The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on October 07, 2026, issued circular on Review of provisions related to International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) for debt securities issued on private placement basis.
SEBI has decided to increase the maximum number of ISINs maturing in a financial year for debt securities issued on a private placement basis, based on feedback from market participants. The amendment aims to facilitate ease of fundraising and improve Asset Liability Management (ALM) for issuers under Chapter VIII of the SEBI Master Circular dated October 15, 2025, concerning debt securities.
Accordingly, para 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 of the NCS Master Circular shall be replaced with the following:
“1.1 A maximum number of seventeen ISINs maturing in any financial year shall be allowed for an issuer of debt securities. In addition, a further six ISINs shall also be available for the issuance of the capital gains tax debt securities by the authorized issuers under section 54EC of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on private placement basis.
1.2 Out of the seventeen ISINs maturing in a financial year, the bifurcation of ISINs shall be as under:
a. A maximum of twelve ISINs maturing per financial year shall be allowed for plain vanilla debt securities. Within this limit of twelve ISINs, the issuer can issue both secured and unsecured debt securities.
b. In case the total outstanding amount across the twelve ISINs, maturing in a given financial year, reaches Rs. 15,000 Crore, then for each additional issuance of Rs. 3000 Crore, one additional ISIN may be permitted to mature in the same financial year.
c. A maximum of five ISINs maturing per financial year shall be allowed for structured debt securities, market linked debt securities, Floating Rate Bonds (FRBs), Zero Coupon Bonds (ZCBs) and Debt Capital instruments (Tier II bonds). Any existing ISINs pertaining to Floating Rate Bonds (FRBs), Zero Coupon Bonds (ZCBs) and Debt Capital instruments (Tier II bonds) issued prior to the date of this circular, which are outstanding and scheduled to mature in any subsequent financial year, shall be grandfathered to avoid any unintended breach of ISIN cap. However, if the aggregate number of such outstanding legacy ISINs maturing in any subsequent financial year already equals or exceeds five, the issuer shall not issue any further new ISIN(s) under this subclause (including for structured debt securities, market linked debt securities, FRBs, ZCBs and Debt Capital instruments/ Tier II bonds) for that specific financial year, until the total number of maturing ISINs in the said category falls below five.
1.3 Where an issuer issues only structured/ market linked debt securities/ FRBs/ ZCBs/ Debt Capital instruments (Tier II bonds), the maximum number of ISINs allowed to mature in a financial year shall be twelve.”
The provisions of this circular shall come into force with immediate effect.
[Circular No. HO/17/11/24(8)2026-DDHS-POD1/I/23125/2026]
