After SEBI RA Registration: 30-Day Setup Checklist (2026)

After SEBI RA Registration: Your 30-Day Setup Checklist

Getting your SEBI Research Analyst (RA) certificate is the start, not the finish. Before you take a single paying client, a set of obligations kicks in: a deposit, terms and MITC consent, KYC, a working website, complaint disclosures, records and a way to collect fees. Most new RAs set these up by hand, one at a time, and only find the gaps when a subscriber asks for an invoice or an auditor asks for records.

This checklist puts the first 30 days in order. It assumes you already hold your registration. If you are still applying, start with our guides to RA registration, the NISM Series XV exam and what registration costs.

Rules referred to below are from SEBI's January 2025 guidelines for Research Analysts. SEBI has amended the RA framework since then, so check each item against the current master circular before you rely on it.

Days 1 to 5: regulatory foundations

1. Put the deposit in place

RAs must keep a deposit with a scheduled bank, marked as lien in favour of the RA Administration and Supervisory Body (RAASB), in the manner RAASB specifies. The amount depends on the maximum number of clients on any day of the previous financial year:

Source: SEBI circular "Guidelines for Research Analysts", 8 January 2025. The amount is revised by 30 April each year if your client count changes. Confirm the current table with RAASB.

2. Complete your RAASB formalities

RAs are administered and supervised by RAASB. Make sure your profile, contact details and website are confirmed with it, and diarise its periodic reporting. Our RA compliance calendar lists the recurring dates.

3. Open a separate bank account and register for GST if needed

A dedicated current account keeps fee receipts clean for accounting, audit and any refund you may owe. Register for GST if your turnover will cross the threshold for services, or earlier if your clients or payment gateway need a GSTIN on invoices.

Days 6 to 12: client-facing documents

4. Terms of service and MITC

You may not provide any research service or charge any fee until the client has consented to your terms and conditions. SEBI's guidelines set the minimum terms, and they must include the Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC), standardised by the Industry Standards Forum. Consent can be signed in person or through any legally acceptable mode, including Aadhaar-based e-signature. In practice that means: client accepts terms and e-signs the MITC, then pays. Do not reverse that order.

5. Disclose any use of AI tools

If you use AI tools in providing research, you must disclose the extent of that use when you disclose your terms, and you remain responsible for client data and for research based on the tool's output.

6. KYC for fee-paying clients

RAs must follow the KYC procedure for fee-paying clients and keep KYC records. Decide now how you will do it: a KYC registration agency (KRA) fetch, an e-KYC vendor or both. See our digital KYC guide.

7. Investor charter, disclaimer and refund terms

Publish the investor charter and keep it visible on your website and app. Write your disclaimer, refund policy and fee terms. SEBI does not allow a breakage fee on early termination, and fees for the unexpired period must be refunded proportionately. Our investor charter guide and fee rules guide go further.

Days 13 to 18: website, payments and delivery

8. A functional website

RAs must maintain a functional website with the details SEBI specifies. At a minimum it should show your registration details, investor charter, disclosures, fee and refund terms, complaint data and a link to lodge a complaint, including the SCORES link. A home-made site often misses one of these. Run it through our free website health check.

9. Payment collection

Choose a payment gateway that supports one-time and recurring payments, issues GST invoices and records which plan each payment was for. Keep fee caps in mind: for individual and HUF clients, SEBI's January 2025 guidelines cap fees at ₹1.51 lakh per family per year (excluding statutory charges), revised by RAASB every three years. SEBI also runs an optional Centralised Fee Collection Mechanism (CeFCoM), and you must tell clients about it. See how to collect subscription payments and CeFCoM explained.

10. How subscribers will receive your research

Decide your delivery channels: a private Telegram channel per plan, WhatsApp alerts, an app, email, or a mix. Each call must be backed by a research report you keep on record. Our guides to Telegram for RAs and client communication cover the details.

Days 19 to 24: records, complaints and controls

11. Record keeping

Keep records of interactions with clients and prospective clients from the first interaction, for five years, longer if a dispute is open or SEBI asks. Keep the research report behind each recommendation. Decide where these live (a platform, a document store or both) and test that you can export them.

12. Complaint handling

Set up a complaint email and register. Complaints on SCORES must be resolved, with an action taken report uploaded, within 21 calendar days. You must also publish complaint data every month by the 7th of the following month. See complaint handling for RAs and the monthly complaint data format.

13. Plan for the annual compliance audit

RAs must have an annual compliance audit completed within six months of the end of each financial year, and file the report with RAASB/SEBI within a month of it. Building records properly from day one makes this a review, not a scramble. See our audit preparation guide.

14. Track record and PaRRVA

If you want to publish past performance, it must be verified through PaRRVA. Record every recommendation at the time you make it, with price and timestamp, so the data exists when you need it. See PaRRVA explained.

Days 25 to 30: your first product and first subscribers

15. Build your first model portfolio or service

Start with one clearly defined product: one model portfolio or one recommendation service, with a stated universe, benchmark, rebalancing rule and risk level. Our first model portfolio guide walks through it.

16. Test the full client journey yourself

Sign up as a client: land on the site, read the charter, complete KYC, e-sign the MITC, pay, receive the invoice, join the Telegram channel or app, receive a test alert. Fix every step that breaks or feels confusing.

17. Launch to your first subscribers

Keep marketing within SEBI's advertising and social media rules: no assured returns, no unverified performance claims. Our first 100 subscribers guide and social media rules help here.

The tools a new RA actually needs

You do not need an office. Many individual RAs work from home. You do need a small, reliable stack:

• Research tools: exchange filings from NSE and BSE, a screener and a charting tool. Free options are enough to start.
• Client operations: KYC, terms and MITC e-sign, payments and invoices, subscription expiry and renewal.
• Delivery: Telegram, WhatsApp, app and email, with a record of what was sent to whom.
• Compliance records: research reports, client interactions, complaints and audit evidence in one exportable place.
• Accounting: invoicing and GST, ideally linked to your payment records.
• Basics: a domain email, backups and two-factor authentication on every account that holds client data.

Stitching five or six separate tools together works at ten clients. It usually breaks at a hundred, when a payment does not match a channel invite or a renewal is missed. Automate the repeat steps early: onboarding, invite and removal, reminders and records.

How AlphaQuark fits this checklist

AlphaQuark covers the client-operations part of the list in one platform: KYC, MITC e-sign before payment, payment collection and invoices, plan-based Telegram access with removal on expiry, WhatsApp and app alerts, model portfolios with broker execution, and dated records of every recommendation. It runs under your own brand as a white-label app and website. See the RA platform or pricing.