Lower fees structure for investment advisors to be effective from April 1: Sebi

The regulator has issued a corrigendum to its earlier notification issued on January 11, wherein it was mentioned that the new norms on fees would come into force on the date of their publication in the official gazette. 

In a fresh notification, Sebi said the new fee norms for investment advisers would become effective from April 1, 2021. 

Under the new norms, individuals and firms (partnership) will have to pay Rs 2,000 while applying for an investment advisor certificate. Earlier, they had to cough up Rs 5,000 as application fee. 

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 reduction 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 can charge from clients. It had also put in place a procedural framework pertaining to audit and record-keeping.