CSCRF category for an AIF or VCF manager
Work out your CSCRF category from the current thresholds, across every SEBI regulated entity type, with the obligations each category picks up and the amendments that changed the criteria.
What this case turns on
The April 2025 clarification made one structural change here that a threshold table alone does not convey: categorisation moved from the fund to the manager, and AIFs and VCFs are now assessed together. Where one manager runs both, the VCF scheme corpus counts towards the same threshold as the AIF corpus. A manager running several modest funds can therefore sit a band higher than any single fund would suggest.
| Category | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Self-certification | ₹3,000 crore and below |
| Small-size | More than ₹3,000 crore and less than ₹10,000 crore |
| Mid-size | ₹10,000 crore and above |
Carve-out. A manager in the self-certification band with a client base of fewer than 100 is exempt from the mandatory Market SOC requirement.
Changed since CSCRF v1.0. CSCRF v1.0 categorised each AIF on its own AUM and each VCF on its own scheme corpus, in two separate tables. April 2025 clubbed them and moved the assessment to manager level.
Work out your own category
The tool below opens on this entity type. Enter your own figure to see which band you fall in and what that category obliges you to do.
Categorisation is at manager level, not fund level, and AIFs and VCFs are assessed together. Where one manager runs both, the VCF scheme corpus counts towards the same threshold. No AIF or VCF manager is a Qualified RE.
| Category | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Self-certification | ₹3,000 crore and below |
| Small-size | More than ₹3,000 crore and less than ₹10,000 crore |
| Mid-size | ₹10,000 crore and above |
Carve-out. A manager in the self-certification band with a client base of fewer than 100 is exempt from the mandatory Market SOC requirement.
Changed since CSCRF v1.0. CSCRF v1.0 categorised each AIF on its own AUM and each VCF on its own scheme corpus, in two separate tables. April 2025 clubbed them and moved the assessment to manager level.
Indicative, and not legal advice. SEBI validates the category at the time of compliance submission through your reporting authority, and the thresholds are updated as and when required.
For every other entity type, the amendment history, and the obligations each category picks up, see the full CSCRF category finder.
This page is indicative and is not legal advice. SEBI validates the category through your reporting authority at the time of compliance submission. Every instrument cited here was verified against the issuing regulator's own notification on .
Questions this page answers
- How is a SEBI CSCRF category decided?
- On quantitative thresholds that differ by entity type — registered clients and trading volume for a stock broker, assets under management for a mutual fund or portfolio manager, assets under custody for a custodian, folios serviced for an RTA. Some entity types take a fixed category instead: every active Merchant Banker is Small-size, and KYC Registration Agencies are Qualified REs. Where an entity holds several registrations, the highest category applies.
- Can a SEBI regulated entity change CSCRF category during the year?
- No. SEBI is explicit that the category is decided at the beginning of the financial year on the previous financial year’s data, and the entity remains in that category for the whole year regardless of how the parameters move during it. A firm that grows across a threshold this year inherits the heavier standard next April, so a compliance plan built on the current category has a scheduled expiry date on it.
- What was the SEBI CSCRF compliance deadline?
- 31 August 2025, reached through two extensions from the original date — three months to 30 June 2025 in March 2025, then two further months in June 2025. Both extensions expressly carved out Market Infrastructure Institutions, KYC Registration Agencies and Qualified RTAs, so for those three the original deadline never moved at all.
- Which SEBI entities are exempt from CSCRF?
- Foreign Portfolio Investors, Foreign Venture Capital Investors, Limited Purpose Clearing Corporations, Qualified Depository Participants, REITs, InvITs and Vault Managers are excluded outright. So are stock brokers below both 1,000 registered clients and ₹1,000 crore of annual clientele trading volume, RTAs servicing fewer than 10,000 folios, inactive Merchant Bankers, Investment Advisers and Research Analysts not registered in any other capacity, and Debenture Trustees with no new listed-debt issuer client in three financial years.
- Does the Cyber Capability Index apply to every SEBI regulated entity?
- No. The CCI applies only to Market Infrastructure Institutions and Qualified REs. MIIs conduct a third-party assessment half-yearly; Qualified REs self-assess yearly. Mid-size, Small-size and Self-certification REs have no CCI obligation. The distinction matters evidentially as well as operationally — a third-party assessment and a self-report carry different weight in a supervisory conversation.