SEBI mulls disclosure rules for billionaire family offices

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is considering introducing disclosure requirements for family offices—private investment vehicles that manage ultra-wealthy families’ wealth and investments—Bloomberg reported.

Points of discussion include mandatory disclosures of entities, assets, and investment activities, separate regulatory category for family offices and qualified institutional buyer (QIB) status, giving them preferential access to IPOs.

The move comes as family offices, such as Premji Invest, Bajaj Holdings, and those tied to Shiv Nadar and Narayana Murthy, have become major market participants, often acting as anchor investors.

Family offices are private investment firms set up to manage the wealth of a single ultra-rich family. Unlike mutual funds or private equity firms that pool capital from many investors, family offices only invest the money of one family. They typically oversee everything from stock investments, private equity, and IPO participation to real estate and succession planning.

Corporate advisor Srinath Sridharan noted that nearly every founder of a listed company in the Nifty 1000 maintains at least one family office, with some estimates placing the number at 3,000 entities.

SEBI’s push aims to enhance market visibility, reduce insider trading risks, and align India’s framework with global norms in Singapore and Hong Kong, where family offices already face structured oversight.

While the final contours remain undecided, analysts say regulatory oversight could reshape India’s financial markets by holding these influential entities to higher standards of transparency and accountability.Read about our editorial guidelines and ethics policy