SEBI has issued a circular dated March 30, 2020 to extend the due date for regulatory filings for AIFs and VCFs for the periods ending March 31, 2020 and April 30, 2020 by two months, over and above the timelines prescribed under the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations, 2012 (“AIF Regulations”) and circulars issued thereunder. The aforesaid relaxation has been provided in light of recent market events due to the CoVID -19 pandemic.
Vide a circular dated July 29, 2013, Category I and Category II AIFs are required to report to SEBI on a quarterly basis and such quarterly reports have to be filed within 7 days of the end of the relevant quarter. Thus, for the quarter ending March 31, 2020, a quarterly report would have been due by April 7, 2020. This report can now be filed by June 7, 2020. The circular dated July 29, 2013 requires Category III AIFs to report to SEBI on a monthly basis and such reports have to be filed by the 7th day of the next month. Now Category III AIFs can file their monthly reports due on April 7, 2020 and May 7, 2020, by June 7, 2020 and July 7, 2020, respectively.
Vide a circular dated February 5, 2020 which inter alia prescribed mandatory benchmarking for AIFs, the first industry benchmark and AIF level performance versus benchmark reports are required to be made available by July 01, 2020, for the period up to September 30, 2019. By virtue of the circular dated March 30, 2020 referred to above, this deadline stands extended to September 1, 2020.
Though the two month relaxation extended by SEBI applies to both AIFs and VCFs, it applies only in respect of the AIF Regulations and not in respect of regulatory filings due under the SEBI (Venture Capital Funds) Regulations, 1996 (“VCF Regulations”). Therefore, venture capital funds which had opted to be governed by the AIF Regulations will benefit from this circular, whilst venture capital funds which, after the advent of the AIF Regulations, had opted to be governed by the VCF Regulations, will not. It should be noted that there are more filings and compliances required under the AIF Regulations than under the VCF Regulations.
The full text of the circular can be found here: https://www.sebi.gov.in/legal/circulars/mar-2020/relaxation-in-compliance-with-requirements-pertaining-to-aifs-and-vcfs_46462.html
This update has been contributed by Vinod Joseph (Partner).
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