ESG Impact Fund’s Registration Cancelled by SEBI for Failing To File Mandatory Quarterly Reports
Moneylife Digital Team 18 June 2026
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has cancelled the registration of ESG Impact Fund (EIF), an alternative investment fund (AIF), for repeatedly failing to submit mandatory quarterly activity reports (QARs), despite several reminders and opportunities to comply. The market regulator revoked the fund's registration with immediate effect under summary proceedings initiated for persistent non-compliance. 
 
EIF was registered with SEBI as a Category-I AIF. Under SEBI regulations, all registered AIFs are required to file quarterly activity reports within 15 days from the end of each quarter through the SEBI Intermediary Portal. 
 
According to the order, the Fund failed to submit QARs for the quarters ending March 2025, June 2025, September 2025 and December 2025. The regulator subsequently initiated summary proceedings under Regulation 30A of the SEBI (Intermediaries) Regulations, 2008, read with Section 12(3) of the SEBI Act. 
 
In response to the show-cause notice (SCN) issued in April 2026, EIF  attributed the non-submission of reports to persistent technical and system-related issues on the SEBI intermediary portal. The Fund claimed that it had been in regular correspondence with SEBI officials and the portal helpdesk since 2022 regarding XML validation and upload errors that allegedly prevented it from filing the reports. 
 
The Fund also submitted email records showing that it had sought assistance from SEBI and the portal helpdesk on multiple occasions. It argued that pending batch processing and unresolved XML-related issues in earlier filings blocked the submission of subsequent quarterly reports. 
 
However, SEBI found the explanations unconvincing. The regulator noted that, although the Fund had initially raised concerns regarding filing issues in 2023, it failed to demonstrate any meaningful efforts to resolve the problems or complete the required filings during 2025, the period relevant to the proceedings. 
 
SEBI further observed that it had provided guidance to the fund on multiple occasions, including sharing technical manuals and instructions to rectify filing errors. Despite this assistance, the Fund failed to comply with reporting requirements, while other market participants successfully submitted their reports during the same period. 
 
The regulator also noted that EIF had informed SEBI in March 2025 that it had neither raised capital nor made investments since obtaining registration in May 2017. Nevertheless, SEBI clarified that the reporting obligations apply even to inactive funds and that the AIF should have filed 'NIL' reports if it had no business activity. 
 
Holding that the technical glitches cited by the fund did not justify prolonged non-compliance, SEBI concluded that ESG Impact Fund had shown a lack of diligence in meeting its regulatory obligations. Accordingly, S Madhusudhanan, designated authority (DA) of SEBI, ordered the cancellation of the fund's registration as an AIF with immediate effect.
 
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