SEBI ANNUAL REPORT 2024–25

Synopsis — Key Highlights & Regulatory Developments

Executive Summary

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) released its Annual Report for FY 2024-25 in August 2025, highlighting a landmark year for Indian capital markets. The year witnessed record fundraising, milestone IPO activity, surging retail investor participation, and intensified regulatory focus on investor protection, market integrity, and financial inclusion.

India's capital markets raised ₹14.6 lakh crore in 2024-25, a 33% year-on-year increase, cementing India's position as the top IPO market globally by volume.

Key Performance Indicators at a Glance

1. Market Performance & Fundraising

Equity Markets

• Nifty 50 rose ~16% and Sensex ~14% in H1 FY25 (April–September 2024).

• Markets corrected ~14% in H2 (October 2024 – February 2025); mid and small caps declined over 20%.

• Despite FPI outflows, domestic investor participation remained strong and resilient.

IPO & Primary Market

• 79 Main Board IPOs raised ₹1.6 lakh crore — more than double the previous year — making India the #1 IPO market globally by volume.

• 241 SME companies raised ~₹10,000 crore through the SME platform, reflecting growing capital access for smaller businesses.

• Corporate bond issuances reached ₹9.9 lakh crore, reinforcing depth in the debt capital market.

• REITs raised ₹4,728 crore; InvITs raised ₹26,715 crore. Combined REITs & InvITs AUM crossed ₹8.6 lakh crore.

2. Investor Protection & Safety Measures

• Mandated direct payout of securities to client demat accounts to prevent broker misuse of client holdings.

• Announced ASBA-like facility for secondary markets through Qualified Stock Brokers (QSBs) for safer fund handling.

• Launched SEBI Complaint Redress System 2.0 (SCORES 2.0) with automated complaint routing and escalation.

• Introduced MITRA platform to help investors identify and claim inactive / unclaimed mutual fund folios.

• Deployed alert messages to investors when securities are placed under Additional Surveillance Measures (ASM) or Graded Surveillance Measures (GSM).

• Took strong enforcement action against unregistered financial influencers ('finfluencers') providing unauthorized investment advice.

• Introduced PaRRVA — an independent risk-return verification framework for high-risk investment products.

3. Derivatives Market — Retail Trader Risk

A critical finding of the SEBI Annual Report 2024-25 is the alarming scale of retail losses in equity derivatives:

• 91% of retail traders incurred losses in equity derivatives (F&O) in FY 2024-25.

• Aggregate retail F&O losses surged 41% YoY to ₹1.05 lakh crore.

• Average loss per trader: ₹1.1 lakh.

• Index options turnover surged 33x over six years, driven by increased retail participation.

SEBI's response included increased contract sizes, intraday position monitoring reforms, and tightened risk disclosure mandates for brokers.

4. Mutual Funds & Asset Management

• Mutual Fund Industry AUM reached ₹65.7 lakh crore at end of FY25, a 23% YoY growth.

• Unique investor base more than doubled to 5.4 crore investors.

• Average monthly SIP contributions reached ₹13,052 crore — nearly doubled year-on-year.

• SEBI introduced the Mutual Fund Lite (MF-Lite) framework for passive schemes, lowering entry barriers for new AMCs.

• Launched Chhoti SIP — minimum SIP of ₹250/month — to promote financial inclusion at the grassroots level.

• Created a new asset class: Specialized Investment Fund (SIF), bridging the gap between Mutual Funds and Portfolio Management Services (PMS).

• Introduced MITRA platform to help investors trace dormant or unclaimed mutual fund folios.

5. Ease of Doing Business & Process Reforms

• Rights issue process streamlined dramatically from 317 working days to just 23 working days.

• Introduced SWAGAT-FI system — simplified onboarding for low-risk Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) such as sovereign wealth funds.

• Simplified digital onboarding for FPIs and Portfolio Management Services (PMS) clients.

• Permitted electronic publication of statutory advertisements, reducing cost and timeline.

• Template-based offer documents introduced through March 2025 ICDR amendments for faster IPO processing.

6. Corporate Bond Market Development

• Introduced a liquidity window framework for non-convertible securities (with put options) to improve tradability.

• Reduced minimum face value of corporate bonds to ₹10,000 to encourage retail investor participation.

• Actively promoted Social Bonds, Sustainability Bonds, and Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SLBs) to channel capital toward ESG goals.

7. Technology & Market Surveillance

• Deployed AI-driven surveillance tools to detect insider trading, market manipulation, and fraud in real-time.

• Expanded daily market monitoring to include social media activity and investor sentiment analysis.

• Launched regulatory frameworks to govern algorithmic trading and curb unregulated advisory platforms.

• Social Stock Exchange (SSE) continued to be developed to enable social enterprises raise funds transparently.

8. Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs)

• AIF commitments surged to ₹13.5 lakh crore with over 1,500 registered AIFs.

• Category II AIFs (private equity, debt funds) remained the most popular structure.

• SEBI tightened governance and disclosure norms for AIFs to improve transparency for investors.

Key Takeaways for Investors & Advisors

Disclaimer: This synopsis has been prepared for informational and educational purposes only, based on publicly available data from the SEBI Annual Report 2024-25. It does not constitute investment advice. Please refer to the full SEBI Annual Report at www.sebi.gov.in for complete details.

Best regards,
Written By Megha Singh