SEBI to relax difficulty level in PMS examination for distributors

There is good news for MFDs who want to sell PMS. SEBI is likely to relax the difficulty level in the PMS examination for distributors, said two people aware of the development.

This has come after the trade body – the Association of Portfolio Managers in India (APMI) requested the regulator to review the existing course material due to the high failure rate, said the source.

Also, the market regulator may also look at reducing the passing mark and doing away with the negative marking, said the sources.  

Currently, while the passing marks is 60%, there is negative marking of 0.25% for every wrong attempt.

According to the existing norms, distributors have to pass the NISM Series-XXI-A: Portfolio Management Services (PMS) Distributors Certification Examination to sell PMS.

Here are some key requirements to obtain this certificate:

• The examination consists of 80 multiple-choice questions and 3 case-based questions
• Each question carries 1 mark while case studies can give you 20 marks
• Passing marks to obtain this certificate is 60%
• For every incorrect answer, there is 0.25% negative marking which means for 4 incorrect answers, 1 mark will be lost
• The certification cost for NISM-Series-XXI-A: Portfolio Management Services (PMS) Distributors Certification Examination is Rs.1,500
• The duration is 2 hours, and the certification is valid for three years