The (SEBI) board on Friday cleared the reintroduction of open-market buybacks through stock exchanges, a faster rollout mechanism for alternative investment fund (AIF) schemes, aligning securitisation norms for RBI-regulated entities, and intraday borrowing by mutual funds.
The board has also approved a new code of conduct 2026 for members of SEBI and will also be amended in the Employees’ Service Regulations 2001 following notification in the Official Gazette.
Another key approval is the theme of assessing the framework for small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) Capital Raising in the securities markets for an evidence-based review of the regulatory framework. The idea is to understand if the objectives with which the SME framework was designed to provide several relaxations to smaller companies are being met, and the effectiveness of existing regulations.
The board has approved reintroducing the stock exchange route for open-market buybacks with effect from August 1, 2026, after it was discontinued in 2023 following changes in the taxation framework. “When the buyback was being taxed as dividend tax, the volumes in the special window had gone down, so we closed it. The tax rules have changed to be taxed as capital gains tax and not as dividend tax. So now, there is actually a demand for this mechanism, so it has to be introduced,” said Kamlesh Varshney, whole-time member of SEBI at the post-meet press conference.
The route is being reinstated with a series of safeguards, which include reducing the buyback execution window to 66 working days from six months earlier, a minimum utilisation requirement of around 40 per cent of the buyback size within the first half of the offer, more disclosures, and restricting purchases from promoters and promoter group entities during the buyback period.
The appointment of a merchant banker for buybacks has been made optional, where if a company chooses not to appoint one, the responsibilities will be shared between the company, its compliance officer, statutory auditor, secretarial auditor and the stock exchanges.
The board also approved amendments to securitisation regulations for entities regulated by the (RBI) to align them with its 2021 securitisation framework. The changes will allow banks and non-banking financial companies to undertake single-asset securitisations, remove the 25 per cent obligor concentration limit, shift quarterly disclosure responsibilities to servicers and strengthen the independence of special purpose distinct entities (SPDE) used in securitisation transactions.
“These changes are aimed at actually creating a market where currently, of the 5 lakh crore SDIs, only about 54,000 crore are listed. Hopefully, after these changes… RBI-regulated entities, which are actually a major portion of this market, will be able to list, and this market will then grow,” said Amarjeet Singh, SEBI WTM.
SEBI also approved a ‘green channel’ mechanism to speed up the launch of Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) schemes to 10 days from 30 days earlier and enabled It has also approved doubling the monetary thresholds for simplified transmission of securities to ₹10 lakh for physical holdings and ₹30 lakh for dematerialised holdings.
The regulator will also come out with another detailed review of the derivatives markets in July, the chairman said.