On February 12 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) launched a new digital platform, ‘Mutual Fund Investment Tracing and Retrieval Assistant (MITRA)’. The new platform is designed to help investors in tracking and reclaiming inactive or unclaimed Mutual Fund (MF) folios.
- This platform was introduced through a circular issued by the SEBI in exercise of the powers given under Section 11(1) of the SEBI Act 1992, read with provision of Regulation 77 of SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulation, 1996, to protect the interest of the investors in securities and to promote the development of, and to regulate the securities market.
- The platform will get operationalised within 15 working days of the circular’s issuance, with a beta version available for 2 months.
- As per SEBI circular, the platform will assist with the investments that may have been forgotten, lost or left unclaimed due to outdated Know Your Customer (KYC) details or the demise of original investor.
Note: As per SEBI, an inactive MF folio is defined as where no investor-initiated transactions have occurred in the last 10 years, but unit balance still exists.
About Mutual Fund Investment Tracing and Retrieval Assistant (MITRA):
i.The platform will be jointly hosted by two Qualified Registrar and Transfer Agents (QRTAs) i.e. Chennai (Tamil Nadu, TN)-based Computer Age Management Services Limited (CAMS) and Hyderabad (Telangana)-based KFin Technologies Limited. Both these QRTAs will act as agents of Asset Management Companies (AMCs).
- QRTAs have been entrusted with the responsibility of conducting system audits, cyber security audits, and compliance with SEBI’s Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and Disaster Recovery (DR) guidelines.
ii.Investors can access the platform through the websites of MF central, AMCs, the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), the two QRTAs, and SEBI.
iii.MITRA platform will comply with the cyber resilience framework of SEBI as set in the regulator’s Master Circular on MFs dated on June 27, 2024.
Key Benefits:
MITRA platform aims to empower investors by: helping them to identify overlooked investments made by another person where the investor may be the legal claimant;
- Updating their KYC as per the latest norms/regulations;
- Reducing the number of unclaimed MF folios;
- Reducing fraud risks related to unclaimed or inactive MF folios.
Note: SEBI has revised the responsibilities of the Unit Holder Protection Committee (UHPC) under its Master Circular on MFs. SEBI has now empowered the UHPC to review inactive MF folios alongside unclaimed dividends and redemptions.
SEBI Mandated SBU for Brokers to Trade G-secs on NDS-OM Platform
In February 12 2025, SEBI has mandated SEBI-registered brokers to setup a separate business unit (SBU) to trade in Government Securities (G-secs) through the Negotiated Dealing System Order Matching (NDS-OM).
- This announcement came following Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s notification on February 7, 2025, allowed the SEBI-registered non-brokers to access the NDS-OM platform to facilitate retail participation.
- SEBI has directed such SBU will be exclusively engaged in activities of transacting on NDS-OM platform only.
Note: NDS-OM is an electronic order-matching platform, which is primarily used for secondary market trading in G-secs.
Recent Related News:
In December 2024, the SEBI notified a new asset class between Portfolio Management Services (PMS) and Mutual Funds (MFs) and referred it as “Specialised Investment Fund (SIF)”.
- As per the SEBI directions, the new asset class will accept investments of Rs 10 lakh or above across all investment strategies. However, accredited investors are exempted from the requirement of minimum investment amount.
- The notification came following the amendment made to the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996.
