SEBI Cancels Registration of 15 Investment Advisers for Non-Payment of Renewal Fees
Key Takeaways
- •SEBI cancelled the registrations of 15 investment advisers for non-payment of mandatory renewal fees.
- •The regulator said the cancellations do not remove the advisers’ existing liabilities or obligations to investors.
- •Only advisers registered under SEBI’s Investment Advisers Regulations, 2013, may lawfully provide investment advice for consideration.
- •SEBI’s 2020 amendments made registration permanent only if periodic renewal fees are paid.
- •SEBI maintains a public list of registered investment advisers that investors can use to check registration status.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has cancelled the registration of 15 investment advisers after they failed to pay the mandatory renewal fees required to keep their registrations active.
Along with the cancellations, the regulator reminded the affected advisers that the action does not end their responsibilities. Their past liabilities and obligations towards investors will continue to remain in force.
Investment advisers in India are regulated under the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013, which require anyone offering investment advice for consideration to be registered with the regulator. Payment of the prescribed fees is a condition for continuing to operate as a registered investment adviser, and failure to pay these fees can lead to the cancellation of registration. This fee-linked framework took its current shape after SEBI amended the regulations in 2020 to make IA registration permanent, conditional on the payment of periodic renewal fees; the same amendments also tightened qualification and certification requirements and reinforced the separation of advisory activity from product distribution. Fee-related cancellations are not unprecedented, as SEBI has cancelled the registrations of intermediaries, including investment advisers, on similar grounds in earlier rounds.
A cancellation of registration does not absolve an adviser of obligations arising from advice or services provided while the registration was valid. SEBI, the statutory regulator for India's securities market established under the SEBI Act, 1992, has repeatedly emphasized that investor protection obligations survive the lapse or cancellation of an adviser's registration, and aggrieved investors retain the remedies available to them under securities laws. For investors who use fee-based advisory services, SEBI maintains a publicly available list of registered investment advisers on its website, which can be used to check whether an adviser's registration remains valid; under the 2013 regulations, only registered advisers may lawfully provide investment advice for consideration.
The report was published by CNBC-TV18 Markets on August 21, 2026, under the headline "SEBI cancels registration of 15 investment advisers for non-payment of renewal fees" (source).
