RAASB Fee Breakdown (2026)
RAASB is the BSE-run body that administers Research Analysts for SEBI. The phrase "RAASB fees" gets used loosely to mean the whole cost of getting registered and staying registered. Some of it is a fee you pay and never see again. Some of it is a deposit that stays your money. This post separates the two and lays out every line in one table.
Note: General information, not legal or compliance advice. RAASB and SEBI fees are set by circular and revised from time to time. Confirm every figure against the current SEBI and RAASB circulars at sebi.gov.in before you budget or pay.
What RAASB is, and why the costs sit there
RAASB stands for Research Analyst Administration and Supervisory Body. It is run by BSE Ltd and acts on SEBI's behalf to administer and supervise Research Analysts. Registration still flows through SEBI, but the day-to-day administration, supervision, and the deposit all sit with RAASB. That is why the costs an RA carries get bundled under one label, even though they are paid to different places and behave very differently.
The single most useful thing to understand before reading any number: a fee leaves your pocket for good, a deposit does not. The application fee is gone the moment you pay it. The deposit is capital you park under lien. Both show up in your setup budget, but only one is a true cost. Mixing them up is how people end up quoting scary headline figures for getting registered.
The full fee table
Here is every line an RA typically encounters around RAASB registration, with the type of cost flagged. Where a specific figure is set by circular rather than fixed, the table says so. Do not treat the "per circular" rows as zero; treat them as "look it up".
SEBI registration figures are from the February 2026 Research Analyst master circular, Annexure I FAQ 14. Check for later changes before paying.
The one-time fees you pay to get in
Apply through RAASB. The SEBI application fee is ₹2,000 for an individual or partnership firm, and ₹20,000 for a body corporate or LLP. These are separate from the registration fees payable after approval.
Before any of that, you sit the NISM Series XV-RA exam. The exam fee is ₹1,500 per attempt, paid to NISM, separate from anything SEBI charges. There is no limit on attempts, so a retake is another ₹1,500. For most applicants the full one-time outlay to get registered, exam plus application and registration, is ₹6,500 for an individual before RAASB charges. The deposit is what makes the total look larger, and the deposit is not spent.
SEBI's initial registration fee is ₹3,000 for an individual or partnership firm and ₹30,000 for a body corporate or LLP. The next five-year fee is ₹1,000 or ₹5,000 respectively. RAASB administrative fees are separate. For application steps, the SEBI Research Analyst registration guide walks through the documents, the portal, and the 30 to 90 day processing window.
The deposit: capital, not a cost
This is the line that confuses people. SEBI scrapped the old net-worth test for Research Analysts and replaced it with a deposit that scales with your client base. The deposit is held with a scheduled bank and marked as a lien in favour of RAASB. It is security, not a payment. You do not hand it over and lose it.
The deposit is graded by the maximum number of clients you had on any single day in the previous financial year:
Slabs from section 1.2 of SEBI's February 2026 Research Analyst master circular. Verify the latest band before acting.
A new solo practice sits in the first slab: up to 150 clients means ₹1,00,000 set aside. That is the realistic starting number for most independent RAs. The bigger slabs begin at 151, 301 and 1,001 clients. The deeper mechanics, what forms the deposit can take and how lien works, are covered in the SEBI Research Analyst deposit and net worth guide.
The deposit does not have to sit as idle cash. The original form was a scheduled-bank fixed deposit under lien to RAASB. A later circular widened it to allow liquid mutual fund or overnight fund units held under lien. Either way the money keeps earning a modest return while it serves as security. So the "cost" of the deposit is really the opportunity cost of locking up that capital, not the capital itself.
Recurring and RAASB administration fees
There is no annual SEBI registration fee. There is a five-year continuation fee: ₹1,000 for individuals and partnerships, or ₹5,000 for body corporates and LLPs. RAASB administrative charges are separate.
RAASB provides ongoing supervision, and it charges for that. The amount and the billing cycle are set by RAASB circular, not by a number you can quote off the cuff, so the fee table flags this as "per circular". SEBI may also levy inspection or compliance fees in specific situations, which are not a fixed annual charge. Treat both as costs you confirm against the live RAASB and SEBI schedule rather than assuming. If a figure matters to your budget and it is set by circular, look it up; do not guess.
Beyond regulatory fees, the real recurring spend for a working RA is operational: the software you run the practice on, the cost of delivering research to clients, and the time spent on record keeping under Regulation 25. Those are not RAASB fees, but they belong in the same budget conversation because they are what you actually pay month to month.
Putting the setup budget together
For a solo individual starting out, the NISM exam is ₹1,500, the SEBI application fee is ₹2,000, and the initial registration fee is ₹3,000. RAASB administrative charges come on top. The first-slab deposit is ₹1,00,000: capital held under lien, not a fee paid away.
That framing matters when you size your pricing. The deposit and fees are a one-time hurdle. The recurring math that decides whether the practice works is fees in versus costs out, year after year. What you can charge per client is itself capped by SEBI, so revenue has a ceiling per client and you scale by adding clients. The Research Analyst fees guide covers what you are allowed to charge clients, which is the other half of this budget.
Set the deposit up once, keep it aligned as your client count crosses a slab boundary, and the regulatory cost side of the practice is largely settled. From there the lever you control is operational efficiency: how cheaply and how compliantly you can serve each client.
For registered RAs
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See Aktai for AnalystsFAQ
What is RAASB?
RAASB is the Research Analyst Administration and Supervisory Body, run by BSE Ltd under SEBI. It administers and supervises Research Analysts on SEBI's behalf: processing registrations, supervising conduct, and holding the deposit under lien. When people talk about RAASB fees they usually mean the full set of costs an RA pays around registration, from the SEBI application fee to the deposit and any RAASB administration charges.
What is the SEBI Research Analyst application fee?
SEBI's application fee is ₹2,000 for an individual or partnership firm and ₹20,000 for a body corporate or LLP. Initial registration fees are separate: ₹3,000 and ₹30,000 respectively. Apply through RAASB. Confirm the current figures against SEBI's latest circular before paying.
Is there an annual fee for Research Analysts?
SEBI does not charge an annual registration fee. Continuation of registration is subject to a fee every five years: ₹1,000 for an individual or partnership firm and ₹5,000 for a body corporate or LLP under the current schedule. RAASB administrative fees are separate.
How much is the RAASB deposit?
The deposit is graded by the maximum number of clients you had on any single day in the previous financial year. It ranges from ₹1,00,000 for up to 150 clients to ₹10,00,000 for 1,001 or more clients. It is held under lien to RAASB as a scheduled-bank deposit or units of a liquid or overnight mutual fund. It is not a fee. The money stays yours.
Is the RAASB deposit a fee I lose?
No. The deposit is not spent. It is held under lien to RAASB as security and can still earn a return. The ₹2,000 individual application fee, by contrast, is a payment. Treat them as two different lines in your budget.