Sebi gives relaxation in timeline for reporting differential rights issues by AIFs

New Delhi, Markets regulator Sebi on Monday extended the deadline by a month to March-end for reporting differential rights issues by Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). A one-time reporting requirement was set for AIFs that filed their Private Placement Memorandum (PPM) with SEBI on or after March 1, 2020, and issued differential rights outside the standard guidelines. This report was initially due by February 28, 2025.

Following the requests for more time from the AIF industry, the deadline has been extended to March 31, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a circular.

Earlier, the regulator amended the AIF Regulations, 2012 in November regarding investor rights in AIF schemes. Thereafter in December, laid out guidelines for AIFs offering differential rights to certain investors.

Under the guidelines, Sebi directed AIFs to grant investors’ rights in investment and distribution of proceeds in proportion to their commitments in a scheme.

In simple words, risks as well as rewards from investments made by an AIF scheme need to be shared in proportion to investors’ contributions to the scheme.

This was aimed at clarifying the regulatory intent of AIFs’ being pooled investment vehicles and ensuring fair and equal treatment of investors of an AIF. Sebi stated that differential rights can be offered to select investors of a scheme of an AIF without affecting the interest of other investors of the scheme.

AIF is a privately pooled investment vehicle, which collects funds from investors, for investing under a defined investment policy for the benefit of its investors.