Foreign ownership cap in depositories tightened; new participant standards, dematerialisation agreement and pledge decision timelines introduced. Regulatory amendments align terminology with the Depositories Act, cap foreign entity equity in depositories at 20% with a definition based on majority non Indian ownership, expand participant eligibility to include clearing houses and qualifying non banking finance companies, require issuers to sign agreements enabling dematerialisation, mandate daily beneficial holdings details, and impose a deadline of fifteen days for depositories to approve or disapprove pledge or hypothecation applications following any investigation.