Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India or SEBI has issued a directive last Friday allowing mutual funds or MFs to transact through registered stock brokers of recognized stock exchanges. This will help providing more access to investors and have a basket of various categories of securities to get assured maximum returns.
Guidelines already exists for sellers of mutual fund products. They include agents' redressal mechanism, stamping and also monitoring the appointment of intermediaries for selling mutual fund products by SEBI.
With this, stock brokers intending to extend the transaction in mutual funds through stock exchange mechanism shall be required to comply with the requirements for passing the Association of Mutual Fund Investors or AMFI certification examination. All such stock brokers would then be considered as empanelled distributors with mutual fund/AMC.
Under the new system, investor grievance mechanism shall provide for investor grievance handling mechanism to the extent they relate to disputes between brokers and their clients in the case of mutual funds.
SEBI said investors have an option of holding mutual fund units in dematerialized form against the paper form currently. In case investors desire to convert their existing physical units (represented by statement of account) into dematerialized form, mutual funds/AMCs shall take such steps in coordination with Registrar and Transfer Agents, Depositories and Depository participants to facilitate the same, the market regulator said.
Presently, infrastructure is already available for secondary market transactions through stock exchanges with reach to over 1500 towns and cities, through over 200,000 stock exchange terminals. It can be used for facilitating transactions in mutual fund schemes. The stock exchange mechanism would also extend the present convenience available to secondary market investors to mutual fund investors, SEBI said.
SEBI issued this circular to protect the interests of investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market. Stock exchanges and mutual funds/AMCs, based on the experience gained may further improve the mechanism in the interest of investors, it added.
Expiry date for equity derivative contracts
SEBI, in its second circular issued the same day, said the stock exchanges would be free to set the expiry date/day for equity derivative contracts. Presently, equity derivative contracts expire on the last Thursday of every month or a day earlier if the last Thursday is a holiday.
While doing so, SEBI has directed the the stock exchanges to ensure that there is no change in the contract specifications or the risk management framework and the integrity of the market is not affected in any manner.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.