Complaint Against SEBI Registered Research Analyst: How to File and Get Your Fees Back?

When Should You File a Complaint Against a Research Analyst?

Not every loss is a violation. Markets fall, and no analyst is right every time.

Filing over a bad call that was honestly made will not get you anywhere, and knowing the difference before you start saves you months.

What crosses the line is defined by regulation, not by how much you lost.

You have real grounds if any of the following happened to you:

• The analyst promised guaranteed or fixed returns: No SEBI registered research analyst is permitted to assure profits under SEBI Regulation 16(b). A promise that you would definitely make a set amount is a regulatory breach on its own.
• You were given trade calls with no research report behind them: SEBI requires an analyst to base recommendations on documented analysis. Buy and sell calls fired over WhatsApp or SMS with no research to support them are not compliant.
• The analyst or their team handled your trading account or your funds: A research analyst is allowed to publish research. It is never allowed to trade in your account or hold your money. If someone did this under the label of research services, it is a serious violation.
• Fees were collected wrongly: Payments into a personal account rather than the firm’s registered business account, or fees that crossed the SEBI annual cap of ₹1,51,000 per family across all your RA subscriptions, are both grounds.
• A refund was denied on terms you were never shown: Refund was denied, or a profit-sharing or loss-sharing arrangement was set up. SEBI prohibits profit and loss sharing outright.

If one or more of these matches your experience, your complaint is well founded, and the process below is how you file it.

How to File a Complaint Against SEBI Registered Research Analyst?

The process is built as a ladder. You have to complete each step properly before moving on to the next one.

You start with the analyst directly because SEBI expects you to give the firm a chance to fix it first. If that fails, you escalate to SEBI’s SCORES platform.

If SCORES does not resolve it, the case moves to SMART ODR conciliation, and finally to arbitration, which produces a binding, enforceable award.

The whole route exists only because the analyst is registered.

A registered entity answers to SEBI.

That accountability is the leverage you have, and it is why the analyst’s registration number matters so much to your complaint.

Here is how to climb each step for filing:

Step 1: Raise the Issue With the Research Analyst First

SEBI requires you to approach the firm before it will act, so this step is not optional. Skipping it is one of the most common reasons a complaint gets returned.

Write a formal complaint to the analyst or their firm, addressed to the grievance or compliance contact listed on their regulatory disclosures page, not a sales representative.

State clearly what was promised, what actually happened, and the specific resolution you want, whether that is a refund, a correction, or a written explanation.

Ask for a reply in writing.

Keep every document from this point on.

The subscription agreement, the payment receipts, the research reports you did or did not receive, and every WhatsApp, SMS, and email exchange.

Screenshot whole conversations with visible dates, not single messages, so the context holds up later. This paper trail is your case at every stage that follows.

Give the firm a reasonable window to respond, commonly 15 to 30 days. If no reply comes, or the reply does not resolve your issue, you move up to SCORES.

Step 2: Lodge a Complaint on SEBI SCORES

SCORES is SEBI’s official online platform for grievances against registered entities, including research analysts.

This is the SEBI research analyst complaint portal, and it is where your first formal filing happens.

Register on the portal using your PAN, mobile number, and email, and verify the OTPs sent to each.

Once your account is created, open the complaint form and take these choices carefully from the options, because the details decide whether the complaint reaches the right desk.

• Select Research Analyst as the intermediary category. Not an Investment Adviser, not a Stock Broker. Each category routes to a different SEBI department, and choosing the wrong one is the single most common reason a valid complaint stalls.
• Enter the analyst’s SEBI registration number, which begins with INH. Confirm it on sebi.gov.in before you submit, since a wrong number stops the complaint from reaching the entity at all.
• Describe the issue factually and in order. The date of each payment, the amount, what was promised and when, what actually happened, and the outcome you are seeking. Reference each attached document by name so the reviewing officer does not have to reconstruct your timeline.
• Attach your evidence as clearly labelled PDF or image files rather than one long screenshot dump.

Two limits matter here. The complaint must be filed within one year of the cause of action, or SCORES may reject it as time-barred.

And once filed, the firm is required to submit an Action Taken Report, after which, if you are not satisfied, you can seek a First Level Review within 15 days of receiving that report, and a Second Level Review after that.

After submitting, you receive a unique complaint registration number. Save it.

That number, not the firm’s registration number, is what you use to track SEBI SCORES complaint status and carry the case forward.

Step 3: File Complaint on SMART ODR Portal

If SCORES closes without a resolution you accept, the case moves to SMART ODR, SEBI’s online dispute resolution platform. 

Your SCORES reference carries across, so you do not start over.

An independent conciliator, who is not a SEBI employee, works toward a settlement between you and the analyst.

The process runs entirely online, with no physical hearing, and it is free at the conciliation stage. 

This is the stage where money is most often recovered, particularly when the firm’s liability is documented clearly. 

Step 4: Arbitration in Stock Exchange

If conciliation does not settle it, arbitration is the final and binding step.

An independent arbitrator reviews all the evidence from both sides and issues an award with which the firm is legally required to comply, enforceable as a civil court decree.

For claims under ₹10 lakh, there is no filing fee for the investor.

The evidence that carried you through the earlier stages is the same evidence the arbitrator weighs, which is why organising it properly at the very start pays off here.

Where to File a Complaint Against a SEBI Research Analyst?

There is one official starting point, and it is not an email.

The SEBI research analyst complaint portal is SCORES.

That is where every formal complaint against a registered analyst is lodged and tracked.

SMART ODR follows only after SCORES, and arbitration only after that.

Before SCORES, you write to the analyst’s own grievance channel. After SCORES, everything runs through these official SEBI portals, never through a private inbox.

Is There a SEBI Complaint Email for Research Analysts?

This is worth answering directly because many investors search for it.

There is no SEBI complaint email.

SEBI states on its own SCORES portal that grievances sent to its email addresses will not be entertained. The complaint has to go through the portal.

The only email in this entire process is the one you send to the analyst’s own grievance address at the very first stage, found on the firm’s regulatory disclosures page.

That email is your proof that you approached the firm before escalating, which SCORES requires. After that, the portal is the channel, not email.

A Real Recovery Case From a Research Analyst

Recovering money from a research analyst is possible, and here is a case that proves it.

An investor paid DG Share Market Research after being shown profit screenshots from its other clients and was promised good returns.

Over a few weeks, more representatives kept calling and asking for another payment, for a higher plan, or a recovery trade.

Some of that money went to personal accounts instead of the firm’s official one, and the team gave live buy and sell calls, which a research analyst is not allowed to do.

In total, the investor paid around ₹3,35,000.

When the investor came to us, our team organised the evidence and filed the case through the official SEBI complaint process.

DG Share Market Research agreed to pay ₹1,35,000 back.

The amount matched the payments clearly tied to the firm, which is why keeping every receipt and message matters.