Special situation funds must follow the disclosure, valuation, net asset value computation and fund management entity contribution norms applicable to close-ended restricted schemes under Chapter III. As a category of restricted schemes, they must also comply with additional requirements specified for close-ended restricted schemes from time to time.

Borrowing by a special situation fund is prohibited, including leveraging activities, except where necessary to meet day-to-day operational requirements.

Special situation funds must maintain the minimum corpus, accept only eligible investors, and comply with additional investment conditions as specified by the Authority. The applicable corpus threshold, investor eligibility requirements, and supplementary investment conditions are determined by the Authority.

Special situation funds must invest exclusively in special situation assets under Regulation 57 of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Fund Management) Regulations, 2025.

Special situation funds must be close-ended and constituted in an International Financial Services Centre as a company, limited liability partnership, trust, or another permitted legal form. Their tenure must be at least three years and disclosed in the placement memorandum. An extension of up to two years requires approval from investors holding two-thirds by value of investments. Any further extension requires express consent from willing investors and an exit opportunity for dissenting investors.

A Registered FME may launch a special situation fund by filing a private placement memorandum with the Authority and paying applicable fees. Restricted schemes operate through a green channel and may accept subscriptions once the memorandum is taken on record. The memorandum remains valid for 12 months, during which the FME must achieve the prescribed minimum corpus and declare first close. A one-time six-month extension is available on payment of half the fresh filing fee. Material changes require immediate intimation to the Authority.

Special situation assets include eligible stressed loans, security receipts issued by a registered Asset Reconstruction Company, and securities of investee companies connected with stressed borrowings, security receipts, corporate insolvency resolution, or continuing disclosed payment defaults. Securities associated with corporate insolvency resolution or continuing defaults require a "D" or equivalent downgrade. A special situation fund invests in such assets in accordance with its investment objectives and may act as a resolution applicant under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

Regulation 53 permits a Registered FME to launch a special situation fund in accordance with Part D and the provisions of the governing Chapter. The authority to launch is qualified by compliance with that Chapter's applicable provisions, so the permission to establish the fund operates within the special situation fund framework.

Regulation 52 requires an FME or its associate to make and maintain a minimum contribution to a retail scheme, subject to specified exemptions. No contribution is mandatory for relocated schemes, index schemes, and qualifying fund of funds arrangements, including schemes investing only in index schemes or passive ETFs, where applicable disclosure and non-active-management conditions are met. The contribution must ordinarily be made within forty-five days, with a possible extension, and an FME's contribution may count towards applicable net-worth requirements.

Fund Management Entities must compute NAV for retail open-ended schemes daily and for retail close-ended schemes weekly, beginning when investment activities commence. Investments covered by the second proviso to regulation 46(1) are excluded from this computation. NAV must be calculated in the manner specified by the Authority. The NAV calculation procedure and methodology must be fully documented, regularly verified, and amended as necessary.

Regulation 50 requires the fund management entity and fiduciaries of a retail scheme to comply with Sixth Schedule investment valuation norms. For NAV computation and disclosure, scheme assets must be valued by an independent eligible service provider, including specified registered fund administrators, custodians, credit rating agencies, valuers, or other persons specified by the Authority. This requirement is inapplicable to investments in regulated schemes that are independently valued, whether such investments are made directly or through a manager in IFSC, India or foreign jurisdictions.

Borrowing by retail schemes is permitted only for temporary liquidity needs connected with redemption. The borrowing must not exceed twenty per cent of the scheme's assets under management and cannot remain outstanding for more than six months.

Retail-scheme offer documents must contain material information for informed investment decisions, including scheme objectives, strategy, methodology, NAV disclosure methodology, fees, conflicts of interest, risk management, and fund management entity details. Material changes to fund strategy require consent from at least two-thirds of investors by value. NAV must be disclosed daily for open-ended schemes and at least weekly for close-ended schemes, while portfolio disclosures are required quarterly within one month of quarter-end. Additional material information must be communicated immediately.

Retail schemes are subject to limits on unlisted securities, single-company exposure, sectoral concentration and investments in associates. Open-ended schemes generally have a cap on unlisted-security exposure, while close-ended schemes exceeding that threshold are subject to a minimum investor investment and an overall unlisted-security cap, subject to specified exemptions for eligible home-jurisdiction-regulated retail funds. Retail schemes must also meet a minimum scheme size, with open-ended schemes permitted to begin investment activity at a lower threshold and obtain a one-time extension to meet the required size.

Retail schemes may invest in specified securities, money-market and debt instruments, securitised debt, units of other investment schemes, and hedging derivatives, subject to required disclosures. Pending deployment, monies may be placed in overnight, liquid or money-market schemes, money-market instruments, bank deposits, or other specified assets. Before a close-ended scheme reaches its prescribed minimum size or an open-ended scheme raises its prescribed threshold, contributor monies must be invested only in capital-preserving, adequately liquid permissible investments disclosed in the offer document. Investments must comply with regulatory requirements, the scheme's investment objective and offer-document disclosures.

Retail schemes may be open-ended or close-ended. Close-ended schemes require a minimum three-year tenure disclosed in the offer document, and may be extended by up to two years with approval of investors holding two-thirds by investment value and approval of the Authority. Retail schemes must be established in an International Financial Services Centre as a company or trust under applicable Indian law and may pursue social venture, infrastructure, ESG, sectoral, thematic, asset-class, combined, retirement, or children's education investment strategies, subject to specified conditions.

Retail schemes must maintain at least twenty investors, with no individual investor contributing more than twenty-five per cent of the scheme's investment. Both the minimum investor threshold and the investor-concentration limit must be met within six months from closure of the offer under the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Fund Management) Regulations, 2025.

Launch of a scheme requires advance filing of a draft offer document with applicable fees. The offer document remains valid for twelve months after the Authority communicates that it has been taken on record, and that communication is treated as a Certificate of Registration for Income Tax Act purposes. The fund management entity must incorporate regulatory comments before launch, promptly report material changes, and obtain fiduciary approval before filing a retail scheme.

Retail Schemes may be launched by Registered FMEs (Retail) to pool money from all investors or a section of investors through an offer document. The pooled funds must be invested in permissible investments in accordance with the scheme's stated investment objective.

Restricted schemes may co-invest in permissible investments through an SPV under the applicable framework or through segregated portfolios issuing separate classes of units. Investments by segregated portfolios cannot be on terms more favourable than those offered to the common portfolio. Creation of a segregated portfolio must be disclosed in the placement memorandum. An SPV used for co-investment may undertake leverage if the leverage is disclosed in the placement memorandum.