Act, 1992 read with clause (f) of section 68(2) of the Companies Act, 2013, creating a binding regulatory framework prescribing conditions, procedures and compliance obligations for buy backs of securities by listed entities.