Sebi reduces application and registration fee for investment advisors

Markets regulator Sebi has cut down application and registration fees for individuals and corporates seeking a registered investment advisor status.

Now, individuals and firms (partnership) will have to pay Rs 2,000 while applying for an investment advisor certificate. Earlier, they had to cough up a higher amount of Rs 5,000 as application fee, according to a Sebi notification issued on Monday.

The application fee for corporates including Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) has been brought down to Rs 10,000 from Rs 25,000.

At the time of grant of a certificate, individuals and firms will have to shell out a fee of Rs 3,000 and Rs 15,000 by bodies corporate. Earlier, registration fee was Rs 10,000 and Rs 5 lakh for individuals as well as firms and body corporates respectively.

The cut down in fees is expected to help those seeking registration as investment advisors.

The move comes after a series of tightening of norms by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for registered investment advisors.

In September, Sebi came out with detailed guidelines for investment advisers asking them to ensure segregation of advisory and distribution activities at the client level.

Besides, Sebi had fixed a cap on fee that investment advisers (IA) can charge from clients. It had also put in place a procedural framework pertaining to audit and record-keeping.