Appointment of SEBI Member replacing existing entry under central government notification, effected by notification under SEBI Act.
Pursuant to clause (c) of sub section (1) of section 4 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, Notification S.O. 4796(E) substitutes the existing entry against serial number 3 in the principal notification with M. Rajeshwar Rao as Member.

Code of Conduct compliance required for fund managers and dealers; quarterly self certification and best execution obligations imposed.
Amendments add PART A and PART B to the Fifth Schedule: PART A applies to AMCs and trustees; PART B prescribes a Code of Conduct for Fund Managers and Dealers that requires quarterly self certification, best execution obligations, conflict of interest safeguards, recording of investment decisions, transparent recorded communications during market hours, and prohibitions on market manipulative practices. The CEO must ensure systems to implement the code and report breaches to the board and trustees. AMCs may become proprietary trading members and self clearing members in the debt segment to clear and settle trades for their schemes.

Insider trading disclosure: time limit for voluntary filings clarified and disclosure requirements expanded under amended regulations.
The Regulations define timely voluntary disclosures as those submitted within three years from the date of the first alleged trade to the Board's receipt of the completed Voluntary Information Disclosure Form, and amend Schedule D to substitute "insider trading laws" for "securities laws", expand the information required about alleged violations (including details of securities, unpublished price sensitive information and its public disclosure date, circumstances of possession, and particulars of insiders and their trades), and require self certified copies of relevant documents.

Manager responsibility for fund investments now includes joint liability with investment committee and investor consent for external members.
AIF regulations now require the Manager's key investment team to include at least one person with five years' relevant experience and one person with specified professional qualifications (or the same person may satisfy both). The Manager retains primary responsibility for investment decisions but may form an Investment Committee whose members are jointly and severally responsible with the Manager; external committee members not disclosed at onboarding require consent of investors holding at least seventy five percent by value. The Board may add further conditions.

Market manipulation: diversion or misutilisation of listed company assets and accounting artifices deemed fraudulent and unfair trade practices.
Inserts an explanation into regulation 4(1) clarifying that diversion, misutilisation or siphoning of a listed company's assets or earnings, concealment of such acts, and any device, scheme or artifice to manipulate the books of account or financial statements that directly or indirectly manipulate the price of the company's securities shall be deemed manipulative, fraudulent and an unfair trade practice in the securities market.

Debenture trustee duties: enforce security creation, monitor receivables, perform due diligence before charges, enable inter creditor agreements.
Trust deeds must include statutory content per the Companies Act and Form SH.12 and be divided into Part A (statutory/standard information) and Part B (issue specific details). Debenture trustees must ensure implementation of conditions for creation of security, maintenance of debenture redemption reserve and recovery expense fund, perform quarterly due diligence and monitor asset cover for receivables secured listed debt, obtain half yearly statutory auditor certificates, treat breaches of covenants as reporting triggers, and conduct independent due diligence before creating charges or obtaining existing charge holder consent; trustees may enter RBI framework inter creditor agreements with holder approval.

Asset cover obligation: listed non-convertible debt requires maintenance and half-yearly auditor certificate, with limited government-guarantee exception.
Regulation 54 requires listed entities to maintain hundred percent asset cover or asset cover as per the offer document/Information Memorandum and/or Debenture Trust Deed at all times for listed non-convertible debt securities. Regulation 56 adds disclosure of all covenants of the issue and mandates a half-yearly statutory auditor's certificate confirming maintenance of the required asset cover and compliance with covenants alongside half-yearly financial results, except where bonds are secured by a Government guarantee. Schedule III requires disclosure of initiation and final reports of forensic audits to stock exchanges.

Limited purpose clearing corporation rules govern clearing of repo transactions and impose shareholding, fund, and governance constraints.
The regulations establish a regulatory framework for recognised limited purpose clearing corporation entities to clear and settle repo and reverse repo transactions in debt securities, define key terms, allow compliance via outsourcing with recognised clearing corporations under Board conditions, prescribe shareholding limits and foreign investment caps with a five-year founder lock-in, require contributions and replenishment obligations to the Settlement Guarantee Fund, restrict profit distribution for five years directing profits to the Fund, limit activities without Board approval, and mandate an arbitration mechanism for dispute settlement.

Private placement definition revised to align with Companies Act, 2013 and tighten trustee, security, and disclosure obligations.
Regulations amend the Issue and Listing of Debt Securities rules to align with the Companies Act, 2013, revise the private placement definition to reflect section 42, update statutory cross-references, shorten a specified notice period, and strengthen debenture trustee and trust deed requirements. Issuers must undertake in the Information Memorandum that charged assets are free of encumbrances or that prior creditor consent for second or pari-passu charges is obtained. Trust deeds must follow section 71 and Form SH.12 and be split into Part A (statutory) and Part B (issue-specific). Issuers must create a recovery expense fund and expanded disclosure columns in schedules detail security, covenants, events of default and risk factors.

Rights issue disclosure framework tightened and eligibility, threshold and application procedures amended to streamline investor protections.
Amendments to the Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements revise rights-issue regulation by raising specified monetary thresholds, redefining persons covered by certain disclosures, and narrowing the meaning of finance for a specific project to capital expenditures only. The Schedule governing letters of offer is restructured into two disclosure tracks with detailed mandatory content for letters and abridged letters of offer, including expanded risk-factor, financial, project, utilisation, audit qualification and wilful-defaulter disclosures. Procedural changes permit plain-paper applications under specified conditions, require SCSBs to accept complete plain-paper applications, clarify ASBA timing for credit and refunds, and strengthen issuer undertakings on segregation, deployment and reporting of issue proceeds.

Recognition renewal under Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act grants clearing corporation authorised operation subject to SEBI compliance.
Grant of recognition renewal to Metropolitan Clearing Corporation of India Limited under Regulation 12 of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations) Regulations, 2018 is authorised under section 4 read with sub section (4) of section 8A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 for a one year term, subject to conditions specified by SEBI and any additional conditions SEBI may prescribe or impose.

Recognition renewal: clearing corporation granted renewed recognition under securities contracts regulations subject to SEBI compliance conditions.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India, exercising powers under section 4 read with sub section (4) of section 8A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and Regulation 12 of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations) Regulations, 2018, grants renewal of recognition to NSE Clearing Limited for a three year period commencing 3 October 2020 and ending 2 October 2023, subject to compliance with conditions specified by SEBI.

Recognition renewal granted to a clearing corporation under securities contracts regulations, subject to SEBI compliance conditions.
Renewal of recognition is granted to Indian Clearing Corporation Limited for a three-year term commencing on 3 October 2020 and ending on 2 October 2023 under Regulation 12 of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations) Regulations, 2018, exercised under section 4 read with sub section (4) of section 8A of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956, and is subject to compliance with conditions specified by SEBI from time to time.

Renewal of recognition for a stock exchange granted, subject to ongoing regulatory compliance conditions imposed by the regulator.
Renewal of recognition is granted to Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India Limited under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act for one year, enabling it to deal in contracts in securities while remaining subject to the Act's regulatory framework and to conditions that the regulator may prescribe or impose from time to time.

Disclosure obligations expanded to require notifications where derivatives trade or index inclusion, and to cover corporate actions.
Amendment expands disclosure obligations to require listed entities to notify stock exchanges of specified events where the entity is listed, where derivatives on its stock are traded, or where its stock is part of an index with derivatives; it also substitutes the reportable events list to include corporate actions such as mergers, de mergers and splits.

Internal cadre switch over enables junior assistants to be considered for Officer Grade A upon meeting service and qualification requirements.
An amendment permits specified junior employees to be considered for switch over to Officer Grade A subject to a minimum service threshold, requisite qualifications, clearance of a departmental test and an interview by the Competent Authority, within the overall vacancy ceiling. The Schedule entry for Executive Director is substituted to set recruitment modes (promotion, deputation, contract), internal priority, eligibility criteria including qualifications and post qualification experience, promotion from Grade F, deputation conditions, Selection Committee composition and deputation terms.

Extension of statutory period: amendment lengthens the prescribed period under rule 19A(1), altering the proviso's duration.
Amendment to the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 substitutes the period specified in the proviso to rule 19A(1), increasing the duration prescribed in that proviso; the instrument is titled as the Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Second Amendment) Rules, 2020 and comes into force on publication in the Official Gazette under the authority of section 30 of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956.

Settlement proceedings amendment extends timelines, mandates electronic payments, and preserves transitional treatment for existing settlement notices
Amendments extend initial payment deadlines and condition further extensions on timely application; remove demand draft requirement and permit electronic payments; omit Chapter VIII while providing a transitional rule treating existing Settlement Notices as if Chapter VIII remains operative; limit hearings to the Internal Committee; and revise schedules to reword payment modes and replace penalty tables, adjusting benchmark, residuary and category amounts and adding multipliers and guidance for settlement determination.

Structured digital database requirement mandates internal records and preservation for unpublished price sensitive information in specified form.
Amendments mandate an internally maintained structured digital database for unpublished price sensitive information listing nature of information, names of sharers and recipients and PAN or other lawful identifiers, with time stamps and audit trails; the database must be preserved for at least eight years and retained through any Board investigation. Disclosures and stock exchange notifications must be made in the form and manner specified by the Board. Codes of conduct must prescribe disciplinary sanctions and remit collected amounts to the Investor Protection and Education Fund.

Investment adviser regulation: mandatory qualifications, networth thresholds, client-level segregation and no-commission implementation services.
The amendment strengthens regulation of investment advisers by defining key terms (including assets under advice, persons associated with investment advice, and principal officer), imposing minimum qualification, experience and certification requirements for individual advisers, principal officers and all client-facing persons, prescribing networth thresholds for non-individuals and individuals with transitional compliance periods, mandating client-level segregation between advisory and distribution activities at family and group levels, and restricting implementation services to direct products without any direct or indirect consideration while updating application forms and disclosure requirements.