Sebi Mandates Regulated Entities To Disclose Registration Details On Social Media Platforms

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in a bid to strengthen investor protection and digital transparency, has mandated that all regulated entities and their agents must disclose their registered name and number on social media platforms.

Intermediaries registered with the Sebi include stock brokers, depository participants, investment advisers, research analysts, mutual funds, alternative investment funds (AIFs), real estate investments trusts (Reits), infrastructure investment trusts (InVITs), and other Sebi-regulated persons. Sebi has asked these intermediaries and agents to prominently display their registration details both on their social media handles as well as in their market related content posted.

In a circular dated February 26, 2026, Sebi said these changes will come into effect on May 1, 2026 and will apply to all content uploaded from the effective date. According to Sebi, the move will help investors differentiate between content posted by Sebi-regulated entities with those by unregistered entities.  Sebi said that amid the rapid growth of market-related content on social media platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, X, LinkedIn, Telegram and Reddit, this action was necessary.

According to the new provisions, entities who have a single Seb-registration need to disclose their registered name and number on their social media home page as well as at the beginning of every video or post which deals with securities market-related content. Entities who have multiple Sebi registrations must provide a Web link on their social media home page, which will direct users to the official website and list all the registration details. For such entities uploading videos or posts, only the relevant registration details need to be put under which the content is being published.

Sebi also laid down similar disclosure requirements for agents of regulated entities, such as mutual fund distributors and authorised participants. These agents need to disclose both the principal entity’s registration details as well as their own credentials, if they hold multiple registrations.

Sebi also provided examples to better understand the scope of disclosure for different entities.

“In case QRS Ltd. is registered as a mutual fund distributor, an authorised participant, investment advisor etc, it would be considered as an agent having multiple registrations. QRS Ltd. would have to provide a Web link on the home page of its social media handle, listing the Sebi-registered names and registration numbers of all its principal entities followed by its own registered name(s), registration numbers and the capacities in which it is registered. In case it uploads content in the capacity of a mutual fund distributor, it shall provide the Sebi-registered name and registration number of the principal Mutual Fund (to whom the content relates) followed by its own registered name and registered number, in the beginning of the content,” Sebi said.