On 2 January, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) came out with a consultation paper—the third so far—on mutual fund adviser guidelines, taking another step in demarcating advice and selling. The guidelines said that a Sebi-registered investment adviser (RIA) cannot offer mutual fund distribution services, and added that a distributor cannot offer investment advisory services.
Despite the Sebi (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013 being in place since 2013, until now your investment adviser or mutual fund distributor would have typically done both—advised you on what to buy and when; followed by a sale transaction where you bought a mutual fund from her to execute the advice given.
