Checking whether an adviser is SEBI-registered takes a few minutes and is worth doing before you pay anyone for advice. Search SEBI's public list of registered Investment Advisers at sebi.gov.in, confirm the registration number starts with INA, cross-check BASL membership, and know that complaints go through SEBI's SCORES portal. If someone advising you is not on that register, that alone is reason to stop.
Anyone in India who gives investment advice for a fee is meant to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the market regulator. Registration is not a formality. It is what separates an accountable professional from a tipster who can vanish.
What to check, at a glance
How to check if an adviser is SEBI-registered
Start at the source. Go to the SEBI website, sebi.gov.in, and find its public list of registered intermediaries, specifically the list of registered Investment Advisers. Search by the individual's or firm's name, or by the registration number they gave you, and check that the name, entity and number all line up.
Ask the adviser directly for their SEBI registration number and their registered name. A genuine adviser shares it without hesitation. If the details do not match the register, or the person cannot produce a number at all, stop there. Impressive websites, testimonials and screenshots of profits prove nothing. The register is the only thing that does.
What the registration number tells you
The registration number is the quickest tell. A SEBI-registered Investment Adviser has a number that begins with the letters INA followed by digits. That is the licence to give investment advice for a fee.
A related but different category is the Research Analyst, whose registration number begins with INH. Research Analysts publish research, ratings and calls, but they are not meant to give you advice tailored to your personal situation. Both are SEBI-registered, but the roles differ, so it helps to know which one you are dealing with. If someone is charging you for personalised advice, the number you want to see is an INA one.
Confirming BASL membership
There is a second, independent check. SEBI-registered Investment Advisers are administered and supervised through BASL, the BSE Administration and Supervision arm, under SEBI's framework. So an adviser who is genuinely registered should also be traceable there.
Using both the SEBI register and the BASL listing together makes it much harder for a fake to slip through. A real adviser appears in both places, with matching details. Anyone who appears in neither, yet still asks for money to manage or advise on your investments, is not who they claim to be.
Why registration matters
Registration is not red tape. A SEBI-registered Investment Adviser is bound by rules on how they conduct themselves, what they must disclose, and how they may charge. At its heart is a fiduciary duty, meaning a legal obligation to act in your interest rather than push whatever pays them the most. There are also limits on how they take fees, designed to reduce conflicts of interest.
None of that exists with an unregistered operator. If a tipster on a messaging app loses your money, there is no regulator standing behind their conduct and no clean route to hold them to account. As a point of fact, NYVO is itself a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser, which is exactly the standard you can and should verify for anyone who advises you, us included.
How to complain: SCORES
If you have a grievance against a registered intermediary, SEBI runs an online complaint system called SCORES, where you can lodge and track a complaint. Keep a record of what was promised, what you paid, and the communications involved, since documentation makes any complaint stronger.
SCORES is the right channel when the party is registered. When the problem is an unregistered tipster or an outright scam, the matter belongs with cybercrime and law-enforcement channels as well.
Red flags of unregistered tipsters
The people to avoid tend to share a pattern. They promise guaranteed or unusually high returns, which no honest adviser can. They pressure you to act fast. They cannot produce a valid SEBI registration number, or give one that does not match the register. Some ask for a share of your "profits" or want money routed to a personal account.
Any one of these is a reason to walk away and verify before paying a rupee. For the full checklist of warning signs and schemes to watch for, read how to spot an investment scam in India.
Related NYVO guides
- How to Spot an Investment Scam in India – the red flags and schemes an unregistered tipster relies on.
- Common Financial Frauds in India, and How to Stay Safe – digital and banking fraud, and how to report it.
- How to Start Investing in India – the groundwork before you take advice from anyone.
- Goal-Based Planning 101 – deciding what you are investing for in the first place.
The test is simple enough to remember. Before money changes hands, the person advising you should be findable on SEBI's own register, with an INA number that matches. If they are not, the polished pitch is beside the point, because the one thing that protects you is missing.
