Impact Assessment terminology replaces social audit terms, expanding investor access and vesting issuance procedures with Board specified conditions.
The amendment replaces "Social Auditor" and social audit firm terminology with "Impact Assessor" and "Impact Assessment", broadens investor access by removing limiting language and adding retail investors, and substitutes references to institutional/non institutional investors with "eligible investors". It substitutes Regulation 292K to require the Board to specify procedure and conditions for public issuance of Zero Coupon Zero Principal Instruments by NPOs, substitutes Regulation 292M to require the Board to specify fund raising document contents, and omits Regulation 292N.

Social Impact Assessment requirement replaces Social Audit designation for specified listing disclosures, changing the responsible professional role.
Regulation 91E(2) of the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements is amended by substituting the phrase requiring the social component to be "audited by a Social Audit Firm employing Social Auditor" with a requirement that it be "assessed by a Social Impact Assessment Firm employing Social Impact Assessor(s)"; the amendment takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

Investor Protection Fund: transferred unclaimed amounts shall not accrue interest and remain claimable under Board procedure.
Regulation 18(16) is amended to substitute punctuation in sub-clause (f), to provide that amounts transferred to the Investor Protection and Education Fund shall not bear interest, and to insert sub-clause (g) enabling persons to claim unclaimed or unpaid amounts transferred to that Fund in the manner specified by the Board.

Investor Protection and Education Fund: transferred amounts shall not bear interest and may be claimed as specified.
Amendment to Regulation 18(6) adds a proviso that amounts transferred to the Investor Protection and Education Fund shall not bear interest and inserts a sub-clause permitting the claim of unclaimed or unpaid amounts transferred to that Fund in a manner to be specified by the Board; a punctuation correction in sub-clause (e) is also effected.

Investor Protection and Education Fund: transferred unclaimed amounts shall not bear interest and can be claimed as specified by Board.
Regulation 61A of the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations is amended to provide that amounts transferred to the Investor Protection and Education Fund shall not bear interest, and a new sub regulation authorises claim of unclaimed amounts transferred to the Fund in such manner as may be specified by the Board. The amendment takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

Restitution and refund framework clarifies use of disgorged and transferred funds, prioritising investor restitution and entity refunds.
The amendment adds new transfer sources to the Investor Protection and Education Fund and prescribes that disgorged amounts and interest be used solely for restitution to eligible and identifiable investors or for rewarding informants; amounts from the newly added transfer categories are to be refunded to transferring entities after those entities pay eligible investors and claim to the Fund. Remaining monies after earmarking may be used for other Fund purposes, and restitution claims are barred after seven years from the Board's invitation of claims for disgorgement.

Employment eligibility changes tighten age and qualification criteria for SEBI recruitments and specify stream specific qualifications and experience.
Amendments revise upper age limits and prescribe stream specific educational qualifications and experience for Grades A-F across General, Legal, Research, IT, Engineering and Official Language Streams, including recognized postgraduate degrees, specified professional qualifications, equivalency by the Association of Indian Universities, and defined post qualification or desirable experience for particular grades and engineering specializations; the changes commence on publication in the Official Gazette.

Listing disclosure amendment changes applicability for top listed entities, removing one effective-date clause and making another date board-specified.
Amendment to the Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, effective October 1, 2023, removes the parenthetical effective-date reference after the phrase top 100 listed entities and replaces the parenthetical fixed date following top 250 listed entities with wording that defers the effective date to a date to be specified by the Board, thereby modifying the timing mechanism for applicability of the disclosure obligations for those classes of listed entities.

Compliance timeline for investment advisers updated; Board empowered to specify timeframes for mandatory duties.
Amendments to the proviso of Regulation 7(1) clarify and strengthen mandatory compliance language for investment advisers by inserting definitive words and replacing a fixed three-year period with the open-ended phrase such time as may be specified by the Board, thereby enabling the Board to determine applicable timeframes for compliance.

Renewal of recognition for a clearing corporation under the Securities Contracts framework, subject to SEBI compliance conditions.
SEBI grants renewal of recognition to NSE Clearing Limited as a clearing corporation under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act for a fixed term, on the basis that renewal is in the interest of trade, the securities market and the public, and expressly subject to compliance with conditions specified by SEBI and any further conditions that may be prescribed or imposed.

Renewal of recognition to clearing corporation granted for a fixed-term, subject to SEBI compliance conditions.
SEBI renews recognition of Indian Clearing Corporation Limited under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) framework for a three year term from 3 October 2023 to 2 October 2026, having found renewal to be in the interest of trade, the securities market and public interest. The renewal is granted under statutory powers and is expressly subject to compliance with conditions specified by SEBI presently or imposed in the future.

Listing requirement for non-convertible debt securities mandates exchange listing for new issuances from Jan 2024, with limited exemptions.
Regulation 62A mandates listing on recognised stock exchange(s) for all non-convertible debt securities proposed to be issued on or after January 1, 2024; allows listing of certain subsequent issues made on or before December 31, 2023; requires entities that list securities on or after that date to list all outstanding unlisted issuances made on or after that date within three months. Specified exemptions apply (section 54EC bonds, multilateral institution issuances, court/ regulatory orders), with issuances under the latter two to be locked in until maturity, and disclosure of all key terms to the stock exchanges is required.

Voluntary delisting of non-convertible securities requires in-principle exchange approval, unanimous holder consent and trustee no-objection.
The inserted Chapter VIA prescribes a framework for voluntary delisting of listed non-convertible debt securities and non-convertible redeemable preference shares, specifying exclusions, procedural steps and timelines for seeking in-principle stock exchange approval, holder approval and debenture trustee no-objection, detailed disclosure obligations to exchanges and on issuer websites (including a disclaimer on loss of statutory investor protections), notice and e-voting requirements, events causing proposal failure, final application procedures, provisions for partial delisting across exchanges, and exchange monitoring and reporting of non-compliance.

Fit and proper person criteria expanded; disqualifications defined and mandatory replacement of unfit directors or KMP within a set period.
Requirement and criteria of fit and proper person apply at all times to applicants, recognised stock exchanges, recognised clearing corporations, and their shareholders, directors and key management personnel, requiring general reputation, financial integrity, good character and honesty. Disqualifications include convictions for economic or securities offences, winding up or insolvency, regulatory orders restricting market access with bar periods, pending recovery proceedings by the Board, wilful defaulter categorisation, and other Board-specified disqualifications. Directors or KMP found unfit must be replaced within a specified period, failing which the fit and proper criterion may be invoked against the entity, and the Board's decision is final.

Fit and proper person criteria tightened: expanded disqualifications, director replacement obligation and Board's decision deemed final.
The amendment strengthens the fit and proper person requirement for applicants, depositories, shareholders, directors and key management personnel by defining fitness indicators (financial integrity, reputation, honesty) and listing disqualifications (convictions for economic or securities offences; winding up, insolvency; Board orders restricting market access or bearing on the securities market with specified consideration periods; pending recovery proceedings; willful defaulter status; and other Board specified disqualifications). Depositories must replace unfit directors or KMP within a short prescribed period and the Board's decision on fitness is final.

Grievance redressal timeframe: twenty-one calendar days to resolve investor complaints; Board may designate corporate monitoring bodies.
The amendment mandates that specified regulated entities shall redress investor grievances promptly but not later than twenty-one calendar days from receipt of the grievance and allows the Board to recognise a body corporate for handling and monitoring the grievance redressal process in such time and manner as may be specified by the Board.

Sponsor group minimum holdings and stewardship code impose extended holding, nomination and lock in obligations for InvIT stakeholders.
The amendment defines sponsor group and Self-Sponsored Investment Manager, expands identification of sponsors to include sponsor groups, and prescribes time phased minimum collective unit holding requirements for sponsor(s) and sponsor group(s) with associated lock in and non encumbrance obligations. Sponsors and sponsor groups bear collective responsibility for formation and asset transfer representations, with trustee recourse for breaches. Conversion of an Investment Manager to a Self Sponsored Investment Manager is permitted only upon specified governance, distribution, creditworthiness and independence conditions and requires unitholder and trustee approvals and an exit option for dissenting unitholders.

Sponsor lock-in and Self Sponsored Manager rules revised, adding nomination rights for large unitholders and a stewardship code.
The amendment adds definitions for group entities of the Manager and Self-Sponsored Manager, grants unitholders meeting a ten percent threshold a board nomination right subject to recusal and adherence to a new stewardship code, restructures sponsor minimum unitholding into staggered locked-in tiers with a monetary cap and transitional rules, omits regulation 7A, and prescribes conditions and an exit option for conversion to a Self-Sponsored Manager alongside stewardship principles in Schedule IX.

Appointment of Whole Time Member: Executive Director elevated to SEBI membership for a fixed three-year term subject to earlier orders.
The Central Government appoints Shri Amarjeet Singh, Executive Director, as a Whole Time Member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India under the SEBI Act and related service rules, for a three-year term from assumption of charge or until further orders, as per the Ministry of Finance notification.

Appointment as Whole Time Member under SEBI Act - public servant appointed to SEBI for a prescribed term.
The Central Government has appointed Shri Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue, as Whole Time Member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India under the SEBI Act and the Rules governing terms and conditions of service, for a specified period from assumption of charge or until further orders.