How IFSCA reporting works
Each regulatory framework gives IFSCA power to call for periodic information, and IFSCA uses circulars to set the content, frequency and channel. The current circulars for capital market intermediaries and fund management entities share these features:
- a quarterly report in an editable Excel file, in the format published on the IFSCA website under Downloads;
- a signed undertaking or compliance report, submitted as a scanned PDF;
- a filing deadline of 21 calendar days after the period ends;
- an express duty to download the latest format at the end of each period, because IFSCA may revise the formats without a new circular.
Two consequences apply to every framework. Under the fee circular IFSCA-DTFA/1/2026, a late or missing periodic report costs USD 100 for each month or part of a month, for each report and each activity. And under, for example, regulation 143(e) of the Fund Management Regulations, 2025, failing to submit periodic returns is a ground for suspension or cancellation of registration.
Capital market intermediaries
The circular of 8 April 2026 (in force from 1 April 2026, replacing the circular of 8 February 2024) applies to all CMIs, including the categories introduced by the CMI Regulations, 2025.
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Quarterly, within 21 calendar days of the quarter end; a newly registered CMI reports from registration to the end of that quarter |
| Sheets for all CMIs | General information; complaints and grievance redressal; video customer identification (V-CIP); signed undertaking |
| AML/CFT compliance sheet | Half-yearly, with the July-September and January-March quarterly reports |
| Registration-specific sheets | Only for the registrations the CMI holds |
| Where to file | Broker-dealer, clearing member and depository participant reports go to the relevant exchange, clearing corporation or depository. Global access providers, custodians, investment bankers, investment advisers, debenture trustees, distributors, credit rating agencies, ESG ratings and data products providers and research entities email IFSCA's CMI supervision address, copied to its AML/CFT division |
| After surrender or cancellation | Keep filing until IFSCA communicates the date of cancellation |
Separately, under the circular of 5 June 2026 and regulation 25 of the CMI Regulations, every CMI files an Annual Compliance Audit Report with the Annual Compliance Audit Checklist by 30 September for the preceding financial year. The auditor must be an ICAI, ICSI or ICMAI member who has been peer reviewed, or a person authorised to audit in a foreign jurisdiction. The auditor must be independent and may serve for at most three consecutive years, followed by a two-year cooling-off period. Global access audits are reported in the same report.
Fund management entities
- Quarterly report: under the circulars of 31 May 2023 and 3 November 2023, quantitative information on the FME's operations in Excel plus a signed compliance report, filed by email within 21 calendar days of the quarter end. The formats were revised on 3 April 2025 to capture retail schemes and to align with the 2025 Regulations.
- Scheme annual report: annual accounts of each scheme, audited by an auditor not associated with the FME, with an abridged summary. Under regulation 134, both go to IFSCA, and the summary to investors, within six months of the financial year end (extended from four months with effect from 10 September 2026).
- Investor information: details of holdings at the end of every month, and within ten working days of an investor's request (regulation 136).
- KMP changes: intimation in the format annexed to the circular of 20 February 2025 (see Fit-and-proper).
Banking units and other frameworks
IFSC banking units report under the IFSCA Banking Handbook and its return formats, published on IFSCA's banking page. The firm's banking booklet quotes the Handbook's prudential directions, which require a quarterly certificate from an authorised official of the parent bank on capital adequacy and leverage ratio, within 45 days of the quarter end. See the Banking Handbook.
Finance companies, lessors, insurance offices, fintech and TechFin entities, ancillary service providers, bullion participants and market infrastructure institutions each have their own returns under their regulations and circulars. Before relying on any summary, read the reporting circular for your framework on the relevant IFSCA page, and check its Downloads section for the current format.
Returns filed outside IFSCA
An IFSC unit also reports to:
- the Administrator (IFSCA) under the SEZ framework: monthly MPR and SERF, and the annual APR (see SEZ compliance);
- FIU-IND: suspicious transaction and other reports (see AML, CFT and KYC);
- the income-tax authorities and the Registrar of Companies, on their statutory cycles (see the calendar).
Before you file
- Confirm which registrations the return covers. CMI filings are per registration, and late charges are per activity.
- Download the current format; do not reuse last quarter's file.
- Reconcile the figures with the SEZ MPR and SERF data for the same period, since IFSCA sees both.
- Have the signed undertaking or compliance report reviewed by the compliance officer, who under the FM Regulations' code of conduct must independently report non-compliance to IFSCA.
- Keep the filing email and acknowledgement with the return.