Vault managers must keep complete, accurate and electronically retrievable records and accounts of vault operations, including bullion received and withdrawn and bullion depository receipts issued. Vault-business records must be maintained in numerical sequence, separately from any other business records, and retained in the prescribed form, manner and period. The records and accounts must be available for inspection when required by the Authority, bullion exchange or bullion depository.

Vault managers are liable for loss of or injury to bullion stored in their vaults. Damage or loss despite reasonable care requires compensation based on the bullion's value at deposit, while negligence requires compensation based on its value on the date of damage or loss. Liability is excluded for force-majeure events. Vault managers must maintain adequate insurance for risks specified by the bullion depository or the Authority.

Registration of Vault Managers requires an application in the prescribed form and manner, accompanied by an undertaking accepting applicable liabilities. Eligibility requirements may include net worth and infrastructure for operating a bullion-storage vault. Registration is granted upon the Authority's satisfaction, and an applicant must receive an opportunity of being heard before rejection.

Bullion depositories must indemnify beneficial owners for losses caused by the wrongful act, negligence or default of the bullion depository or a participant. Where indemnification relates to loss caused by a participant's negligence, the bullion depository may recover the amount from that participant.

Regulation 50 establishes information-sharing and record-access obligations between bullion depositories and vault managers. Bullion depositories must provide vault managers with details of bullion transfers in the names of beneficial owners, in accordance with their bye-laws. Vault managers must make available specified relevant records concerning bullion held by the depository. A bullion depository may empanel only a vault manager registered with the Authority.

A beneficial owner may create a pledge or hypothecation over a Bullion Depository Receipt only with the prior approval of the bullion depository. The beneficial owner must intimate the depository of the arrangement, and the depository must enter it in its records. The recorded entry constitutes evidence of the pledge or hypothecation.

Every bullion depository must maintain a register and an index of beneficial owners in the manner specified by the Authority. The requirement establishes a record-keeping obligation concerning beneficial ownership.

A bullion depository may effect transfer of ownership of a bullion depository receipt on behalf of the beneficial owner. Apart from this authority, its status as registered owner does not confer any other right in respect of bullion held by it. The beneficial owner is entitled to all rights and benefits attached to the bullion depository receipt and is subject to all liabilities associated with that receipt.

Registration of transfer of Bullion Depository Receipts requires every bullion depository, upon receiving an intimation directly or through a participant, to register the receipt in the transferee's name. The registration function rests with the bullion depository, and intimation may be received either directly or through a participant.

Bullion depository services may be availed by any person directly or through a participant by entering into an agreement with a bullion depository. The agreement must be in the form specified by the applicable bye-laws.

Bullion depository-participant agency agreements may be entered into where the Authority so desires, permitting a bullion depository to appoint one or more participants as its agent. Each agreement must conform to the form specified in the bullion depository's bye-laws.

Bullion depository registration requires assessment of bye-laws and legal documentation aligned with the depository's objectives and consumer protection, together with an agreement with a vault manager having adequate infrastructure and standards for secure bullion storage. Operational approval requires physical verification of the bullion depository's infrastructure facilities and systems.

Recognition, commencement of business, net worth, ownership and governance requirements applicable to depositories under the IFSCA (Market Infrastructure Institutions) Regulations, 2021 apply, mutatis mutandis, to bullion depositories. Those established depository standards are thereby adapted to regulate bullion depositories' recognition, operational commencement, financial strength, ownership structure and governance arrangements within the bullion market framework.

Contracts between bullion exchange members, bullion clearing members and consumers must be in writing. Their enforcement is governed by the applicable rules and bye-laws of the bullion exchange or bullion clearing corporation of which the relevant parties are members.

Membership qualification criteria for bullion exchanges and bullion clearing corporations must be set out in their bye-laws. These must cover organisational form, professional employee qualifications and experience, financial-strength thresholds, disqualifications, membership categories, minimum net-worth requirements, and limits on trading, clearing, or settlement activity. Bye-laws must also prescribe membership application procedures and safeguards for conflicts of interest, ethical behaviour, and member conduct.

Bullion exchanges and bullion clearing corporations must establish a framework for sharing and monitoring data, including confidential and sensitive information. The framework must define sharing methods, eligible data categories, and an escalation matrix; maintain a digital record of information shared, recipients, and reasons; use technology and periodic audits for compliance monitoring; and assign individual accountability for breaches of the data-sharing policy.

Bullion clearing corporations must maintain and publish a non-discriminatory access framework for clearing and settlement services. The framework must state the basis for access granted to shareholder bullion exchanges and the compliance requirements for non-shareholder bullion exchanges seeking access. Bullion exchanges and clearing corporations must ensure equal, unrestricted, transparent and fair access for all persons without bias towards associates or related entities. The Authority's decision on disputes concerning non-discriminatory access is final.

Utilization of profits and investments by bullion exchanges and bullion clearing corporations must conform to norms specified by the Authority. Deployment of funds or other activities require prior approval, except treasury investments made under an investment policy approved by the governing board. Activities involving fund deployment that are unrelated or not incidental to core bullion exchange or clearing corporation functions may be undertaken through a separate legal entity, subject to the Authority's approval.

Every bullion clearing corporation must maintain a Settlement Guarantee Fund to guarantee settlement of exchange trades, funded by the bullion exchange, clearing corporation, trading members and clearing members as specified. On a clearing member's settlement default, the Fund must be used to complete settlement. The corpus must cover obligations arising from such defaults, be periodically stress-tested, and remain at least the higher of the monthly stress-test minimum or the prescribed dollar-denominated threshold. Utilisation is subject to specified norms.

Every bullion exchange must establish a Consumer Education and Protection Fund. The fund is intended to promote consumer education and provide compensation to consumers where bullion trading members default, in accordance with the framework specified by the Authority.