Jan 11, 2019: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated January 4, 2019 imposed a monetary penalty of ₹ 30 million on Citibank NA India (the bank) for deficiencies in compliance with the RBI instructions on ‘Fit and Proper’ criteria for directors of banks.

The Reserve Bank has released on Jan 08, 2019 the guidelines on tokenisation for debit / credit / prepaid card transactions as a part of its continuous endeavour to enhance the safety and security of the payment systems in the country.

Tokenisation involves a process in which a unique token masks sensitive card details. Thereafter, in lieu of actual card details, this token is used to perform card transactions in contactless mode at Point Of Sale(POS) terminals, Quick Response(QR) code payments, etc.

Jan 07, 2019: The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections up to December, 2018 show that gross collections are at Rs. 8.74 lakh crore which is 14.1% higher than the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year.

Refunds amounting to Rs.1.30 lakh crore have been issued during April, 2018 to December, 2018, which is 17.0% higher than refunds issued during the same period in the preceding year. Net collections (after adjusting for refunds) have increased by 13.6% to Rs. 7.43 lakh crore during April - December, 2018. The net Direct Tax collections represent 64.7% of the total Budget Estimates of Direct Taxes for F.Y. 2018-19 (Rs. 11.50 lakh crore).

SEBI Circular No. SEBI/HO/MIRSD/DOP/CIR/P/2019/14 dated January 11, 2019, addressed to, All Recognized Stock Exchanges and All Clearing Corporations, regarding "Uniform membership structure across segments", reads as follows:

1. In cash segment, all the Stock Brokers are trading cum self-clearing members whereas in derivatives segment, membership structure is that of Trading Member (TM) and / or Clearing Member (CM). After the introduction of derivatives in the year 2001, most of the Stock Brokers in cash segment had also become TM / CM in derivatives segment. Unification of membership structure across equity cash and derivatives segments of Stock Exchanges is vital to facilitate ease of doing business.

SEBI Circular No. SEBI/HO/MRD/DOP2DSA2/CIR/P/2019/13 dated January 10, 2019 to all Stock Exchanges, Clearing Corporations and Depositories, regarding "Committees at Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs)", reads as follows:

1. The erstwhile Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations) Regulations, 2012 [SECC Regulations, 2012] and SEBI(Depositories and Participants) Regulations, 1996 [SEBI (D&P) Regulations, 1996], read-with circulars issued thereunder, prescribed Stock Exchanges, Clearing Corporations and Depositories (herein after referred as Market Infrastructure Institutions or MIIs) to constitute various committees in order to ensure effective oversight on the functioning of MIIs.

SEBI Circular No. SEBI/HO/IMD/DF2/CIR/P/2019/12 dated January 10, 2019 addressed to All Mutual Funds/ Asset Management Companies (AMCs)/ Trustee Companies/ Boards of Trustees of Mutual Funds/ Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), regarding "Cyber Security and Cyber Resilience framework for Mutual Funds / Asset Management Companies (AMCs)", reads as follows:

1. With rapid technological advancement in securities market, there is greater need for maintaining robust cyber security and to have cyber resilience framework to protect integrity of data and guard against breaches of privacy.

2. As part of the operational risk management, the Mutual Funds / Asset Management Companies (AMCs) need to have robust cyber security and cyber resilience framework in order to provide essential facilities and services and perform critical functions in securities market.

SEBI Circular No. SEBI/HO/IMD/DF3/CIR/P/2019/011 dated January 10, 2019, addressed to All Mutual Funds/Asset Management Companies (AMCs)/ Trustee Companies/Boards of Trustees of Mutual Funds, regarding "Portfolio Concentration Norms for Equity Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Index Funds", reads as follows:

1. In order to address the risk related to portfolio concentration in ETFs and Index Funds, it has been decided to adopt the following norms:

a) The index shall have a minimum of 10 stocks as its constituents.

b) For a sectoral/ thematic Index, no single stock shall have more than 35% weight in the index. For other than sectoral/ thematic indices, no single stock shall have more than 25% weight in the index.

c) The weightage of the top three constituents of the index, cumulatively shall not be more than 65% of the Index.

d) The individual constituent of the index shall have a trading frequency greater than or equal to 80% and an average impact cost of 1% or less over previous six months.