Key Points:
- SEBI family office oversight may require disclosures.
- Aim: more transparency, market stability.
- Could allow IPO access as institutional buyers.
India’s markets regulator is weighing new SEBI family office oversight, including proposals to require disclosure of entities, assets and investment returns and to create a separate regulatory category, sources familiar with the matter said on Oct. 2, 2025.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has discussed drafting rules that would, for the first time, require some family offices to disclose their related entities, total assets and investment performance. Officials have asked for written submissions from several of the country’s largest family offices after meetings earlier this year, though the scope and timing of any measures remain unclear.
Regulators are also exploring whether to allow qualifying family offices to be treated as institutional buyers in share sales, a change that could affect access to initial public offerings and allocations in public offerings. The proposals are under consideration as family-run investment vehicles expand their presence across stock markets and private markets.
Family offices tied to some of India’s wealthiest families have become significant market participants. Investment arms linked to Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani and Wipro founder Azim Premji have increased allocations to equities, private equity and IPOs, raising questions about market influence and the adequacy of current disclosure norms that SEBI family office oversight seeks to address.
Why regulators are acting
Officials say the proposals aim to give market supervisors better visibility into large pools of private capital that can move quickly across listed and unlisted securities. Greater transparency, regulators contend, would help identify potential conflicts of interest, insider trading risks and concentration that could affect market fairness and stability.
SEBI has taken other steps this year to tighten governance and disclosure across market participants, and the family office discussions follow a broader review of rules covering institutions and promoter-related entities. Any new framework would likely include rules on reporting, record keeping and compliance standards tailored to private investment vehicles.
What a new regime could mean
If family offices were required to disclose holdings and returns, market participants would gain more data on the size and direction of private investments. Allowing family offices to qualify as institutional buyers could give those offices preferential access to certain share allocations that are currently available to mutual funds, insurance companies and other large investors. Observers say such a shift could reshape demand dynamics in primary markets.
Family offices, in brief
Family offices are private entities that manage the wealth and investments of ultra-high-net-worth families. They vary widely in size and structure from single-family teams running direct investments to multi-family firms that operate like asset managers. In India, larger family offices have increasingly invested directly in private companies and public equities.
Next steps
Regulatory officials have invited written feedback and will review submissions before deciding on any formal proposals. The regulator has not published a timetable for finalizing rules, and the precise regulatory design, including thresholds for which family offices would fall under oversight, remains under discussion. Any decision will be a milestone in SEBI family office oversight.
Officials did not immediately provide a public comment on the discussions.
