If I use a rating or score, what must I publish about it?
In force
If you use any rating system, you must define what each rating means, including the time horizon it refers to and the benchmark it is judged against. That applies to your own scores just as much as to Buy, Hold and Accumulate.
You must also define the terms you use in recommendations and then use them consistently. Facts in the report must rest on reliable information.
There is a hard formatting duty attached. Where a report carries a rating or a price target and you have covered that security for at least a year, the report must include a graph of the daily closing price, for the period you have covered it or three years, whichever is shorter.
That last one is binary. Either the graph is in the report or it is not.
What SEBI says, word for word
Regulation 20(2)“Research analyst or research entity that employs a rating system must clearly define the meaning of each such rating including the time horizon and benchmarks on which a rating is based.”Source: SEBI (Research Analysts) Regulations, 2014 — Regulation 20(2) Open document ↗
Regulation 20(1)“shall take steps to ensure that facts in its research reports are based on reliable information and shall define the terms used in making recommendations, and these terms shall be consistently used”Source: SEBI (Research Analysts) Regulations, 2014 — Regulation 20(1) Open document ↗
Regulation 20(3)“such research report shall also provide the graph of daily closing price of such securities for the period assigned or for a three-year period, whichever is shorter.”Source: SEBI (Research Analysts) Regulations, 2014 — Regulation 20(3) Open document ↗