The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has

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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has eased regulatory compliance for alternative investment funds (AIFs) regarding dematerialisation, diluted its regulatory framework for index providers, and reduced the minimum issue size and application amount for social stock exchange.   Instead of bringing all index providers under regulatory scrutiny, SEBI will now mandate registration for those offering 'significant indices', defined as those with substantial assets under management.   Introducing a framework for Small and Medium Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), SEBI announced the migration of current fractional ownership platforms (FOPs) will be voluntary.  The asset value for such REITs must be at least Rs 50 crore, compared to the Rs 500 crore required for larger REITs.  It stated that any fresh investment by AIFs beyond September 2024 must be held in dematerialised form only.The market regulator has mandated the appointment of custodians for Category II and I AIFs with a corpus exceeding Rs 500 crore. Currently, only Category III AIFs are required to do so. SEBI also approved reducing the issue size for non-profit organizations raising funds through Zero Coupon Zero Principal Instruments (ZCZP) from Rs 1 crore to Rs 50 lakh. Furthermore, the minimum application size has been reduced to Rs 10,000 from Rs 2 lakh to encourage broader retail investor participation.