Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956

The Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 remains fully operative as the fundamental law that stops any form of market manipulation and ensures transparency in the operations of the stock exchanges and clearing agencies in India. The law is responsible for the corporate governance of the exchanges with the help of the mandatory demutualisation laws and confers complete power on SEBI to define financial products and declare off-market deals as invalid. To cater to the huge capital base in modern times, the framework was innovatively revised using the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2026 that substituted the old public float criteria with an intricate six-tier system for IPO allotments.