You would report each advertisement to your supervisory body within 24 hours instead of seeking prior approval, and could use PaRRVA ratings and brand-level celebrity ads.
On June 23, 2026, SEBI proposed a single Common Advertisement Code for Research Analysts, Investment Advisers, stock brokers, depository participants, online bond platform providers, portfolio managers and mutual funds. It would become a chapter of the SEBI (Intermediaries) Regulations, 2008 and replace the advertisement code in paragraph 11 of the Master Circular for Research Analysts dated February 6, 2026. This is a proposal only. Nothing changes until SEBI finalises and notifies the code. Comments are open until July 14, 2026.
Prior approval would end Today every advertisement you issue needs prior approval from the Research Analysts Administration and Supervisory Body. Under the proposal you would publish first and report afterwards. You would upload each advertisement, or a link to it, on a portal run by the supervisory body promptly and no later than 24 hours after issue. The supervisory body or SEBI would then monitor what you report under a policy it specifies. The paper does not say what the portal will ask for or whether any fee applies.
Celebrity endorsements are prohibited for Research Analysts today. The proposal would allow them at brand or entity level only. The advertisement could list your services but could not make any claim or inducement about a specific product or service. It would still need prior approval from your supervisory body, and you could not pass the cost on to clients. The definition of celebrity is wide. It covers any influencer with more than 5 lakh followers on a single social media handle, lead actors, national sportspersons, TV hosts with at least one season or 10 episodes, and virtual avatars.
Ratings and rankings are prohibited in your advertisements today. You could use them only if a Past Risk and Return Verification Agency (PaRRVA) assigns them, based on a study covering all relevant market participants in your category. You would explain the rating in the advertisement or point to a website that explains its meaning and methodology, and state that it is only one factor in choosing a regulated entity. PaRRVA would set the methodology in consultation with industry bodies and SEBI. The paper gives no date for this. Past performance could appear only in the manner SEBI specifies. The paper records that you may currently use PaRRVA verified return metrics, but the draft code itself leaves the method to SEBI.
Every advertisement would carry your name, SEBI registration number and logo, if you have one, along with disclaimers SEBI will specify separately. The paper does not give the disclaimer text. In an SMS, pop-up or push notification where these do not fit, you would add a hyperlink to them on your website.
Some communication would fall outside the code as long as it does not promote a product or service or solicit interest. This includes educational content, reports or analyses shared with existing clients, replies to a client's or prospective client's request for information, greetings, regulatory communications to existing clients and feedback surveys. Educational content must keep your branding minimal and incidental and carry no promotional call to action. If you pay for it from funds earmarked for education and awareness, you would report it for post facto monitoring.
Testimonials, guaranteed or indicative returns, and content implying past performance may recur would be barred. You could not offer vouchers, coupons, subscription plans or any other incentive to get clients to avail your services, reactivate an account or download an app. Dark patterns listed in Annexure I of the Central Consumer Protection Authority's 2023 guidelines, such as false urgency and subscription traps, would be prohibited. If a third party issues an advertisement for you without your consent, you would have seven days from learning of it to take action, then inform the supervisory body and disclose the incident on your website.
Breaches could lead to summary proceedings, directions to withdraw advertisements or stop issuing them, a halt on onboarding new clients and monetary penalties. A transition period of 6 months from notification is proposed. Until SEBI notifies the code, the prior approval requirement in your current code still applies.
“Subjecting each item to prior approval is neither efficient nor effective.”
Consultation Paper on Common Advertisement Code for Specified SEBI Regulated Entities, Section 4(b), Requirement of prior approval
The document
Consultation Paper on Common Advertisement Code for Specified SEBI Regulated Entities on sebi.gov.in.
This summary is prepared from the SEBI document linked above. Read the original before you act on it.