The Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has said that ‘in-person’ verification of clients is a mandatory requirement for opening account by a depository participant (DP). This will hold good for opening trading account by a stock broker and vice versa, if the stock broker and DP is the same entity or if one of them is the holding or subsidiary company of the other, said Sebi in a note today.

Format for the quarterly report on venture capital activity to be submitted by Foreign Venture Capital Investors has been revised as per enclosed Annexure. In accordance with Regulation 13 (1) of SEBI (Foreign Venture Capital Investors) Regulations, 2000, all Foreign Venture Capital Investors are directed to submit the report on venture capital activity to SEBI complete in all respects in the new format with effect from the quarter ended 31st March, 2010.

In consultation with Stock Exchanges and based on the recommendations of the Secondary Market Advisory Committee of SEBI, it has been decided to streamline the operationalisation of Market Wide Position Limits (MWPL) of the derivative contracts on individual securities traded across Stock Exchanges as under:

Format for the quarterly report on venture capital activity to be submitted by Venture Capital Funds has been revised as per enclosed Annexure. In accordance with Regulation 22 of SEBI (Venture Capital Funds) Regulations, 1996, all venture capital funds are directed to submit the report on venture capital activity to SEBI, complete in all respects in the new format with effect from the quarter ended 31st March, 2010.

The Stock Exchanges shall review the lot size once in every 6 months based on the average of the closing price of the underlying for last one month and wherever warranted, revise the lot size by giving an advance notice of atleast 2 weeks to the market. If the revised lot size is higher than the existing one, it will be effective for only new contracts. In case of corporate action, the revision in lot size of existing contracts shall be carried out as per SEBI circular SMDRP/DC/CIR-15/02 dated December 18, 2002.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) vide circular ref. no. MRD/DoP/Cir-05/2007 dated April 27, 2007 made PAN mandatory for all securities market transactions. Thereafter, vide circular no. MRD/DoP/ Cir-05/2009 dated May 20, 2009 it was clarified that for securities market transactions and off-market/ private transactions involving transfer of shares in physical form of listed companies, it shall be mandatory for the transferee(s) to furnish copy of PAN card to the Company/ RTAs for registration of such transfer of shares.

It is clarified that for the half-year October 2009 – March 2010, the CRA shall receive the report of the internal audit by May 31, 2010. Its Board of Directors shall consider the report and take appropriate measures to rectify the deficiencies and the CRA shall send the Action Taken Report to SEBI by July 31, 2010.

The framework for SLB was specified vide circular no. MRD/DoP/SE/Dep/ Cir- 14/2007 dated December 20, 2007 and was operationalised with effect from April21, 2008. The SLB framework was revised vide circular no. MRD/DoP/SE/Cir-31/2008 dated October 31, 2008. Pursuant to feedback received from market participants and proposals for revision of SLB received from NSE and BSE, the framework is now modified as under:

2. In continuation thereof, it has been decided to amend the Simplified Listing Agreement for Debt Securities as follows with immediate effect:(a) fter clause 5, the following proviso shall be inserted: Provided that this requirement shall not be applicable in case of unsecured debt instruments issued by regulated financial sector entities eligible for meeting capital requirements as specified by respective regulators.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations, 2009 – Amendment in regulations 2,10,29,42,50, 96,98, Schedules VIII, XI and insertion of regulation 55A.