Mandatory Website Disclosures for SEBI Research Analysts: A Checklist (2026)
Your website is the cheapest compliance win you have. The disclosures are public, fixed in wording, and easy to verify, which is exactly why a SEBI inspector checks them first. Miss one and it is a quick finding. Get the full set right and you signal a practice that takes its obligations seriously. Here is the checklist, item by item, and where each piece goes on the page.
Note: General information, not legal or compliance advice. The exact format and wording of these disclosures are prescribed by SEBI and RAASB and change over time. Confirm the current text against the latest SEBI circulars before you publish.
Why the website is checked first
Most of your compliance obligations are private: client records, the audit trail, your complaint register. Website disclosures are the opposite. Anyone, including SEBI, can open your site and see in seconds whether your registration number is shown, whether the investor charter exists, and whether the complaints table next to it is current or six months stale. That makes the website the fastest place to form a first impression, good or bad.
The same logic applies to your other channels. SEBI requires your registered name and registration number on the social media handles you use to reach investors, and public posts have to carry the advertisement-code disclosures. The website is the full home for everything below; the channels carry the essentials and point back to it.
The website disclosure checklist
Eight items. Work down the list and confirm each one is present, correct, and findable. The "where it goes" column matters as much as the "what": a disclosure buried four clicks deep reads as hiding it.
Registered name and SEBI registration number
Your name exactly as registered and your SEBI RA registration number (INHxxxxxxxxx for individuals). This is the first thing an inspector or client checks, and it is trivial to verify, so a missing or wrong number is a quick finding.
Where it goes: Footer on every page, plus a dedicated disclosures or about page. Same number on the social handles you use to reach investors.
The standard disclaimer
A clear statement that your research is for information only, does not guarantee returns, and that investments are subject to market risk. It separates descriptive research from a promise of outcomes.
Where it goes: Near your registration details, in the footer, and on every research deliverable.
The standard SEBI warning
The SEBI-prescribed caution that registration does not guarantee performance or assure returns, and that investors should read all related documents carefully before investing.
Where it goes: Alongside the disclaimer and registration block, so the two read together.
Investor charter
The SEBI-prescribed document covering your vision and mission, the services you do and do not provide, investor rights and service-standard timelines, the grievance mechanism, and the dos and donts for investors. You adapt the standard text, you do not write it from scratch.
Where it goes: Linked from the footer and one click from the homepage. Also displayed in your office.
Periodic complaints disclosure
A table of complaints carried forward, received, resolved and pending for each period, usually month by month. It travels with the charter and must be kept current on schedule.
Where it goes: On the same page as the investor charter, refreshed every month from your complaint register.
Grievance and SCORES details
The escalation path a client follows: contact you first, then SEBI SCORES, then the ODR portal if it stays unresolved. Include your compliance contact, email, and the SCORES and ODR links.
Where it goes: A dedicated grievance page plus a footer link, next to the charter.
Conflict of interest disclosure
A statement of any holdings, positions, or relationships that could bias your research, and how you manage them. It tells a client whether you have skin in what you are covering.
Where it goes: A standing disclosures page, and repeated on individual research where a specific conflict applies.
Contact details
A real way to reach you and your compliance function: business name, office address, email, and phone. Vague or missing contact details undercut every other disclosure on the page.
Where it goes: Footer and a contact page, consistent with the details on file with SEBI.
Registration number: the one to never miss
Your registered name and SEBI registration number are the load-bearing disclosure. They tie everything else on the page to a real, verifiable registration. Display them in the footer so they appear on every page, and repeat them in the full registration block on your disclosures page. Keep the wording identical to what SEBI holds on file, and keep it identical across your website and your social handles. A mismatch between the number on your site and the number on your channels is the kind of small inconsistency that turns into a question you would rather not answer.
Disclaimer and warning: read them together
These two travel as a pair and sit next to your registration details. The disclaimer is your statement that research is descriptive, for information only, carries no guarantee of returns, and that investments are subject to market risk. The standard SEBI warning is the prescribed caution that registration is not a guarantee of performance and that investors should read all documents carefully. One is your framing, the other is SEBI's. Showing both, in the prescribed wording, is the safe stance. Never replace either with cheerful copy about results.
Investor charter and the complaints table
The investor charter is mostly prescribed text, so you adapt the standard format rather than draft your own. It sets out your services, investor rights, your service-standard timelines, the grievance process, and the dos and donts for investors dealing with an RA. Publish it one click from the homepage, link it from the footer, and display it in your office.
The charter does not travel alone. Beside it you publish a periodic complaints disclosure: complaints carried forward, received, resolved and pending for each period, usually month by month. The charter is static; the complaints table is not. If you maintain your complaint register properly, refreshing the public table is a copy-paste, not a fresh exercise. A stale table is one of the most common inspection findings precisely because it is so easy to keep current and so easy to forget.
Grievance, SCORES and ODR
A client should never have to ask how to complain. Show the escalation path plainly: contact you first, then SEBI SCORES, then the ODR portal if the matter stays unresolved. List your compliance contact, email, and the SCORES and ODR links. Put it on a dedicated grievance page and link it from the footer next to the charter. This is the same data that feeds your periodic complaints disclosure, so the grievance page and the complaints table should always agree with each other.
Conflict of interest disclosure
Your conflict of interest disclosure tells a reader whether you have skin in what you cover. It states any holdings, positions, or relationships that could bias your research and how you manage them. Keep a standing version on your disclosures page, and repeat the specific conflict on any individual research where it applies. The point is not to claim you have zero conflicts; it is to be straight about the ones you have so the client can weigh your view accordingly.
Where each disclosure lives
Placement is half the job. Use this map so nothing important sits more than one click from where a visitor would expect it.
The footer does the heavy lifting because it appears on every page. The dedicated pages hold the long-form documents. As long as the footer links reach the charter, the grievance process, and the disclosures page, a visitor, and an inspector, can find everything from anywhere on the site.
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Make it a standing review, not a one-time setup
Most of this list is static once you set it up. The exceptions are the complaints table, which changes every period, and the disclosure wording, which SEBI revises from time to time. Tie a short website check to the same monthly rhythm as the rest of your compliance: refresh the complaints disclosure, confirm the registration number still matches everywhere, and skim the charter and warning against the current prescribed format. Five minutes a month keeps the cheapest compliance win you have from quietly going stale.
FAQ
What must a SEBI Research Analyst display on their website?
At a minimum: your registered name and SEBI registration number, the standard research disclaimer, the standard SEBI warning, your investor charter, a periodic complaints disclosure, grievance and SCORES contact details, your conflict of interest disclosure, and clear contact details. These should be easy to find, not buried several clicks deep.
Where on the website should the SEBI registration number go?
Put your registered name and SEBI registration number where a visitor sees it without hunting: the footer on every page is the common choice, plus a dedicated disclosures or about page. SEBI also requires you to show the same registration details on the social media handles you use to reach investors, so the website and your channels stay consistent.
Do I need to publish complaints data on my RA website?
Yes. Alongside the investor charter you publish a periodic complaints disclosure: a simple table of complaints carried forward, received, resolved and pending for each period, usually month by month. Keep it current. An out-of-date complaints table is a common, avoidable inspection finding.
What is the difference between the disclaimer and the SEBI warning?
The disclaimer is your statement that research is for information only, carries no guarantee of returns, and that investments are subject to market risk. The standard warning is the SEBI-prescribed caution about registration not being a guarantee of performance and the need to read all documents carefully. Most RAs display both together near their registration details.
Where do grievance and SCORES details belong on the site?
In the footer next to the investor charter, and on a dedicated grievance page. Show the steps a client follows: contact you first, then escalate to SEBI SCORES, then the ODR portal if still unresolved. List the compliance contact, email, and the SCORES and ODR links so a client never has to ask how to complain.
Does the website disclosure rule apply if I only use WhatsApp and social media?
The same disclosure obligations follow you onto every channel you use to reach investors. SEBI requires your registered name and registration number on the social media handles you post from, and public posts must carry the advertisement-code disclosures. A website remains the standard home for the full set: charter, complaints data, conflict of interest, and grievance process.