Country Manual Private Banking
India
out of Bank’s Country of Establishment (Def, RS, BT & RT)
| Source of changes | Answers |
|---|---|
| Law / Regulation | Yes |
| New Position of the Authorities | Yes |
| Evolution of Expert’s Interpretation | Yes |
Regulatory Template, Regulatory Summary and Behaviour Template
Material changes
The documents have been reviewed with our local counsel to ensure that the content remains accurate and up to date. There have been changes to Indian legislation, and these have led to consequent changes to the interpretation of regulatory requirements relating to investment services, especially investment advisory services.
With the amendments to SEBI (Investment Advisors) Regulations, 2013 (IA Regulations), and SEBI (Research Analysts) Regulations, 2014 (RA Regulations), foreign banks must be aware of the following changes:
Investment advisory services: Under the IA regulations, the term “investment product” has been deleted from the definition of “investment advice. There is still no statutory definition of “investment product” and it may often be used interchangeably with “financial product”. However, only those financial products which are not covered under the term “securities” will be outside the ambit of IA Regulations.
Research services: Under the RA regulations, the definition of “research services” has been introduced and inter alia means: preparation or publication of the research report; making ‘buy/sell/hold’ recommendation; giving price target or stop loss target; offering an opinion on public offer, recommending model portfolio (i.e. a basket of securities recommending the relevant weightages for one or more securities mentioned therein); providing trading calls. The definition of “research analyst” has also been amended and now means a person who provides research services for consideration.
After the amendments to SEBI regulations, a more conservative approach is adopted regarding the provision of general advisory services undertaken on an active basis towards non-qualified clients. However, a less restrictive approach is applied concerning qualified clients to align with the interpretation of our legal counsel following regulatory changes. Note that, as there are no formal rules or official guidance, provision of investment services towards non-qualified clients should be performed only on an occasional basis, and very importantly, such services must not be in respect of Indian securities (i.e., no local securities should be involved). The provision of investment advice outside of India is not subject to licensing, authorisation, or registration requirements in India, provided such activities are not the result of a previous illicit solicitation performed in or into India and as long as no Indian securities are involved. Furthermore, persons providing investment advice exclusively to clients based out of India other than non-resident Indians (“NRIs”) and persons of Indian origin (“PIOs”) are exempted from registration requirements. The term ‘based out of India’ is not defined and it is not clear whether the exemption would apply even to those Indian residents (not being NRIs or PIOs) who, at the
Non-material changes
Some comments and content have been slightly reworded (without introducing material changes) to reflect the regulatory situation/current interpretation of the regulatory framework more accurately.
BT Short Comparison
This document allows users to quickly identify the modifications made compared to the previous version of the PB Manual (BT Short Comparison). The BT Short Comparison can be found on BRP’s platform (mybrponline) in the Search tab by entering in the Document Field “CM PB BT SHORT COMP” and “INDIA” in the Target Country Field.
The BT Short Comparison should be read as follows:
The first column contains a short description of the activity in question. The second column contains the answers of the previous version of the Country Manual (online until the day of the alert). The third column contains the new answers of the most recent version of the Country Manual. Only the modified answers are displayed (in color). If the answers in the new version are unchanged compared to the previous version, they are shaded in grey.
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Geneva, June 20th, 2025