6 February 2026

AIFs must upload unit values to the depositories, with a disclaimer that the figure is the fund's own

Do AIFs have to report unit values to depositories?

Yes. A SEBI circular of 6 February 2026 requires every AIF, through its registrar and transfer agent, to upload the latest available unit value against each ISIN in the depository system, before 1 May 2026 or within 30 days of the valuation date, whichever is later. The manager is responsible for timely and accurate uploading.

What changed

SEBI issued a circular on 6 February 2026, reference HO/19/34/11(8)2025-AFD-POD1/I/4335/2026, addressed to all Alternative Investment Funds, all depositories, and all registrars and transfer agents. It was signed by Anshul Jagdish Goyal, Deputy General Manager, and came into force with immediate effect.

AIFs have been required to issue units in dematerialised form since the circular of 21 June 2023, subsumed into Chapter 20 of the 2024 Master Circular. This circular puts the value of those units into the same depository infrastructure.

What it requires

  • AIFs, through their RTAs, upload the latest available unit value against each ISIN before 1 May 2026, or within 30 days of the valuation date, whichever is later.
  • The valuation date is the date of the valuation report where an independent valuer acted, or the date the valuation was documented in internal records where an internal valuer did.
  • The manager is responsible for ensuring the upload is timely and accurate.
  • Depositories build the infrastructure, display the prescribed disclaimer, amend their bye-laws, rules and regulations, and notify their participants.
  • The trustee or sponsor must ensure the manager's Compliance Test Report under Chapter 15 of the Master Circular covers compliance with this circular.

The disclaimer is the point

SEBI prescribed the exact wording depositories must display alongside any AIF unit value:

Net Asset Value (NAV) being shown is on the basis of valuation methodology and accounting practice followed by your respective AIF. Please refer to your fund documents for more details.

That sentence is doing real work. A figure appearing in a depository statement looks institutional and comparable, and this one is neither. It rests on each fund's own methodology and its own accounting practice, at a valuation date that may be up to six months old for a Category I or II fund — a year, where investors holding 75% by value have approved the extension.

This is the same reason no comparable performance figure exists for Indian AIFs, and it is why this site publishes none. A value in a demat statement is a fund's own mark, disclosed to its own investor. It is not a number that can be set beside another fund's.

Who this reaches

Every AIF and its RTA, operationally. Every investor holding AIF units in demat form, who from May 2026 sees a figure in the depository statement that was not there before.

What is not settled

The circular sets a floor for freshness — 30 days from the valuation date — but the valuation frequency underneath it is governed by regulation 23 and can be as infrequent as annual. The circular does not require the valuation date to be displayed alongside the value.

Sources

  1. Reporting of value of units of Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) to Depositories — HO/19/34/11(8)2025-AFD-POD1/I/4335/2026SEBI, 6 February 2026 · primary
  2. Reporting of value of units circular, full text, 2 pagesSEBI, 6 February 2026 · primary

Dated 6 February 2026, last checked against source 25 August 2026. The dateline is the date of the instrument this item reports, not the date the page was written. This page reports what a document says. It is information, not legal, tax or investment advice, and it is not a recommendation about any fund.

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