How to apply for DIN or Director Identification Number?

CS Kruti Gogri Companies Act 2013, Startup , ,

If you are planning to become a director in a company or a partner in an LLP, you need to have a DIN or Director Identification Number.

In this post we will cover what is DIN and how can you apply for DIN.

What is DIN?

DIN is the first step for becoming a Director or a Designated Partner. DIN is a unique number which is allotted to an individual who intends to become a Director in a company or a Designated Partner in a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).

DIN is also a mandatory requirement for a company or an LLP for filing eForms with MCA.

For designated partner, the applicable term is DPIN (Designated Partner Identification Number).

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How do I get registered with SEBI as a Research Analyst?

CS Kruti Gogri SEBI ,

This blog is moved to www.cskruti.com. To view the updated article, click here.

A lot of investors invest in stock markets through direct stocks or through mutual funds. However, researching a company or a stock or a commodity is not easy due to a variety of information available from different sources. Sometimes the information is raw and needs to be analysed using various financial tools to be able to make an investment decision. That is where a ‘Research Analyst’ comes into picture.

In short, a research analyst analyses a security including a stock or a mutual fund or a commodity and gives buy or sell or hold recommendation.

However, the views or recommendations of research analysts may not be independent and hence there could be potential conflict of interest.

To tackle this conflict and to ensure independence of research analysts, the regulator felt the need to regulate the activities of research analyst. Hence, SEBI introduced the SEBI (Research Analyst) Regulations, 2014.

It regulates individuals or entities whose business activity is issuance and publication of research reports or research analysis on securities.

 

To read the entire article, click here.

SEBI strikes on Investment Advisers!

CS Kruti Gogri SEBI , ,

With SEBI pushing for the Investment Advisers certification, many have opted for it. After all, it is better to be on the right side of the regulator and build an honest, future oriented practice.

The point that is missed out is that taking a license is not enough. There is much more to the regulations.

It is time that Investment Advisers take the SEBI regulation seriously, especially with the expectation of proposed amendments to the regulation.

Going by SEBI’s orders issued recently, it can come after you and even ban you for not complying with the regulation.

One of the recent cases is that of CapitalVia Global Research Limited (CapitalVia).

On November 11, 2016, SEBI issued an order against CapitalVia for non-compliance of various provisions of SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013.

To give you a background, CapitalVia is a research company and provides recommendations to “traders” on equity, derivatives and commodities. The products are listed on its website. It also has its own trading platform.

SEBI received a complaint that “CapitalVia charged a fee of Rs. 25,00,000/- for their services rendered wherein they promised an assured return of 10%.”

As per the report, SEBI received approximately 240 complaints from clients of CapitalVia on SCORES (the online complaint platform monitored by SEBI).

SEBI sprung into action and conducted audit of the books and records of CapitalVia due to complaints received by the clients of CapitalVia. On inspection, SEBI observed that the company did not comply with various provisions of the Investment Advisers Regulations.

The non-compliance is grave in nature and now the company and its Directors are not allowed to carry on any fresh investment advisory business till further directions are issued by SEBI.

Click here to download the order.

This is just one case that shows how serious SEBI is towards investor protection.

In this post I will take you through the case and help you see all the non-compliance by CapitalVia. This is exactly as pointed out by SEBI. We will also cover what SEBI expects from the Investment Advisers.

Continue reading →

Disclosures under SEBI Investment Advisers Regulations

CS Kruti Gogri SEBI , , ,

SEBI has always insisted on transparency in doing business. It has mandated various disclosures in almost all its regulations, in line with its mission statement to protect the interest of investors. The latest one mandates the Mutual Fund Companies to disclose the commissions given to the distributors, in all the mutual fund statements.

In my earlier post, I have mentioned how SEBI is tackling the conflict of interest between the investment advisory and distribution business. One of the ways it has proposed is to get the Investment Advisers to separate their advisory from the distribution activities through a separate subsidiary. Another one, is the mandatory disclosures to the client.

In this post we will see all the disclosures to be made by an Investment Adviser to its client.

Let us start. Continue reading →