Bazaar School

SEBI

Also called: Securities and Exchange Board of India

The Securities and Exchange Board of India, which regulates stock exchanges, brokers, mutual funds, advisers and listed companies.

SEBI was set up in 1988 and given legal powers by the SEBI Act of 1992. It writes the rules for exchanges, brokers, depositories, mutual funds, research analysts and investment advisers, and it can fine people, ban them from the market and order money returned.

For an investor, three of its jobs matter most. It decides what listed companies must disclose. It registers the people allowed to give investment advice or publish research, so you can check anyone’s registration on its website. And it runs SCORES, the online system for complaints against brokers and listed companies.

Example

Someone on Telegram offers sure-shot calls for a monthly fee. You search their name on SEBI’s lists of registered investment advisers and research analysts and find nothing. If their tips go wrong, there is no regulator you can complain to about them.

Watch out

SEBI regulates the market, not your returns. A registered adviser can still be wrong. Registration means someone is accountable, not that they are right.

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