The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has made changes to not-for-profit organisations’ (NPOs) registration requirements on the social stock exchange (SSE) and the minimum subscription norms for zero-coupon zero-principal instruments.

The regulator has extended the registration period for NPOs to 3 years from 2 years, as per its circular dated Wednesday. This permits them to get registered on the SSE without requiring to raise capital for one additional year, subject to approval from the exchange. This has been taken into account after considering the practical challenges NPOs face with respect to statutory and regulatory approvals.

Sebi also reduced the minimum subscription requirement of the zero-coupon zero-principal instruments to 50% from the current 75%. Before granting any in-principal approval for partial fund raise, the SSE must undertake due diligence to ensure that funds raised are capable of being deployed in a meaningful manner. In case of an undersubscription, funds should be refunded to investors.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Friday met venture capital (VC) stakeholders and industry leaders at San Francisco to discuss the evolving India-US economic partnership and investment opportunities. He said India has a strong focus on simplifying access for foreign investors and ensuring long-term stability of its capital markets.

“India remains open and welcoming to global capital. Sebi’s approach is risk-based and facilitative, with a strong focus on simplifying access to foreign investors, strengthening market integrity, and ensuring long-term stability of our capital markets,” Pandey said.

The chairman spoke with global investors and VC players in the India-US Investment Dialogue organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Consulate General of India (CGI).

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has introduced a mechanism to lock in pledged shares, particularly those of initial public offering (IPO)-bound companies. This effectively restricts the sale or transfer of shares, especially by promoters, during their lock-in period. Depositories will now consider such shares to be ‘non-transferable’ for the applicable lock-in period, as per a circular issued by the markets regulator on Wednesday.

Amid the debate on corporate governance following the resignation of HDFC Bank’s part-time chairman and independent director Atanu Chakraborty in the past month, SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey announced on Monday that the market regulator is working with various stakeholders for capacity building of independent directors at scale.

“Independent directors are there not only for compliance and pointing fingers at management but for also supporting and finding solutions through accountability. They need to bear this responsibility in mind,” he said speaking at the 19th CII Corporate Governance Summit.

He added that capacity building cannot be mandated in a prescriptive manner. But it can certainly be encouraged, enabled and supported through collaboration between various such as industry bodies, professional bodies and academic/business institutions. The move is aimed at improving corporate governance.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has, in its March 20 Master Circular, allowed mutual funds to continue offering retirement and children’s schemes, but with some restrictions on the rollout of newly introduced life cycle funds. This comes after concerns were raised about decision to discontinue Solution-Oriented Funds as per the February 26, Categorization and Rationalization of Mutual Fund Schemes circular.

In its latest update SEBI has clarified that an AMC choosing to continue a children’s fund cannot launch a 20-year life cycle fund. Similarly, an AMC retaining a retirement fund cannot introduce a 30-year life cycle fund. If an AMC opts to continue both retirement and children’s funds, it will be barred from launching both the 20-year and 30-year life cycle funds, restricting it to only four tenures, namely 5, 10, 15 and 25 years.

An AMC that discontinues both legacy categories can launch the full set of six life cycle funds. In such cases, fresh subscriptions to retirement and children’s schemes must be stopped and those schemes merged into other funds with board approval.

The board of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Monday approved sweeping changes with respect to conflict-of-interest rules for its officials to improve transparency, especially among the top management. In addition, it also allowed netting of investments for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in the cash market.

Among the key changes on conflict-of-interest rules, the chairman and whole time members’ investments in equity and equity related investments (except for mutual funds and other pooled instruments) have to be liquidated or frozen at the time of joining. They can also sell through a trading plan or sell with prior approval.

Also, new investments in regulated products should not exceed 25% of their financial portfolio.

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Friday issued new conditions for intraday borrowing by mutual funds to address temporary liquidity mismatches while putting in place safeguards to ensure investor protection. The new framework will come into effect from April 1.

Sebi said mutual funds often face intraday timing mismatches between redemption payouts and inflows from investments. Typically, redemption payments to investors are processed during the morning hours of the settlement day (T+1), while funds from instruments such as TREPS and reverse repo transactions are received later in the evening.

To bridge this temporary funding gap, mutual fund schemes sometimes rely on short-term borrowing arrangements from banks or other financial institutions. The regulator said the new rules formally recognise this practice while placing clear limits and operational conditions.

Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey has advised the nearly Rs 16 trillion (commitments) alternative investment funds (AIFs) industry to look at real opportunities for growth by investing in innovation-led sectors, emerging businesses, climate transition, sustainable infrastructure and other priority sectors.

Pandey said there are more than 1,700 registered AIFs in the country and as of December 2025, investment commitments stood at about Rs 15.74 trillion and investments at about Rs 6.45 trillion, with a compounded annual growth rate of close to 30% in the past five years.

“For you, the bigger opportunity lies in where capital goes and what it helps create. We need long-term capital for healthcare, education, climate transition, sustainable infrastructure, and other priority sectors.

The markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on February 26 introduced a new rule that allows equity mutual funds to invest a portion of their portfolio in gold and silver. The move is part of a broader set of reforms aimed at making mutual fund schemes more flexible and diversified.

Under the revised norms, actively managed equity funds may, after meeting core allocation requirements, invest their residual portion, up to 35% of assets, in gold and silver instruments as well as units of infrastructure investment trusts. The move broadens the investment toolkit available to stock funds beyond money-market and liquid securities.

Market experts said that this new rule gives fund managers the flexibility to manage the portfolio more effectively in volatile markets and it can also moderate returns when the equity market is bullish.

India's mutual fund investors will now be able to add an extra layer of protection to their investments. Capital markets regulator Sebi has introduced a voluntary lock-in or debit freeze facility that allows investors to temporarily block any withdrawals or debits from their mutual fund folios.

The move is aimed at improving digital security as mutual fund investments increasingly move online.

Under the new framework, investors will be able to freeze their mutual fund folios so that no units can be redeemed, switched, or otherwise debited until the lock is removed, according to a circular.

The capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in its recent overhaul of mutual fund categorisation and rationalisation norms, has also clamped down on mutual fund overlap.

Mutual fund overlap refers to a situation where there is duplication of securities in the portfolio. This could be at the fund house level, or even at the individual investor level.

You see, the overlap may not be limited to securities or stocks held, but also in terms of their weight in the scheme’s portfolio and sector composition.

At an individual level, say you invested in a couple of mid-cap funds. Possibly, their top holdings may have exposure to the same set of stocks and sectors.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has allowed equity funds to allocate a portion of their portfolios to gold and silver funds, scrapped solution-oriented funds as a category, and introduced sectoral debt funds.

Here are major announcements from the capital markets regulator's latest exercise in categorisation and rationalisation of mutual fund schemes. As per the Sebi circular dated 26 February, equity mutual funds may allocate up to 35% of their noncore allocation to gold and silver, as well as Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) and debt instruments.

According to Kirttan Shah, founder of Truvanta Wealth, this move gives flexibility to funds that hold high percentages of cash. "Instead of holding cash, which is in debt instruments only, they can take a tactical call in having some exposure to gold or silver. Most funds might not do precious metal allocation, but now there is an option available to them," Shah said.

The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is set to change how mutual funds value gold and silver.
Starting April 1, 2026, mutual funds, including gold and silver exchange traded funds (ETFs) will rely on polled spot prices published by recognised Indian stock exchanges. This marks a shift from the current practice where these mutual funds base their valuations on the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) morning price. The LBMA price is converted into Indian rupees and adjusted for factors like currency fluctuations, customs duties, taxes, local premiums or discounts and transportation expenses.

Additionally, mutual funds are now allowed to dedicate a portion of their equity schemes to gold and silver instruments and permit hybrid schemes to Invest in gold and silver exchange traded funds (ETFs).
Another key change is with the newly introduced life-cycle funds, where schemes can invest up to 10% in gold and silver ETFs, exchange traded commodity derivatives (ETCD) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvIT).

The Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) announced a slew of measures on Wednesday to drive more investment into government securities, encourage promoters to have more skin in the game and eased regulations for market participants. In a major fillip to start-up promoters, the board has allowed them to hold employee stock options (Esops) at the time of going for an initial public offer, with conditions. “The proposal approved by the Board shall facilitate founders who received such benefits (Esops) at least one year prior to the filing of DRHP with the Board, to continue holding, and/or exercising such benefits even after being specified as the promoters and the company becoming a listed entity,” SEBI’s 42-page statement said Addressing the media after the board meeting, SEBI chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said that this decision is expected to convince startup founders to come to the public markets. However, he clarified that an industry proposal of allowing fresh Esop benefits to be availed by founders after the listing was not approved by the board.

The markets regulator has relaxed Esop rules for founders preparing to take their companies public. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch. India’s markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), has eased rules for startup founders on retaining their employee stock options (Esops) as they take their companies public. Founders can now retain Esops granted at least a year before filing the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). These stock options may continue to be exercised even after the company lists, and the founders are classified as promoters, Sebi decided in its board meeting on Wednesday. When filing IPO papers, founders were regarded as promoters. Once the company was listed, they could no longer be granted Esops and had to liquidate any outstanding stock options before going public. Sebi acknowledged that this rule negatively impacted founders during the initial public offering (IPO) process.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Wednesday launched a new initiative, ‘SEBI Check’, to help investors validate UPI addresses of registered intermediaries who collect funds from investors in real time. Speaking at the launch, SEBI chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said, “We are introducing a systemic solution for investor safety.” Some apps, which look similar to broker apps, have defrauded investors. Going forward, the market regulator will ask Playstore to verify such apps, he said, explaining the reason to go the extra mile. The new system will be implemented from October 1, and will apply to nearly 9,000 SEBI-registered intermediaries, mostly brokers, involved in fund collection. Apart from blocking imposters, ‘SEBI Check’ will enhance transparency, awareness and security for retail investors by ensuring that payments are only made to verified entities. This comes against the backdrop of increasing cyber frauds from unverified players.

Markets regulator Sebi has simplified the operational process and provided clarity on cash flow disclosure in the corporate bond database after a review of the Request for Quote (RFQ) Platform framework. In its latest circular, the regulator has made yield-to-price calculation on the RFQ platform easier. Now, only the due dates -- and not the actual payment dates -- mentioned in the cash flow schedule will be used for these calculations. This move is aimed at streamlining and simplifying the process of trade execution on the RFQ platform. As part of this simplification, yield-to-price will now be based on scheduled due dates, without applying any adjustments based on day count conventions. At present, yields on debt securities are calculated using more complex methods that consider actual payment dates and required day count adjustments. In addition to simplifying yield calculations, Sebi has introduced a requirement for mandatory cash flow disclosures in the centralised corporate bond database.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Tuesday proposed stiffer listing regulations for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These include enhanced eligibility conditions, increasing the minimum application value, lockin requirements by promoters, tighter norms for migrating to the main board, and stricter corporate-governance measures. The move comes after the regulator found instances of funds and proceeds from initial public offerings being allegedly diverted, circular transactions to related parties to inflate prices, and booking fictitious transactions to create positive sentiment among investors. Sebi has even halted the listing of an SME when concern was raised. In the consultation paper, Sebi has proposed doubling the minimum application value to Rs 2 lakh, restricting the offer for sale (OFS) limit to 20 per cent of the issue size, mandating the appointment of monitoring agencies to ensure that the money raised through an IPO was used appropriately -- among dozens of other measures.

The capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), has proposed measures to ease operations and compliance for custodians—entities that manage foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). The regulator has also proposed a review of the net worth criteria for custodians, which was last set at Rs 50 crore in 1996. Sebi has now proposed increasing it to Rs 100 crore. Existing custodians that do not meet the requirement will be given a three-year period to comply. In a consultation paper, Sebi has proposed allowing local custodians and market participants to rely on Know Your Customer (KYC) documentation attested by global custodians to simplify operations. Further, Sebi is considering increasing the obligations and monitoring requirements for custodians to ensure governance, risk management, and technical capabilities. This would align their responsibilities with those prescribed for qualified stock brokers or large stock brokers deemed systemically important due to the volume they manage.

To enhance transparency in market disclosures, Sebi is looking to broaden the scope of Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI) by including proposed fundraising activities, restructuring plans, and one-time bank settlements. In its consultation paper, Sebi has proposed that only agreements, including shareholder, joint venture and family settlement, that affect the management and control of the firm and are known to the firm should be considered price-sensitive and included in the illustrative list of events under the definition of UPSI. Additionally, key developments in corporate insolvency proceedings, such as initiation or approval of resolution plans by the tribunal, should be disclosed as potentially price-sensitive. If a forensic audit is launched or concluded for issues like fund misappropriation or financial misstatements, it should be disclosed as price-sensitive.