The Securities and Exchange Board of India (‘SEBI’) has notified the SEBI (Intermediaries) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026, revising the ‘fit and proper person’ criteria with effect from April 16, 2026. Key changes include: (i) removal of automatic disqualification for pending criminal complaints, First Information Reports, or charge sheets relating to economic offences; (ii) expansion of conviction-based disqualification to cover economic offences and securities law violations; (iii) mandatory 15-working-day disclosure of disqualifying events by intermediaries; (iv) requirement to grant opportunity of being heard before declaring a person not fit and proper; and (v) removal of the default five-year prohibition on fresh registration applications.
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