Sebi RIAs: The Unintended Scapegoats Of Sebi's Advisor Regulations

When Bengaluru-based registered investment advisor (RIA) Saurabh Bansal read about capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi’s) intent to separate the advisory business from distribution in 2013, he decided to hold the advisory umbrella. He applied for the RIA licence. “RIA regulations first came in 2013, which stipulated net worth requirement for body corporate (includes a private company, public company, one personal company, small company, limited liability partnerships, foreign company etc.) at Rs 5 lakh. By the time our application got approved, the net worth criterion was raised to Rs 25 lakh. The application fee was raised, too,” says Bansal. He reached out to the Sebi office in Bengaluru. “They informed that Sebi had done it across financial institutions, and RIAs couldn’t have been an exception,” he adds....