SEBI rolls out new IT stack

India’s markets regulator is moving more of its work onto software, with new systems for notices, case hearings and cyber checks. (sebi.gov.in) The Securities and Exchange Board of India said on April 10 that its chair launched three platforms on March 24: SUPCOMS for communication with regulated entities, an e-adjudication portal for digital enforcement proceedings, and Cyber-Sec Audit Compliance, or C-SAC, for cybersecurity supervision. (sebi.gov.in) SEBI said the e-adjudication portal is meant to digitise quasi-judicial work, including adjudication, settlements and recovery proceedings. It said C-SAC will analyse cyber audit reports filed on the SEBI Intermediary Portal, generate risk scores and compare entities’ audit results. (sebi.gov.in; sebi.gov.in) That push comes as SEBI is also rewriting older rulebooks. Its board papers say the mutual fund industry’s assets under management reached ₹79.87 lakh crore and 25.60 crore folios by October 31, 2025, part of the case for replacing the 1996 mutual fund regulations with a 2026 version. (sebi.gov.in) A second change landed through an April 9 informal guidance letter to UTI Alternatives. SEBI said alternative investment funds count as pooled assets when they are managed or advised by asset management companies or their subsidiaries, so “broad-based” tests apply to those funds and their schemes. (moneycontrol.com; economictimes.indiatimes.com) In practice, that means at least 20 investors and no single investor holding more than 25 percent of the corpus, with compliance checked at the scheme level rather than only at the umbrella fund level. Those thresholds are written into the 2026 mutual fund regulations’ definition of a broad-based fund. (moneycontrol.com; economictimes.indiatimes.com; rhnvrm.github.io) The background to that clarification goes back to a 2025 consultation paper, when SEBI floated easing business restrictions on asset management companies while adding governance conditions. News reports at the time said the regulator was considering wider permission for pooled funds that did not meet the broad-based test. (sebi.gov.in; thehindu.com) Taken together, the April moves show SEBI tightening process on two fronts at once: how firms interact with the regulator, and which outside funds mutual fund managers can handle without crossing investor concentration limits. (sebi.gov.in; moneycontrol.com)