On September 11, 2018, SEBI issued the SEBI (Buy-back of Securities) Regulations, 2018 (‘New Regulations’), repealing the erstwhile SEBI (Buy-back of Securities) Regulations, 1998 (‘1998 Regulations’), which inter alia aligns the provisions of the New Regulations with those under the Companies Act. In addition to such alignment, some of the key changes prescribed under the New Regulations include: (i) providing much needed clarity on the meaning of the ‘buy-back period’ (which is now defined to mean the period between the date of board of directors’ resolution or date of declaration of results of the postal ballot for special resolution, as the case may be, to authorize buyback of shares of the company and the date on which the payment of consideration to shareholders who have accepted the buyback offer is made), and (ii) according SEBI with discretionary powers to relax strict enforcement of procedural requirements under these regulations, subject to certain exceptions.