The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has relaxed rules requiring research analysts to maintain recordings of their calls with institutional investors, in a move aimed at improving ease of doing business.
In a circular issued on Friday, the market regulator said research analysts and research entities would no longer be required to maintain call recordings of their interactions with institutional investors. The revised rules will come into effect on November 8, 2026.
The relaxation follows representations from market participants and an amendment to the SEBI (Research Analysts) Regulations. However, research analysts will continue to be required to maintain records of interactions with all other clients, including prospective clients, where conversations relating to their services have taken place. These records may include signed physical documents, call recordings, emails from registered email IDs, SMS messages and other legally verifiable records.
SEBI clarified that the requirement to maintain interaction records applies to both fee-paying and non-fee-paying clients. Non-fee-paying clients include those receiving research services as a value-added service alongside other paid services availed from the research entity or another entity within the same family or group.
The regulator also clarified that separate call recordings are not required when client interactions take place through channels such as email, where a digital record is available.