Clarifications with respect to Circular dated February 05, 2020 on ‘Disclosure Standards for Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs)’
Summary
This circular provides clarifications and amendments to the February 5, 2020 disclosure standards for Alternative Investment Funds. It specifies audit timelines for PPM compliance and grants exemptions for AIFs that have not raised funds. Additionally, it extends deadlines for benchmarking reports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Text
Audit of compliance with terms of PPM shall be conducted at the end of each Financial Year and findings communicated to Trustee/Board/Designated Partners, Manager's Board, and SEBI within 6 months from the end of the Financial Year.
The requirement of audit of compliance with terms of PPM shall not apply to AIFs which have not raised any funds from their investors, provided they submit a Certificate from a Chartered Accountant confirming no funds were raised within 6 months from the end of the Financial Year.
For the Financial Year 2019-20, the above requirements shall be fulfilled on or before December 31, 2020.
Any association of AIFs representing at least 33% of the number of AIFs may notify one or more Benchmarking Agencies, with whom each AIF shall enter into an agreement for carrying out the benchmarking process.
In light of market events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the timeline for making available the first industry benchmark and AIF level performance versus Benchmark Reports is extended till October 01, 2020.
Source: SecMarx — Clarifications with respect to Circular dated February 05, 2020 on ‘Disclosure Standards for Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs)’. Verbatim text is public record; SecMarx structuring (linkage to applying orders) is cited to us.