In short
SEBI regulates what stock brokers, depository participants, investment advisers, research analysts, mutual funds, portfolio managers and listed companies say to investors online. There is no single website code. Instead, a set of circulars applies. Each entity must publish an investor charter and complaints data, and link to SEBI’s dispute portals. It must also show its registration details and keep its marketing away from unregistered advisers. Since July 2025, every regulated entity’s website and app must also be accessible to persons with disabilities. This article reflects the circulars in force on 6 November 2026.
Who it applies to
- All SEBI-registered intermediaries: stock brokers, depository participants, investment advisers, research analysts, portfolio managers, mutual funds and AMCs, registrars, KYC registration agencies, custodians and others.
- Market infrastructure institutions: stock exchanges, clearing corporations and depositories.
- Listed companies, for the website disclosures in the LODR Regulations and the SMART ODR link.
- Agents of these entities, such as mutual fund distributors and authorised persons of brokers, through the finfluencer rules. The registered entity answers for its agents.
The rules differ by entity type, so the next section is split that way.
What it means for your website
Rules for every regulated entity
- A link to SMART ODR. The ODR master circular advises all market participants to link to the ODR Portal on the home page of their website and app. SMART ODR is the online conciliation and arbitration portal for securities disputes. Investors must first complain to the entity itself, then use SCORES (SEBI’s complaints portal) or SMART ODR.
- Accessibility for persons with disabilities. Under SEBI’s circular of 31 July 2025, websites, apps and their content must meet WCAG 2.1 or later, GIGW and IS 17802. GIGW is the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites. Features expected include captions, audio description, alternative text for images and Indian Sign Language videos for key explainers. Each entity names a nodal officer and runs a grievance channel for accessibility issues. An IAAP-certified professional must audit the platforms. On 30 October 2026, SEBI extended the deadline for appointing the auditor, finishing the audit and fixing the findings to 31 January 2027. Compliance is then reported every year within 30 days of the end of the financial year.
- No association with unregistered advisers. Since 29 August 2024, Regulation 16A of the SEBI (Intermediaries) Regulations has barred any direct or indirect association with two kinds of person. They are those who give securities advice without SEBI registration, and those who make return or performance claims. Association includes a transaction, a client referral, the interaction of IT systems, payments and sharing client information. Lead generation through an agency or ad network breaks the rule if your ad ends up with such a person.
- Education is allowed, with limits. Investor educators may not use market price data of the preceding 30 days to discuss a named security. SEBI shortened this from three months on 8 May 2026.
Stock brokers
- Investor charter on the website, at the office and in the account opening kit, as set out in SEBI’s circular of 21 February 2025.
- Complaints data received and resolved, published on the website by the 7th of each following month in SEBI’s format.
- Investor awareness messages under Project Jagrook. From 1 November 2026, brokers must show SEBI’s messages on the landing page of their website. On trading apps, the messages and the risk disclosures prescribed in May 2023 must appear on alternate days, on the app’s landing page.
- Algo trading products offered through APIs have their own rules from 1 April 2026. See the SEBI CSCRF article.
Depository participants
SEBI’s circular of 29 May 2024 revised the investor charter for depositories and depository participants. Each DP must disclose the charter on its website and give it to clients in the account opening kit.
Investment advisers and research analysts
- Investor charter and complaints data on the website and mobile app, by the 7th of each following month, under SEBI’s circulars of 2 June 2025.
- Registration details. SEBI’s FAQs for investment advisers list what the website and app must show: full registered name, type of registration, full or part-time status, and registration number and validity. Add the address and phone numbers, Principal Officer contact details and the relevant SEBI office address.
- No promise of returns. An investment adviser may not suggest assured, minimum or target returns, or a percentage accuracy.
Mutual funds, portfolio managers and other intermediaries
SEBI has issued similar circulars for mutual funds and AMCs, portfolio managers, custodians, registrars and KYC registration agencies. Most require an investor charter, and many also complaints data, on the website. Check the latest circular for your category before you build the page.
Listed companies
Regulation 46 of the LODR Regulations requires a functional website with a separate section for prescribed disclosures. These include the company’s policies, board committee details, financial results, shareholding pattern, investor grievance email and contacts, credit ratings and annual reports. Any change must be updated within two working days. Analyst and investor meet schedules go up at least two working days in advance. Audio recordings follow within 24 hours or before the next trading day, video within 48 hours and transcripts within five working days. Listed companies are also covered by the SMART ODR link requirement.
What it means for your software
The website rules lean on back-end systems more than they appear to.
Complaints data and charters
The monthly complaints table needs a complaints register that records receipt date, source (direct, SCORES, SMART ODR), status and resolution date. A CRM or ticketing system that produces this table automatically avoids missing the 7th-of-the-month deadline. Keep the investor charter as managed content so it can be updated when SEBI revises it.
Partner integrations
Because the finfluencer rules count the interaction of IT systems, payments and data sharing as association, review every referral, affiliate and API integration. Your partner and payout records should show who each partner is and that they are not engaged in prohibited activities.
Accessibility in apps and KYC
Online account opening, KYC and trading apps are digital platforms under the accessibility circular. Forms, OTP steps, video KYC and document uploads need to work with screen readers and keyboards, and need captions where video is used.
Security and resilience
SEBI’s cyber security rules for these systems sit in a separate framework. See the SEBI CSCRF article and our note on VAPT.
Checklist
- Confirm your SEBI category and find the latest investor charter circular for it.
- Publish the investor charter on your website and app, and add it to onboarding.
- Set up a complaints register that produces the monthly table, and publish it by the 7th.
- Add the SMART ODR and SCORES links to the home page of your website and app.
- For advisers, check that every required registration detail is on the website and app.
- Brokers: put SEBI’s investor awareness messages on the website landing page, and rotate them with risk disclosures in the trading app.
- Appoint an accessibility nodal officer and an IAAP-certified auditor, and fix findings before 31 January 2027.
- Review marketing, referral and API partners against the finfluencer rules, and end any tie-up with unregistered advisers.
- Listed companies: audit the Regulation 46 section and set a process to update it within two working days.
How Kreon helps
We can build investor-facing websites and apps, and the CRM and complaints systems behind them, so that charters, monthly complaints data and portal links stay current without manual effort. We design onboarding flows with accessibility in mind, and the systems we build keep an audit trail of every change with before and after values.