Can an insurance agent register as a part-time SEBI investment adviser?
Yes. SEBI names an insurance agent licensed by IRDAI as eligible to register as a part-time investment adviser (or advisor), as long as the other work is unrelated to securities, involves no client money, and you are not in the business of advising on gold, real estate or cryptocurrency.
Want this checked against your own position? We handle the documentation and the filing.
SEBI's January 2025 guidelines for investment advisers created a part-time category for an individual or partnership firm that also runs another business or holds another job. The examples include an insurance agent licensed by IRDAI, a member of ICAI, ICSI or ICMAI doing statutory work, and professionals such as architects, lawyers and doctors.
Do you need registration at all?
Possibly not. An insurance agent registered with IRDA who advises only on insurance products is exempt from the IA Regulations. Registration comes in when you want to advise clients on securities for a fee, and part-time registration lets you do that and keep the agency.
The conditions
- The other work is unrelated to securities.
- It does not involve handling or managing client money.
- It does not involve advising anyone on products or assets for investment.
- You are not in the business of advising on gold, real estate or cryptocurrency.
- You hold the same qualification and NISM certification as a full-time adviser (Series X-A and X-B) and give an undertaking to keep the two activities at arm's length.
No employer NOC on the adviser side
The research analyst circular asks a teacher or professor for a no-objection certificate from the employer. The investment adviser circular has no such condition.
What changes after registration
The words "part-time investment adviser" go in all client correspondence, and your certificate of registration (Form C) records the part-time status. Insurance invoices and material carry a disclaimer in at least 10 point saying that activity is outside SEBI's purview.
One rule to check before you apply
An individual adviser, and the adviser's family, cannot provide distribution services to clients they advise, and implementation runs through direct schemes only. The SEBI texts we cite do not say how that rule treats an insurance policy sold to an advisory client. We look at your client book and your products at scoping and set out the split before you file.
We handle the documentation and filing: Investment Adviser registration
Sources read on 28 October 2026. SEBI revises these requirements, so we re-confirm every figure against the current circular before it goes into an application.
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