SEBI, vide notifications dated July 11, 2024, and July 12, 2024, has issued the SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) ("InvITs") (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2024 and the SEBI (Real Estate Investment Trusts) ("REITs") (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2024 respectively. The amendment aims to provide a structured approach to offering unit-based benefits, promoting employee participation and safeguarding the interests of all stakeholders involved in REITs/InvITs. Some of the key provisions are as follows:
- the term 'employee unit option scheme' is inserted to mean a scheme under which the investment manager grants unit options to its employees through an employee benefit trust;
- the term 'liquid asset' is inserted to mean cash, units of overnight or liquid mutual fund schemes, fixed deposits of scheduled commercial banks, government securities, treasury bills, repo on government securities and repo on corporate bonds;
- the manager/investment manager may, at its discretion, offer unit-based employee benefit scheme for its employees based on the units of the REIT/InvIT, subject to compliance with the provisions of chapter IVA/Chapter IVB of the respective principal regulations;
- Chapter IVA/ Chapter IVB (Framework for Unit Based Employee Benefit Scheme) is inserted in the respective principal regulations; and
- a new schedule is inserted in the respective principal regulations, pertaining to minimum provisions in trust deed, such as details of the trust, powers and duties of trustee, mode and manner of dissolution of the trust.
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