The Patent Office has published draft Guidelines for Registration of Designs relating to GUI & Icon under the Designs Act, 2000. A GUI or icon shown on its own will not be registrable; it must be applied to an article such as a mobile phone or monitor. Stakeholders can send comments by e-mail within 30 days of the public notice.
FSSAI has proposed a draft amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011 to restrict the manufacture and sale of analogue products as “Paneer”. This is a draft: objections and suggestions are invited, and it will be taken up after 60 days from the date the Gazette copies are made available to the public.
Four decisions of the SEBI Board of 24 September 2026 matter to issuers and regulated entities: Regulation 62A of the LODR Regulations will require listing only of future NCD issues; a Common Advertisement Code drops prior approval for most advertisements; Settlement Regulations, 2026 bring a new formula and a settlement notice before the show cause notice; and REITs and InvITs get Depository Receipts and easier unitholder voting.
The 215th meeting of the SEBI Board, held in Mumbai on 24 September 2026, cleared a long list: new Portfolio Managers Regulations, new Settlement Regulations, a Common Advertisement Code, FPIs in more commodity derivatives, wider Vault Manager rules, changes for REITs and InvITs, an easier debt-listing rule and a reworked Accredited Investor framework. A fourth settlement scheme for illiquid stock options was placed before it.
RBI has inserted paragraphs 84A and 84B in the Commercial Banks investment portfolio Directions, 2025 to bring uniformity in how banks value units of Infrastructure Investment Trusts and Real Estate Investment Trusts. Quoted units follow the rules for quoted securities; unquoted units are valued at the NAV disclosed by the trust, failing which at ₹1. In force from 22 September 2026.
The Union Health Ministry has proposed amendments to the Drugs Rules, 1945 through Draft Gazette Notification G.S.R. 791 (E) dated 8 September 2026, recommending mandatory CCTV surveillance at medical stores as an additional safeguard for Schedule H, H1 and X drugs. It is a draft; objections and suggestions are invited.
DGFT has published a draft Public Notice that would replace Para 2.93 of the Handbook of Procedures, 2023 so that it prescribes non-preferential Rules of Origin for both exports and imports. For imports, the draft proposes origin by change in tariff heading or 35% value addition, declared by the importer through a self-declaration. Comments are invited within 15 days.
After reviewing utilisation of Standard Input Output Norms, DGFT has listed 544 SIONs that were not used under the Advance Authorisation or DFIA schemes in the last three financial years and proposes to suspend them. Trade and industry may send comments, with reasons for retaining any SION, within 15 days of the trade notice dated 7 September 2026.
SEBI has changed the framework for computing Net Distributable Cash Flows of InvITs. Payments towards major maintenance expense of road projects, to the extent funded by external borrowing, can be added back at the HoldCo/SPV level and at the Trust level. The add-back needs unitholder approval with at least 60% of votes cast, a statutory auditor’s certificate and specified disclosures.
NCLT’s Standard Operating Procedure for e-Certified Copies sets out the route on the e-Filing portal: one application per copy, payment within 7 days of approval, and a digitally signed Facing Sheet with QR code. Once a copy is authenticated by a court or tribunal it cannot be used again; a fresh copy has to be applied for.
DGFT has circulated a draft Standard Operating Procedure on how Inward Remittance Messages (IRMs) are to be reported when export proceeds come through NBFC Factors. Factors would tag their SWIFT messages so that AD-I banks do not create IRMs for factoring proceeds; exporters would see factor-linked IRMs on the DGFT portal to self-certify eBRCs. Comments are invited within 30 days.
RBI released a draft on 7 August 2026 to amend Chapter VII (Leverage Ratio framework) of its capital adequacy Directions for commercial banks, to align with the Basel Committee’s ‘Leverage Ratio 2017 Standard’. The draft sets out how the exposure measure is to be built from on-balance sheet, derivative, SFT and off-balance sheet exposures, and proposes 1 April 2027 as the date of effect. Comments were invited till 28 August 2026; the window has closed.
Comments invited
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