MASTER CIRCULAR
SEBI/ HO/ AFD/ AFD – PoD-2/ P/ CIR/ 2024/40
May 10,2024
To,
All Registered Custodians
Dear Sir / Madam,
Subject: Master Circular for Custodians
1. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), from time to time, has been issuing various
circulars/directions to Custodians. In order to enable the stakeholders to have access to the
applicable requirements specified in these circulars at one place, the provisions of the said
circulars have been consolidated in this Master Circular. The terms not defined in this Master
Circular shall have the same meaning as provided under the act or the regulations, as the case
maybe.
2. In addition to the requirements specified under this Master Circular, the custodians shall be
required to independently comply with the other requirements specified by SEBI for market
intermediaries such as the ‘Levy of Goods & Services Tax (GST) on the fees payable to SEBI’,
‘Approach to securities market data access and terms of usage of data provided by data sources
in Indian securities market’, ‘Digital mode of payment’, ‘Information regarding Grievance
Redressal Mechanism’ and ‘Guidelines on Outsourcing of Activities by Intermediaries’, etc.
3. With respect to any other directions or guidance issued by SEBI, as specifically applicable to
Custodians, the same shall continue to remain in force in addition to the provisions of this Master
Circular or any other law for the time being in force.
4. This Master Circular shall come into force from the date of its issue. The circulars mentioned in
Annexure A of the Master Circular shall stand rescinded with effect from the date of issuance of
this Master Circular.
5. Notwithstanding such rescission,
a. anything done or any action taken or purported to have been done or taken under the
rescinded circulars, including registrations or approvals granted, fees collected,
registration or approval suspended or cancelled, any inspection or investigation or enquiry
or adjudication commenced or show-cause notice issued, prior to such rescission, shall
be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Master
Circular;
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b. any application made to SEBI under the rescinded circulars, prior to such rescission, and
pending before it shall be deemed to have been made under the corresponding provisions
of this Master Circular;
c. the previous operation of the rescinded circulars or anything duly done or suffered
thereunder, any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred
under the rescinded circulars, any penalty, incurred in respect of any violation committed
against the rescinded circulars, or any investigation, legal proceeding or remedy in
respect of any such right, privilege, obligation, liability, penalty as aforesaid, shall
remain unaffected as if the rescinded circulars have never been rescinded.
6. This Master Circular is issued in exercise of powers conferred under Section 11(1) of the
Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 to protect the interests of investors in securities
and to promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market.
7. This Master Circular is available on the SEBI website at https://www.sebi.gov.in/ under the
category “LegalMaster Circulars”.
Yours faithfully
Vikash Narnoli
Deputy General Manager
Tel No.: 022 –26449161
E-mail: vikashn@sebi.gov.in
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Contents
CHAPTER I .................................................................................................................................... 4
ONLINE REGISTRATION MECHANISM FOR CUSTODIAN ............................................... 4
CHAPTER II .................................................................................................................................. 5
FEES FOR CUSTODIANS .......................................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER III ................................................................................................................................. 6
SPECIFICATIONS OF VAULTS WITH CUSTODIANS ......................................................... 6
CHAPTER IV ................................................................................................................................. 7
SUBMISSION OF REPORTS BY CUSTODIANS ................................................................... 7
1. Daily Trade details of FPI in equity, debt & Hybrid ....................................................... 7
2. ISIN wise Assets under Custody (AUC) report ............................................................ 12
3. Fortnightly debt trades reporting .................................................................................... 12
4. Submission of Monthly Reports ..................................................................................... 12
5. Maturity-wise breakup of holdings in debt securities .................................................. 13
6. Custodian Quarterly Report ............................................................................................ 13
7. Net worth details .............................................................................................................. 13
8. Annual Review Report................................................................................................... 133
9. Reporting for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) applications and
systems offered and used by DDPs/ Custodians .................................................................. 14
CHAPTER V ................................................................................................................................ 16
Publishing of Investor Charter and Disclosure of Complaints by Custodians on their
websites ...................................................................................................................................... 16
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CHAPTER I
ONLINE REGISTRATION MECHANISM FOR CUSTODIAN
For online registration, applicant can access SEBI Intermediary Portal (https://siportal.sebi.gov.in) to
submit the applications for registration as a Custodian under the provisions of Securities and Exchange
Board of India (Custodian) Regulations, 1996 (“Custodian Regulations”). Link for SEBI Intermediary
Portal is also available on SEBI website - www.sebi.gov.in.
All applicants desirous of seeking registration as a Custodian are now required to submit their
applications online only, through SEBI Intermediary Portal at https://siportal.sebi.gov.in. The
Custodian seeking approval as Designated Depository Participant (DDP) in terms of Regulation 10 of
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Foreign Portfolio Investors) Regulations, 2019 (“FPI
Regulations”) shall also apply through this portal.
In case of any queries and clarifications with regard to the SEBI Intermediary Portal, intermediaries
may contact SEBI portal helpline on 022-26449364 or may write at portalhelp@sebi.gov.in.
Uniform Norms and Practices for Custodians
 Custodians are an integral part of the securities market and have an important role to play in the
institutional segment of the market. Their role is crucial in the effective functioning of the securities
clearing and settlement system. It is therefore, important that the custodians follow uniform norms
and practices in their dealing with their clients, brokers, stock exchanges and depositories.
 Custodians must function as an integral part of the system and integrate with the system.
Therefore, no custodians shall have such norms and practices as would result in their functioning
in isolation of clearing and settlement systems.
 Custodians must be a member of the clearing houses/ clearing corporations of the stock
exchange(s) and participate in the clearing and settlement process through the clearing
house/clearing corporation for all securities of their clients.
 Custodians shall comply with the applicable rules of the exchanges where they have become
members of the clearing house/clearing corporation. This would facilitate the operations of the
clients, and also result in reduction of cost of service for the client.
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CHAPTER II
FEES FOR CUSTODIANS
Format of payment of annual fee at the end of the Financial Year (on or before 30th
April)
Payment of annual fee by Custodians to SEBI shall be made in terms of Second Schedule of
Custodian Regulations. The payment of annual fee shall be accompanied by a statement of assets
under custody as per below format and shall be certified to be true and complete by the functional
head of the custody services of the custodian.
Annual fee based on asset under management for previous financial year:
Market Value (in INR Crore)
Month Equity Debt VRR Hybrid Total Charge
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Total
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CHAPTER III
SPECIFICATIONS OF VAULTS WITH CUSTODIANS
Custodians hold securities of considerable value on behalf of their clients. It is expected that they would
take adequate measures to ensure safety of the assets held. Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
specifications for construction of vaults can be referred as per the following notification: Reserve Bank
of India - Notification regarding Minimum Standards for a Currency Chest (RBI/2018-19/166; DCM
(CC) No. 2482/03.39.01/2018-19 dated April 8, 2019).
Adherence to other extant technical specifications issued by RBI vide DCM (CC) No G-
18/03.39.01/2008-09 dated November 14, 2008 relating to construction, etc. can be found at
Annexure B.
Custodians shall submit the specifications of their vaults along with their size as part of their quarterly
report.
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CHAPTER IV
SUBMISSION OF REPORTS BY CUSTODIANS
Custodians are required to email the reports mentioned at points 1 to 8 below to
custodianreports@sebi.gov.in and upload them on the SEBI portal wherever applicable. The reports
mentioned at point 9 shall be emailed to ai_cust@sebi.gov.in
1. Daily Trade details of FPI in equity, debt & Hybrid
Custodians on a daily basis are required to report details of transactions entered into by the FPI. The
daily investment reports shall be submitted to SEBI by 3:00 p.m. Custodians are advised to strictly
adhere to the above deadline of 3.00 p.m. as SEBI shall be imposing penalty on defaulting custodians.
Section A: General instructions:
These are general instructions to be followed by the custodians while compiling and submitting daily
reports to SEBI.
1. The date format to be used for all reports submitted to SEBI would be DD-MM-YYYY.
2. Custodians must ensure that the data submitted is accurate and complete and does not contain
any blank or incomplete records.
3. All transactions will have a unique transaction identification number (ID) which would be given by
the custodians at their end. Custodians are free to give any ID as per their own system. It should
however be ensured that the ID is not repeated.
4. To avoid any confusion regarding the name of the security, International Securities Identification
Number (ISIN) codes should be used. The appropriate ISINs for scrips as applicable for the
physical and demat form, etc. are to be used. Some of the sites where list of ISIN codes are
available are mentioned below:
www.sebi.gov.in., www.nsdl.co.in, www.rbi.org.in
Section B: Reporting of Equity Transactions
Daily Reports {DTR):
1. The FPI transactions are to be reported to SEBI through daily reports. Custodians would submit a
Daily Transaction Report (DTR) along with the Daily Transaction Summary (DTS) in specified
formats. The form and order of fields of DTR, DTS, field description and widths etc. are enclosed
as Annexure C and D respectively. The format of DTR is given in Annexure E.
2. The DTR and DTS would be submitted in soft forms in xml format.
3. The registration number of FPI in the DTR should be the same as those given by SEBI.
4. Transactions in unlisted securities and securities which may not have ISIN codes may be reported
by mentioning NO_ISIN in the ISIN field. (The purpose of ISIN in the report is to identify the
company and not any particular series of shares. Wherever an ISIN for a specific series of shares
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is not available, a previously known and available ISIN for the same share may be used). However,
every effort should be made to report the transaction with the ISIN code.
5. The transactions should be reported at the exact transaction price and charges such as
brokerage/service tax etc. should be excluded.
6. The data in the DTR and the DTS should be reconciled by the custodian before submission. In
case the data does not tally, it would not be possible to load the same. The custodians are therefore
advised to ensure proper supervision at their end while uploading the reports.
7. In case of transactions where the trades do not involve an exchange and broker, the exchange
code and the broker code in the DTR should be 99 and 999999999999 respectively.
8. The nature of transaction for obligation square off would be same as the appropriate code for
square off i.e. code 13 or 14.
9. Subscription in public/preferential/rights issues: Applications made for allotment of securities
in a public/preferential/rights issue need not be reported. Such transactions are to be reported only
on allotment and to the extent of actual allotment received. Similar procedure is to be followed in
respect of lodgment of shares in open offers, buybacks etc. Custodians may devise appropriate
internal procedures to record lodgment of applications / securities etc.
10. Reporting of merger/amalgamation/splitting of shares: The reporting should be done on the
basis of credit of shares to the clients account.
11. Debenture Conversion: In case of debenture conversion into equity, the reduction in value of
debenture should be shown as a sale transaction in debt report with transaction code (08). The
acquisition of equity should be reported as a conversion transaction (which would be deemed as a
purchase) in the equity report at conversion rate giving transaction code as (06). The net
investment as on that date would generally be nil. Efforts should be made to report both legs of the
transaction on the same day. However, in case any cash is either received or given, the same
should be added to the rate field in sale and purchase trades appropriately.
12. Merger/Amalgamation cases: In a merger, the existing shares are exchanged for the shares of
resulting entity after the merger. Thus, the first leg of the trade has to be a sale of the shares which
have been surrendered to the company, where the price of shares would be nil, and the Nature of
trade 16. In case cash is received by the client, the same should be incorporated in the price.
The second leg of the trade would be the receipt of the new shares, again at a nil value and the
Nature of Trade as 07. In case the client receives debt security also along with shares, then there
would be another purchase transaction (with code 07 again) with price nil.
13. Buyback of shares and Open Offers: The shares accepted by the company are to be shown as
sale with nature of transaction as 11 for buybacks and 09 for open offers. The rate of buyback /
open offer may be appropriately incorporated. If fresh shares are also received along with the cash,
then this receipt of shares is to be shown as a transaction with nature of transaction code as 07. In
case the client receives debt security also along with shares/cash, the following may be followed:
The equity shares lodged will be shown at full value received i.e. cash received plus the value of
debt component. Then there would be another purchase transaction in the debt report (with code
06) with the acquisition rate.
E.g.: if a company offers to buyback / make an open offer to buy securities @ INR 150/- per share
comprising cash component of INR 50/- cash and a debt instrument of INR 100/- face value, then
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the equity report will reflect full value received as INR 150/- and the debt report will show a purchase
of debt instrument@ INR100/-.
14. Splitting of shares: The quantity of shares which are getting split should be reported as sale with
the nature of transaction code as 15. The quantity of shares which are received should be reported
as purchase, with nature of transaction code as 07. The price field in both the records would be
zero.
15. Warrants: Warrants when allotted shall be reported with the appropriate purchase code. At the
time of sale in open market they have to be reported as sale with code 04 and stock exchange and
broker code as 99 and 99999999999 respectively. In case the warrants are exercised, the
transaction of warrants should be shown as a sale at code 08 with the rate as the original purchase
value of the warrants. The shares or securities allotted pursuant to exercise of warrants may be
reported as a purchase with code 05 with the total exercise price as the rate. In case, the warrants
lapse/expire, the transaction should be shown under code 17.
For example, suppose one warrant was purchased for INR 100. The purchase has to be reported
appropriately. If the warrant is subsequently sold at INR 105, it has to be shown under code 04 and
value INR 105. If the warrant is exercised to subscribe equity shares @INR 1000 each, the
transaction of exercise of warrants should be reported under code 08 with value INR 100 and a
corresponding purchase of equity shares @ INR 1000 under code 05. In case the warrant is not
exercised and it lapses, it has to be reported under code 17 with zero value.
Section C: Reporting of Debt transactions
1. The format for the debt ‘Daily Debt Transaction Report’ (DDR) and ‘Daily Debt Transaction
Summary’ (DDS) would be the same as the formats for the equity DTR and DTS.
2. The operational guidelines are as under:
a) Some instruments are traded just like equity i.e. price for each unit of debenture / bond is
quoted. In such cases, the quantity may be quoted as "actual number of units" transacted.
In such cases transactions may be reported in the same manner as in equity. The transaction
quantity and transaction rate fields would contain the actual quantity and rate.
b) Some instruments like government dated securities, Treasury bills, government loans etc. are
quoted on a base of "Rs. 100". Instruments like Treasury Bills, Dated Government securities,
Government loans, certain types of corporate / institutional bonds etc. are generally traded on
a Rs 100 basis. It is observed that an instrument which is quoted on a Rs. 100 basis is traded
in all markets in such a manner.
3. For reporting transactions in these kind of securities, the transaction quantity may be quoted in
terms of gross value of debt (i.e. face value of debt) that the seller is offering and not in "number"
terms like equity. The transaction rate field would contain the actual market quote of the instrument
(this quote will be for a INR 100 value of the security). The system would compute the transaction
value in such cases as:
Transaction quantity * Transaction rate/100
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4. Custodians are advised to strictly follow the above methodology for reporting of transactions in
such securities
i. The securities name in the debt report should encompass the entire details of the securities,
i.e., coupon rate, issuer, maturity, series, other features, etc.
ii. The interest portion and any other charge/commission has to be excluded from the debt
trade report.
iii. The nature of transaction for debt securities will be the same as that for equity as given in
Annexure D.
iv. In case of nature of transaction where the trades may not involve an exchange and broker
the exchange code and the broker code in the DTR should be 99 and 999999999999
respectively.
v. In case of any amendment of the transactions, the amended transaction is to be reported
again with same Transaction Identity No. and Reporting Type as: Amendment (the
appropriate codes as given in the annexure are to be used in the soft copy of the report).
In case of deletion of a transaction, the transaction be reported with same Trade ID and
Reporting Type as: Deletion.
vi. In case of debenture conversion into equity, the reduction in value of debenture to be shown
with value as a sale transaction with transaction code (08) in the debt file. This transaction
would be balanced with the acquisition of equity to be reported in the equity file as a
conversion transaction (which would be deemed as a purchase) at conversion rate with
transaction code (06). However, in case any cash is either received or given, the same
should be added to the rate field in sale and purchase trades respectively.
Section D: Amendment / deletion of transactions:
1. In case of any amendment of the transactions, the amended transaction may be reported again
with same Transaction Identity No. and Reporting Type as: Amendment (the appropriate codes as
given in the annexure are to be used in the soft copy of the report).
2. In case of deletion of a transaction, the transaction be reported with same Trade ID and Reporting
Type as: Deletion. A statement may be submitted in case of amendment / cancellation of
transactions mentioning the reasons therefor.
3. All amendments / deletions should be reported on the day when information about the same is
received by the custodian. Delay in reporting would be viewed seriously.
a. Sub-division of contracts is to be reported as two transactions as indicated below:
i. First transaction would be amendment of original transaction, should generally contain
the larger of the quantity divided and would contain A in the R_Type field and R_Change
as 07
ii. The second transaction would be reported with a new ID, with the remainder quantity
with N as the R_Type, but in the R_Change field the code would not be 00 but 07 again.
iii. Similarly, if there are three or more sub divisions, the same may be reported as per the
above paras.
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b. Similarly, in case of consolidation of contracts, there would be two transactions as
indicated below.
i. First transaction would be amendment of the first original transaction and contain the
consolidated quantity, would contain A in R-type and code 08 for consolidation in the
R_Change field.
ii. The second transaction would relate to the deletion of the second original transaction,
rest of the details same as the original transaction and in the R_type field it would
contain D and the R_Change as 08.
iii. Similarly, if there is third, fourth or more contracts which have been consolidated and
reported as above, in 14(i), then all those are also be deleted the same may be reported
as per the above paras.
c. It has been observed that on many occasions, reports are received late or are incomplete
or are submitted with different parameters than prescribed. This result in problems and
delay in compilation of data. It is therefore suggested that all reports should be duly verified
before submission. SEBI shall be monitoring the quality of reports being submitted and
action may be taken against erring custodians.
Section E: Hybrid Instruments and Voluntary Retention Route (VRR) investment:
1. Custodians shall report transactions on a daily basis in hybrid instruments and under VRR in a
separate excel file.
2. This excel file shall be sent as a separate email to custodianreports@sebi.gov.in with the subject
“FPI investments in hybrid instruments”. The file naming convention shall be “FPI-Hybrid-
<date>.xlsx” where date is in dd-mm-yyyy format. Those custodians who do not have any
transactions to report for the day need not send an email for nil reporting.
Section F: Reporting of Trades on Holidays:
There are occasions when SEBI is closed on account of holiday, but the exchanges being a nationwide
trading network are open for trading. For such occasions, custodians are requested to submit separate
reports - one would be the normal report and the other for the holiday. Care must be taken not to
submit a consolidated report, but different reports with proper reporting dates.
LIST OF ANNEXURES
ANNEXURE DESCRIPTION
C Order and parameter of Fields for the Daily Transaction Report
D Daily Transaction Summary
E Daily Transaction Report
F Nature of Transaction Codes
G Stock Exchange Codes and Settlement Codes
H Type of Instrument codes, Reason for Delay and Reporting Type
I Reasons for Amendment / Deletion of Trades
J Format for Issuance of ISIN for Unlisted Securities
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2. ISIN wise Assets under Custody (AUC) report
Custodians shall report ISIN wise AUC details of FPIs, on a fortnightly basis by the 2nd working day
of the end of each fortnight. Based on these reports, fortnightly Sector-wise FPI investment data is
being disseminated on the websites of NSDL and CDSL. These reports are available on NSDL and
CDSL on below weblink:
NSDL: https://www.fpi.nsdl.co.in/web/Reports/FPI_Fortnightly_Selection.aspx
CDSL : Fortnightly Sector-wise FII Investment data (cdslindia.com)
The format of the ISIN wise AUC report to be submitted by custodians is enclosed as Annexure K.
For fortnightly AUC for hybrid instruments and under VRR, custodians shall report as a separate
excel file, via email only, to custodianreports@sebi.gov.in. The format for reporting AUC remains
the same.
3. Fortnightly debt trades reporting
With a view to monitor the allocation and utilization of limits for Government and Corporate debt
and Upper Tier II instruments, the custodians are advised to submit fortnightly reports to SEBI in
the format enclosed in Annexure L.
4. Submission of Monthly Reports
Custodians should provide the market value of the securities held in custody with them along with
other details on a monthly basis in the requisite format. The market value on the last day of each
month may be submitted in the specified format. The custodians shall submit the following monthly
reports latest by either the end of the third working day of the succeeding month or the 5th of the
succeeding month, whichever is later, as per the reporting format at Annexure M.
Sl. No. Monthly Reports
A Category wise AUC data for all clients
(FPI/FDI/MF etc.)
B Category wise AUC data for FPIs
C Country wise AUC data for FPIs
D Report of short sales by FPIs for the Month #
E ADR / GDR - Dual fungibility report
F Change of Custodian details during the month
# The said report (i.e Report of short sales by FPIs for the Month) shall be uploaded within 15
calendar days from the end of each month. Custodians shall submit the report on SEBI
Intermediary Portal (SI Portal).
The Assets Under Custody (AUC) is being disseminated on the websites of NSDL and CDSL as
under:
NSDL: https://www.fpi.nsdl.co.in/web/Reports/ReportsListing.aspx
CDSL: FPI Statistics (cdslindia.com)
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5. For monthly AUC for hybrid instruments and under VRR, custodians shall report as a separate
excel file, via email only, to custodianreports@sebi.gov.in. The format for reporting AUC remains
the same. Maturity-wise breakup of holdings in debt securities
Custodians shall report details of original maturity wise breakup & residual maturity-wise breakup
of FPI holdings in debt securities as on every month end to SEBI by the 5th day of the next month.
The format of the reports to be submitted by custodians is enclosed as Annexure N.
6. Custodian Quarterly Report
Custodians are required to submit below periodic information relating to their operations on
quarterly basis.
i. General Particulars including Name, Address, Custodian Registration No., Contact details
ii. List of other registrations held with SEBI
iii. List of other associate / subsidiary companies operating in the securities markets, their
activities and registration numbers
iv. Networth of the Custodian
v. Detail of changes in infrastructure facilities e.g. change / addition / reduction of office,
computers, vault capacity, key employees etc.
vi. Details of clients and corpus
vii. Details of clients / accounts added / deleted during last 3 months
viii. Trade statistics for the quarter
ix. Specifications and size of the vault
x. Compliance with respect to display of information related to grievance redressal
mechanism, publishing of investor charter and disclosure of complaints on the website of
the Custodian
The format of the quarterly reports to be submitted by custodians is enclosed as Annexure O.
Custodians shall submit the reports on SEBI Intermediary Portal (SI Portal). The reports shall be
uploaded within 15 calendar days from the end of each quarter.
7. Net worth details
In order to monitor the fulfillment of capital requirements, all custodians are advised to submit a
certified copy of their audited annual accounts / annual report along with a networth certificate
signed by a practicing chartered accountant annually to SEBI within six months of close of each
financial year. Custodians shall submit the report on SEBI Intermediary Portal (SI Portal).
8. Annual Review Report
Regulation 14 of the Custodian Regulations stipulates an annual review of the systems, procedures
& controls of the custodian by an expert. This review covers the systems and procedures being
followed by the custodian to meet its obligations towards its clients, regulators and other relevant
bodies.
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A copy of the review report, in this regard, is required to be filed with SEBI annually. The report for
a particular calendar year would be filed by 31st March of the following year along with ‘Action
Taken Report’, if any. Custodians shall submit the report on SEBI Intermediary Portal (SI Portal).
Further, this review report should also cover the aspect of reporting of FPI transactions to SEBI
and RBI as stipulated vide Regulation 25 of the FPI Regulations.
9. Reporting for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) applications and systems
offered and used by DDPs/ Custodians
Background
i. There is increasing usage of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) as product
offerings by DDPs/ Custodian of Securities (e.g.: “query processing”) in investor and consumer
facing products. SEBI is creating an inventory of the AI/ ML landscape in the Indian financial
markets to gain an in-depth understanding of the adoption of such technologies in the markets
and to ensure preparedness for any AI/ ML policies that may arise in the future.
ii. As most AI/ ML systems are black boxes and their behavior cannot be easily quantified, it is
imperative to ensure that any advertised financial benefit owing to these technologies in
investor facing financial products offered by intermediaries should not constitute to
misrepresentation.
Scope definition
iii. Any set of applications/ software/ programs/ executable/ systems (computer systems) –
cumulatively called application and systems,
a) that are offered to investors (individuals and institutions) by market intermediaries to facilitate
investing and trading, OR
b) to disseminate investments strategies and advice, OR
c) to carry out compliance operations / activities,
where AI/ ML is portrayed as a part of the public product offering or under usage for compliance
or management purposes, is included in the scope of this circular. Here, “AI” / “ML” refers to
the terms “Artificial Intelligence” and “Machine Learning” used as a part of the product
offerings. In order to make the scope of this circular inclusive of various AI and ML technologies
in use, the scope also covers Fin-Tech and Reg-Tech initiatives undertaken by market
participants that involve AI and ML.
iv. Technologies that are considered to be categorized as AI and ML technologies, are explained
in Annexure O.
Regulatory requirements
v. All Custodians / Designated Depository Participants (‘DDPs’) offering or using applications or
systems as defined in Annexure P, should participate in the reporting process by completing
the AI / ML reporting form (see Annexure Q). Those Custodians /DDPs who are not using
application or system as defined in Annexure P shall submit a 'NIL' report. The AI/ML report
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shall be filed with SEBI on half yearly basis. Custodians /DDPs shall submit the report on SEBI
Intermediary Portal (SI Portal).
vi. Custodian/ DDPs using AI or ML based application or system as defined in Annexure P, are
required to fill in the form (Annexure Q) and submit the same to the Board. The said report
shall be submitted in soft copy only to SEBI at ai_cust@sebi.gov.in (for Custodians) or
ai_ddp@sebi.gov.in (for DDPs).
vii. Custodians/DDPs shall report data to depositories/market intermediaries for the purpose of
monitoring/compilation as advised by SEBI from time to time.
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CHAPTER V
Publishing of Investor Charter and Disclosure of Complaints by Custodians on their websites
i. In order to facilitate awareness among investors about the details of activities carried and
services provided by Custodians, SEBI after due consultation has developed Investor Charters
for Custodians which inter-alia deals with services provided to investors with timelines and
general guidance for Investors.
ii. In this regard, all the registered Custodians shall take necessary steps to bring the Investor
Charter, as provided in “Annexure-R”, to the notice of their clients and ensure that the Investor
Charter is prominently displayed on their respective website for ease of accessibility of
investors.
iii. Additionally, in order to bring about transparency in the Investor Grievance Redressal
Mechanism, it has been decided that all Custodians and DDPs shall disclose on their respective
websites, the monthly data on complaints received and redressal thereof, latest by 7th of the
succeeding month, as per the format provided in “Annexure-S”.
Compliance with the above, shall be reported in the Quarterly report submitted by the Custodians.
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Annexure A - List of rescinded Circulars
Sr. No. Date Circular No. Title
1. 25-Jan-24 SEBI/HO/AFD/ Streamlining of Regulatory
AFD-SEC-2/P/CIR/2024/8 Reporting by Designated
Depository
Participants (DDPs) and
Custodians
2. 27-Apr-23 SEBI/HO/AFD/ Master Circular for Custodians
AFD-PoD/P/CIR/2023/063
17
Annexure B
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Annexure C: Order and parameter of Fields for the Daily Transaction Report
(DTR and DDR)
Sr.No CODE EXPLANATION FIELD FIELD
DESCRIPTION WIDTH
1 CUST_CODE Custodian Code (this is the numeric NUMBER 3
code present in the SEBI Regn No)
2 REPORT_DT Date of report(DD-MON-YYYY) CHARACTER 11
3 ID Unique Transaction Identification CHARACTER 12
Number to be given by custodian
4 FII_R_NO FII Registration Number CHARACTER 16
CC-CC-CC-XXXX-YY
5 FII_NAM FII Name CHARACTER 60
6 SA_CODE Sub-account Code NUMBER 7
7 BRK_R_NO Broker Registration Number CHARACTER 12
8 SCR_NAM Scrip Name CHARACTER 40
9 ISIN_CODE ISIN Code CHARACTER 12
10 TRN_DT Transaction Date NUMBER 11
DD-MON-YYYY
11 NAT_TRN Nature of Transaction (Purchase, NUMBER 2
Sale, Bonus etc.)
12 EXCH_CODE Exchange Code CHARACTER 2
13 SETT_CODE Settlement Code CHARACTER 1
14 T_RATE Transaction Price of each share(Rs.) NUMBER (15,4)
– this is the market trade price and
does not include brokerage or any
other charges.
15 T_QTY Transaction Quantity NUMBER (11,2)
16 VALUE Transaction Value (Rs.) NUMBER (16,2)
17 INST_TYPE Instrument Type CHARACTER 2
18 R_DELAY Reasons for Delay in Reporting CHARACTER 1
19 R_TYPE Reporting Type CHARACTER 1
20 R_CHANGE Reason for amendment / deletion of NUMBER 2
trade
C - Character N - Number
19
N (12,2) - Number with 10 integers and 2 decimal digits
Annexure D: DAILY TRANSACTION SUMMARY
(DTS and DDS)
(This is the print format for the DTS, the soft copy would contain the values only as a single record in
a flat txt file)
DETAILS OF TRANSACTIONS VALUE
CUSTODIAN CODE
TOTAL NO. OF PURCHASE TRANSACTIONS (a)
TOTAL NO. OF SALE TRANSACTIONS (b)
OTHERS IF ANY, (BONUS, CALL PAYMENT ETC.) (c)
TOTAL NO. OF FRESH TRANSACTIONS (a+b+c)
TOTAL NO. OF SHARES (PURCHASES)
TOTAL NO. OF SHARES (SALES)
TOTAL NO. OF SHARES (BONUS ETC.)
VALUE OF PURCHASES (Rs.)
VALUE OF SALES (Rs.)
TOTAL NO. OF TRANSACTIONS DELETED
TOTAL NO. OF SHARES UNDER DELETION
VALUE OF TRANSACTIONS UNDER DELETION
TOTAL NO. OF TRANSACTIONS AMENDED
TOTAL NO. OF SHARES UNDER AMENDMENT
VALUE OF TRANSACTIONS UNDER AMENDMENT
REPORT DATE DD-MON-YYYY
The field specifications of the value field for items 1-16 is: Numeric (16,2)
For the above entries the following transaction types would apply for calculation of the values:
Field Transaction Code Types*
2, 6 and 9 01,02,03,05,06, 14,16
3 , 7 and 10 04,08,09,10,11, 13
4 and 8 07, 12, 15
*The transaction codes are as identified in the Annexure C
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Annexure E: Daily Transaction Report
Annexure E -
Format of Daily Transaction Report.xml
21
Annexure F: Nature of transaction Codes
Nature of transaction Transaction code
Purchase in secondary market 01
Purchase in primary market (net of refund) 02
Preferential allotment (net of refund) 03
Sale in secondary market 04
Purchase through rights issue (net of refund) 05
Receipt of equity shares after conversion of debentures (transactions 06
where a debt instrument has been received on surrender of another
security may also be reported under this code in the debt report)
Receipt of bonus shares, or shares in a buyback/merger/open offer/ 07
securities in lieu of shares*
Redemption of debentures / units of mutual funds 08
Acceptance of shares lodged /offered under open offer (accepted 09
quantity)
Repurchase of units by Mutual Fund 10
Acceptance of shares lodged /offered under buy back offer (accepted 11
quantity)
Payment of allotment / call money 12
Square off – on account of short delivery received 13
Square off and auction – on account of short delivery given 14
Consolidation / Sub-division of securities 15
Surrendering shares after Merger/Takeover 16
Write-off of securities 17
Write-back of securities 18
* this is to indicate any security other than equity share received in respect of dividend, bonus, open
offer etc.
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Annexure G: Stock Exchange Code
CODE NAME OF STOCK EXCHANGE
01 THE STOCK EXCHANGE, MUMBAI (BSE)
02 THE STOCK EXCHANGE, AHMEDABAD (ASE)
03 CALCUTTA STOCK EXCHANGE
04 MADRAS STOCK EXCHANGE
05 DELHI STOCK EXCHANGE
06 HYDERABAD STOCK EXCHANGE
07 MADHYA PRADESH STOCK EXCHANGE, INDORE
08 BANGALORE STOCK EXCHANGE
09 COCHIN STOCK EXCHANGE
10 UTTAR PRADESH STOCK EXCHANGE, KANPUR
11 PUNE STOCK EXCHANGE
12 LUDHIANA STOCK EXCHANGE
13 GAUHATI STOCK EXCHANGE
14 MANGALORE STOCK EXCHANGE
15 MAGADH STOCK EXCHANGE, PATNA
16 JAIPUR STOCK EXCHANGE
17 BHUBANESHWAR STOCK EXCHANGE
18 SAURASHTRA KUTCH STOCK EXCHANGE, RAJKOT
19 VADODARA STOCK EXCHANGE
20 OVER THE COUNTER EXCHANGE OF INDIA
21 COIMBATORE STOCK EXCHANGE
23 NATIONAL STOCK EXCHANGE OF INDIA (NSE)
24 INTER-CONNECTED STOCK EXCHANGE
Settlement Code
C- Settlement through Clearing House
A. Hand Delivery settlement not involving Clearing House
B. Clearing house transactions settled through Hand Delivery due to non-receipt of client
confirmation
C. Other (Public issue, etc.)
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Annexure H: Type of Security/ Instrument
Type of Instrument Instrument code
Equity shares (listed) EQ
Equity Shares (unlisted) EU
Other equity instrument OE
Preference shares PS
Partly convertible debentures (quoted at unit price) PC
Fully convertible debentures (quoted at unit price) FC
Non-convertible debentures (quoted at unit price) NC
Corporate / Institutional Debentures or bonds (quoted in units of Rs BR
100)
Warrants WR
Corporate Bonds (quoted at unit price) CB
Secured Premium Notes SP
Floating Rate Notes FN
Mutual Fund Units MD
Government Bonds (quoted in units of Rs 100) GB
Treasury Bills (quoted in units of Rs 100) TB
Commercial Paper (quoted in units of Rs 100) CP
Right renunciations RR
Other debt instrument (Quoted at unit price) DU
Other debt instrument (quoted in units of Rs 100) DR
18. R-DELAY: Reasons for delay in reporting
1. P - Prompt reporting
2. D - Delay in receipt of contract from broker
S - System failure at custodian office
O - Other delay reasons
19. R_TYPE: Reporting Type N- New Transaction
A.
A. Amendment in earlier reported transaction
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D- Deletion of earlier reported transaction
Annexure I: REASONS FOR AMENDMENT / DELETION OF TRADES
DESCRIPTION CODE
New Transaction 00
Change in quantity of scrip 01
Change in name of scrip transacted 02
Change in price of scrip transacted 03
Change in date of contract 04
Change in name of FII/sub-accounts (with same custodian) 05
Change in name of FII/sub-accounts (with different custodian) 06
Sub division of the contract 07
Consolidation of two or more trades 08
Cancellation of trade by broker 09
Cancellation/non acceptance of trade by FII 10
Two contract notes received for same deal 11
Contract note wrongly delivered by broker to us (pertaining to 12
***another custodian)
Change of stock exchange 13
Change in the ISIN code 14
Change in mode of settlement of trade 15
Multiple amendments in same transaction 16
Others (please submit details) 17
For regular transactions, which are basically new transactions, the R_Change field should contain
the code ‘00’. In case of amendment due to change of two or more parameters, the same may be
reported with the code 16 and not as separate amendments. Transactions with code 17 are to be
reported in hard format also with details.
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Annexure J: FORMAT FOR ISSUANCE OF ISIN FOR UNLISTED SECURITIES
COMPANY / ISSUING ENTITY: As per Registrar of Companies record
COUNTRY:
REGISTERED OFFICE:
CORPORATE OFFICE:
TELPHONE NO:
FAX NO:
CONTACT PERSON:
EMAIL ID
SECURITIES DETAILS: Equity/ Debenture/ Warrants/Bonds/etc.
SECURITY SUB TYPE: Fully paid/ partly paid/etc.
ISSUER TYPE: Company/Municipal Corporation/Trust/etc.
PAID UP / ISSUED CAPITAL:
FACE VALUE OF SECURITY:
NO OF SECURITIES ISSUED:
I hereby agree and declare that the information provided above and the undertakings given above
are complete and true.
Undertaking: I further agree that we will immediately notify the Securities and Exchange Board of
India of any change in the information provided.
Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer
Place:
Date:
Certified by Statutory Auditor of the Company
Place:
Date:
26
Annexure K: Fortnightly basis ISIN wise AUC report
Annexure K-
Fortnightly basis ISIN wise AUC.xls
27
Annexure L: Fortnightly Debt trades report
Annexure
L-Fortnightly debt trades reporting.xls
28
Annexure M: Monthly Reports
Annexure M-
Monthly reports.xlsx
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Annexure N: Maturity-wise break-up of holdings in debt securities (Original Maturity and
Residual Maturity):
Annexure N
-Original Maturity-wise breakup of holdings in debt securities.xls
Annexure N
-Residual Maturity-wise breakup of holdings in debt securities.xls
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Annexure O: Custodian Quarterly Report:
CUSTODIANS QUARTERLY REPORT FOR QUARTER ENDED ___________
A. GENERAL PARTICULARS
a. NAME
b. ADDRESS
c. SEBI REGISTRATION NO.
d. Telephone Nos.
e. Fax Nos.
f. E-mail Id
g. Addresses of other offices, if any.
h. Name and designation of compliance officer
i. List of activities conducted
j. List of other registrations held with SEBI
k. List of other associate / subsidiary
companies operating in the securities
markets, their activities and registration
numbers
l. Networth as on ________ (Rs. in crores)
(Please mention steps taken to fulfil
the networth requirement, if inadequate)
m. Detail of changes in infrastructure facilities
e.g. change / addition / reduction of office,
computers, vault capacity, key employees
etc. during the quarter:
B. DETAILS OF CLIENTS & CORPUS VALUE
Type of Client No. Corpus Value as on ________
(Rs. in Crores)
TOTAL
C. DETAILS OF CLIENTS / ACCOUNTS ADDED / DELETED DURING LAST 3 MONTHS
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Name Category Corpus
D. DETAILS OF BUSINESS HANDLED
Details Delayed Settlement Not Settled
No Value No Value Rs in Crs No Value
of Trns. of Trns. of Trns.
Rs in Crs Rs in Crs
B/F
Purchase
Sales
Total
Note:
1. Delayed Settlement – trades which were settled beyond the stipulated settlement date.
2. Not Settled – means trades for which the stipulated settlement date is over but the trade is yet to
be settled.
3. The particulars of trades which have not been settled are to be carried forward to subsequent
quarters.
E. Specifications and size of the Vault:
F. Compliance with respect to display of information related to grievance redressal
mechanism, publishing of investor charter and disclosure of complaints on the website of the
Custodian
F1. Snapshot (with timestamp and geo-tagging) of basic information on grievance redressal
mechanism displayed in the offices of Custodian
F2. Snapshot (with timestamp) of display of investor charter and disclosure of complaints on
the website of the Custodian taken on the 8th date of each month
G. Additional information if any
32
Signature
(Name and Designation)
DATE:
Note:
1. Statement to be signed by authorised signatory of custodian
2. This statement is to be submitted on quarterly basis as at the end of March, June, September &
December.
3. The statement is to be submitted so as to reach the Board within 15 days of end of quarter.
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Annexure P: Systems deemed to be based on AI & ML technology
Annexure P.pdf
34
Annexure Q: Report on AI & ML technology
Annexure Q.pdf
35
ANNEXURE- R
INVESTOR CHARTER - CUSTODIAN
VISION STATEMENT:
“To make India an investor friendly country through efficient Regulations”.
MISSION STATEMENT:
“To serve all investors by promoting the highest standards of ethics, professional excellence and
investor protection”.
TIMELINES PERTAINING TO VARIOUS SERVICES PROVIDED BY CUSTODIAN
Sr. Type of Service Expected Timelines*
No.
1 Account Opening
(a) Opening Custody Accounts Within 15 working days
2 Trade Processing
(a) Pre-matching, Confirmations, Margin /
Within the Market timelines
Funding verification
within 24 hours of receipt of
(b) Settlements
Securities/ Cash
3 Safekeeping of Assets / Reports to Client within 24 hours of receipt of Securities
4 Breach of Foreign Ownership Limit within 24 hours
5 Asset Servicing
(a) Corporate action notification Within 48 hours
(b) Processing of client's instructions for
within Market timelines
the event
(c) Settlements Within 48 hours
(d) Proxy Voting / E-Voting / Postal Ballot within Market timelines
6 Monthly Portfolio Report to client with list
Within 7 working days
of Assets
7 Client Queries Acknowledgment or Response
within 48 hours
8 Grievance Redressal Acknowledgment within 48 hours and
redress within 30 days
* above timelines will apply to cases where documents/information is complete in all respects
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General Guidance for Investors:
Sr. Guidance
No.
1 Provide Complete, Accurate and Latest information for Account Opening.
2 Investors are solely responsible for any investment activity undertaken on the market.
Ensure all investments and investment related activities are in compliance with
3
applicable rules and regulations
Investors have Right of Fair and Equitable Treatment and Confidentiality of
4
Information as per SEBI (Custodian) Regulations, 1996
Investors have Right to expect Redressal of Grievances in a time bound manner and
5
ensure to collect contact details of key personnel for Escalation and Resolution of
grievances
Adhere to all the rules, regulations, investment limits / conditions prescribed by
6
the
Regulators and Government of India.
Grievance Redressal Mechanism
 Approach the Custodian at the designated Investor Grievance e-mail ID with complete
details of complaints for redressal of investor grievances in a time bound manner.
 The complaint not redressed at Custodian level, may be lodged with SEBI on SCORES
(a web based centralized investor grievance redressal mechanism at SEBI) @
https://www.scores.gov.in/scores/Welcome.html
37
ANNEXURE- S
Format of Complaints against Custodians and DDPs to be displayed on their websites
A. Data for the Month ending -
Sr. Received from Pending Receive Resolv Total Complaints Average
No at the d during ed Pending Pending > 1 Resolution
End of the during at the end month time^
the last month the of month (in days)
month month* **
1 Directly from
Investors
2 SEBI
(SCORES)
3 Stock
Exchanges
(if relevant)
4 Other
Sources (if any)
5 Grand Total
B. Trend of Monthly disposal of complaints for the Financial Year-
Sr. Month Carried forward Received Resolved Pending at
No From previous during the during the the end of the
month month month * month **
1 April 2021
2 May 2021
……
12 March 2022
Grand Total
* Inclusive of complaints of previous months resolved in the current month.
** Inclusive of complaints pending as on the last day of the month.
^ Average Resolution time is the sum total of time taken to resolve each complaint in days,
in the current month divided by total number of complaints resolved in the current month.
C. Trend of Annual (FY) disposal of complaints (For 3 years on rolling basis)-
Sr. Year Carried forward Received Resolved Pending at
No from previous during the during the the end of
year year year the year
1 2019-20
2 2020-21
3 2021-22
Grand
Total
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