Who needs NISM certification in a research firm?
The compliance officer and every person associated with research services. Purely clerical staff with no client contact and no link to research are the one excluded group.
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In a SEBI registered research firm, every person associated with research services needs the relevant NISM certification, and the compliance officer needs NISM-Series-XV, XV-B and III-A. Clerical or administrative staff with no client contact and no research link are excluded.
The deadline
Persons associated with research services had one year from 23 July 2025 to obtain the certification, which ran to 23 July 2026. It has passed. Anyone drafting, reviewing or sending research who lacks it today is a current gap.
Who is in and who is out
| Role | NISM requirement |
|---|---|
| Compliance officer | NISM-Series-XV, XV-B on renewal, and NISM-Series-III-A |
| Person associated with research services | The relevant NISM certification |
| Principal officer and partners engaged in research | Meet regulation 7 qualification and certification |
| Clerical or administrative staff, no client contact, no research link | Outside the requirement |
Employed analysts
A research entity registers as the entity, and the analysts it employs do not each get a certificate of registration. They still hold the certification. The revised qualification requirement does not apply to existing individual analysts, principal officers, employed analysts or partners engaged in research, but they must hold NISM certification and comply with regulation 7(3).
A firm that is a partnership
A partnership registered as a research analyst where no partner meets regulation 7 had until 30 September 2025 to re-register as an LLP or body corporate. A firm in that position and still unchanged needs to fix it before anything else.
- 1.SEBI circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD/P/CIR/2025/105 dated 23 July 2025, FAQs for Research Analysts
- 2.SEBI circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2025/004 dated 8 January 2025, Guidelines for Research Analysts
- 3.SEBI Master Circular for Research Analysts, HO/38/12/11(1)2026-MIRSD-PoD/I/4360/2026 dated 6 February 2026
We handle the documentation and filing: Research Analyst 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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