IA restrained from practising for 6 months for violations including not customising to clients' needs

During the inspection period, four employees of his firm resigned and four were appointed but this change was not intimated to Sebi.

An investment advisor who was selecting investments based on what he thought was good for the client instead of customising the advice to the client's requirements has been restrained from taking any new assignments or launching any new service for six months.

In the order dated May 29, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) stated that the advisor "has no choice or discretion as an IA to recommend short term or intraday packages when the clients have asked for 1 year/1-3 years/3 years packages as observed from the sample cases i.e. 3 instances".

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When placing the restraint on Rajiv Kumar Singh, proprietor of Elite Investment Advisory Services for this violation and others, the market regulator's order stated, "Suitability assessment ensures that investment advice is tailored to each client’s specific circumstances and promotes transparency and trust in the financial advisory process. Failure to adhere to this requirement undermines the fundamental responsibility of IAs to align investment recommendations with individual needs and risk profiles of their clients, which in turn works detrimental to the said clients."

In an order dated May 29, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) listed his various violations under the Investment Advisers (IA) Regulations, including not informing Sebi about material changes, not registering with the Central Know Your Customer (CKYC) agency, not maintaining a record of the risk profiling of prospective clients and not providing data to the inspection team.

During the inspection period, four employees of his firm resigned and four were appointed but this change was not intimated to Sebi.

The IA was found to not have maintained clients' KYC Records with Central Registry of Securitization Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI), which is a process that has been set up to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing, and for inter-usability of the information between various regulator such as Sebi, RBI and IRDA.