Corporate RAs registration fee slashed to Rs 30,000 from Rs 5 lakh; renewal fee to a hundredth

An amendment to the RA Regulations were notified on April 26.

The registration fee for corporate research analysts (RA) has been reduced from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 30,000. The fee to keep registration active corporate RAs has been slashed to a hundredth of what it was earlier, from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 5,000.

RAs can also be individuals, partnership firms or proxy advisory firms.

An amendment to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Research Analysts) Regulations has put these new fees in place.

The fees for application and registration for RAs across categories have been reduced significantly, through the amendment made through a gazette notification dated April 26. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued the notification.

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Anand Kankani, a practising company secretary who counsels investment advisers and research analysts on securities law, said that this was definitely a good move.

He said, "To begin with, the registration cost itself will come down. Post registration, there are other compliance cost which they have to incur like Compliance Audit, Advertisement code, etc. Without prejudice to the importance of these expenses at the end of the day, all these are non remunerative expenses."

He pointed out that finfluencers, on the other hand, do not incur these expenses.

The application fee for individuals and partnership firms has been cut to Rs 2,000 from Rs 5,000; for proxy advisory firms to Rs 2,000 from Rs 5,000 and for body corporates including Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) to Rs 20,000 from Rs 50,000.

The registration fee for individuals and partnership firms has been reduced to Rs 3,000 from Rs 10,000; for proxy advisory firms to Rs 3,000 from Rs 10,000; and for body corporates including LLPs to Rs 30,000 from Rs 5 lakh.

The fee to keep the registration in force for individuals and parternship firms is now Rs 1,000 from Rs 10,000; for proxy advisory firms is Rs 1,000 from Rs 10,000; and for body corporates including LLPs is Rs 5,000 from Rs 5 lakh.

Kankani added that reduction in fees will definitely ease a big financial burden placed on RAs and boost registrations. He said, "It is definitely a step toward the ease of doing business."