April 24, 2017
Indian Trusts Act, 1882 - Latest Updates
The Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs) vide Notification S.O. 1267(E) dated the 21st April, 2017 and in pursuance of section 20 of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882, the Central Government hereby specifies the following securities for the purposes of the said section, namely:-
(a) Government securities;
(b) Securities, the principal whereof and the interest whereon is fully and unconditionally guaranteed by the Central Government or any State Government;
(c) Units of debt mutual funds regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India established by section 3 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (15 of 1992);
(d) Listed (or proposed to be listed on exchanges in case of fresh issue) debt securities issued by any body corporate, including a bank and a public financial institution as defined in clause (72) of Section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013), which have a minimum residual maturity period of three years from the date of investment;
(e) Basel III Tier-I bonds issued by a scheduled commercial bank under guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India, which are either listed or are proposed to be listed on an exchange;
(f) the infrastructure related debt instruments listed or proposed to be listed in case of fresh issue:—
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debt securities issued by a body corporate engaged mainly in the business of development or operation and maintenance of infrastructure, or development, construction or finance of low cost housing;
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securities issued by an infrastructure debt fund operating as a non-banking financial company and regulated by the Reserve Bank of India; or
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units issued by an infrastructure Debt Fund operating as a Mutual Fund and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India;
(g) shares of body corporates listed on any recognised stock exchange which has a market capitalisation of not less than five thousand crore rupees as on the date of investment;
(h) units of mutual funds regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, which have minimum sixty-five per cent of their investment in shares of body corporates listed on a recognised stock exchanges; or
(i) exchange traded funds or index funds regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India which replicate the portfolio of the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex Index or the National Stock Exchange Nifty Index, or those constructed specifically for disinvestment of shareholding of the Government of India in a body corporate:
Provided that the investment under clauses (d), (e) and (f) shall be made only in such securities which have minimum AA rating or equivalent in the applicable rating scale from at least two credit rating agencies registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Credit Rating Agency) Regulations, 1999:
Provided further that in case of investment under sub-clause (ii) of clause (f), the ratings shall relate to the non-banking financial company and for that sub-clause, the ratings shall relate to the investment in eligible securities rated above investment grade of the scheme of the fund:
Provided also that if the securities or entities have been rated by more than two rating agencies, the two lowest of all the ratings shall be considered.
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