It is late, you are scrolling, and a confident voice is explaining which fund "everyone should be in" or which share is "about to move". The video is well made. The comments are full of people saying thank you. Nothing in it tells you whether the speaker is registered with anyone.

That is not a small detail. In India, giving investment advice and publishing research recommendations are regulated activities. Since 2024, SEBI has also drawn a firm line around the people who do them without permission.

The rule that changed in 2024

In August 2024, SEBI amended its regulations so that anyone it regulates, and their agents, may not have any association with a person who gives advice or recommendations on securities without being registered or permitted to, or who claims returns or performance without SEBI's permission. SEBI's circulars of 22 October 2024 and 29 January 2025 set out the details. People who are engaged solely in education, and do not advise or claim returns, are outside the prohibition.

In plain terms: registered brokers, fund houses and distributors may not partner with, pay or take business from unregistered tipsters. A registered firm appearing alongside one should make you more careful, not less.

Check 1: advice needs a SEBI registration

Someone in the business of telling you what to buy or sell needs a SEBI registration. The two usual kinds are Investment Adviser and Research Analyst. SEBI's website publishes the lists of registered intermediaries. Search for the person's name, or the registration number they should be quoting, and see whether it matches.

Check 2: distributors have an ARN

A mutual fund distributor, which is what we are, is registered with AMFI and holds an ARN, an AMFI Registration Number. Ours is ARN-332819. You can check any ARN on AMFI's website, and the ARN linked to each of your folios also appears on your consolidated account statement from CAMS or KFintech.

A distributor is paid by fund houses, through commission included in a scheme's expense ratio. A distributor is not a SEBI-registered investment adviser, and we do not describe ourselves as one.

Check 3: a promised return is the red flag

Mutual funds are market-linked. Their value moves with what they hold, which is why every mutual fund advertisement has to carry SEBI's standard warning that mutual fund investments are subject to market risks. Anyone who promises a fixed or "safe" return on a market-linked investment is telling you something no one can know, and SEBI does not allow registered firms to work with people who claim returns without its permission.

Education or advice?

Not every finance video is a problem. Explaining what an expense ratio is, how a SIP works or why spreading money across asset types matters is education, and SEBI's rules leave room for it. The line is crossed when someone tells you what to buy, when to sell, or what you will earn. This article is education: it names no scheme and promises nothing.

Check us too

These checks apply to us as much as to anyone. Look up ARN-332819 on AMFI's website. Ask what we are paid on anything we offer. Our regulatory disclosures set out what each of our registrations covers, and the check us section of our home page shows where to verify them. If you would rather ask in person, start here.