Quick Summary
Motilal Oswal is SEBI registered as a stock broker under INZ000158836, per its own disclosures, which also list a depository participant number and a research analyst number. NSE data shows 761 complaints against the firm between April 2025 and March 2026. SEBI orders on record run from January 2025 to March 2026 and cover penalties and settlements. This page gives the dates, amounts and sources, then shows you how to run the same check on any broker. It does not give a verdict.
Is Motilal Oswal trustworthy is a fair question when we found five SEBI orders or settlements involving the firm between January 2025 and March 2026.
The same firm served 9,04,002 active clients on NSE in the last full financial year. Both facts sit on the public record, and neither tells you the whole story alone.
People also ask whether Motilal Oswal is genuine, SEBI registered, or reliable. This page lays out what the registers, the exchanges, and SEBI’s own orders show for each, so you can weigh it yourself.
Is Motilal Oswal Genuine? What the Public Record Says
Motilal Oswal Financial Services is a real, listed company. Its shares trade on NSE and BSE, and its filings to both exchanges are public.
That settles whether the firm exists. Whether it is genuine to deal with in your own case is a separate question, and this page gives no verdict on it.
Registers, exchange data, and SEBI orders describe a firm but cannot decide trust for you.
Every fact below carries a source and a date. We checked all of it on October 12, 2026.
Is Motilal Oswal SEBI Registered?
Yes. Motilal Oswal Financial Services lists SEBI registrations for broking, depository, and research services in its own disclosures.
Motilal Oswal runs several businesses under one listed company, and each business carries its own SEBI number.
Below are the ones that matter if you trade, hold shares in a demat account, or buy research. Run each one through a SEBI registration number search before you rely on it.
- Legal name: Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited, CIN L67190MH2005PLC153397. Motilal Oswal Securities Limited merged into it on August 21, 2018, per the firm’s exchange filings.
- Stock broker: INZ000158836, covering BSE, NSE, MCX and NCDEX.
- Depository participant: IN-DP-16-2015, covering CDSL and NSDL.
- Research analyst: INH000000412.
- Listing: NSE symbol MOTILALOFS and BSE security code 532892.
- Date checked and source: October 12, 2026, against the firm’s own registration disclosures and its filings to NSE and BSE.
A registration number is only the starting point, so the next question is what it actually promises you.
Does SEBI Registration Make a Broker Reliable?
Registration alone cannot tell you whether Motilal Oswal is reliable. It means SEBI has allowed the firm to operate in that category.
It does not promise a clean record, which is a reality common across most SEBI registered brokers operating in India.
Registered brokers still collect complaints, face inspections, and receive penalties. That is why the next two sections matter more than the number itself.
The prefix tells you what the firm may do, and it is the first thing to read in any SEBI-registered brokers list.
INZ marks a stock broker, INH a research analyst, INA an investment adviser, and INP a portfolio manager. Make sure the prefix matches the service you bought.
What Do Motilal Oswal’s Complaint Numbers Look Like?
Exchanges publish complaint figures for every broker, and NSE carries Motilal Oswal’s larger client base.
For April 2025 to March 2026, the latest full financial year, NSE data shows 761 complaints on 9,04,002 active clients.
That works out to about 8 complaints for every 10,000 clients, a ratio we calculated ourselves.
A large broker always shows bigger raw numbers, so divide before you compare.
The exchange count also includes complaints against sub-brokers, authorised persons and employees, not only the firm itself.
We keep the year-by-year tables, resolution status, and Motilal Oswal arbitration outcomes on a dedicated record page. Complaints show how clients experience a broker day to day.
SEBI orders show what the regulator found inside the firm.
What Happens When Investors Take Motilal Oswal to Arbitration?
Unresolved complaints can move to exchange arbitration. A sole arbitrator or a panel hears both sides and passes an award, which can go for the investor or for the broker.
Our case tracker records the NSE arbitrations against Motilal Oswal from 2021 to 2024 as follows.
| Year | Arbitrations | No award | Award granted |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2021 |
28 | 17 | 11 |
| 2022 | 10 | 7 |
3 |
|
2023 |
22 | 14 | 8 |
| 2024 | 6 | 4 |
2 |
|
Total |
66 | 42 |
24 |
Other exchanges carry far fewer cases. Our tracker shows 6 on BSE (one award, in 2023), 2 on NCDEX in 2022 (both with awards), and 3 on MCX in 2023 (none awarded).
Numbers only go so far, so here is a glimpse of four awards from cases we handled or followed.
A ₹28 lakh claim over an agent’s dealings (NSE, May 2026). A retired employee alleged that an authorised person’s husband used his login and OTPs, changed his registered email, and showed inflated profits.
The claim went through the SMART ODR complaint portal, where conciliation failed, and arbitration followed.
The sole arbitrator held the firm, the authorised person and her husband jointly liable to honour a January 2024 settlement deed.
They were to pay ₹28 lakh or return shares of 62 companies within a month, with 9% interest on default. She relied on the rule that a trading member answers for its authorised person’s acts.
Unauthorised trading and brokerage (NSE, heard October 2025). A homemaker claimed ₹2.5 lakh in excess brokerage and ₹4.5 lakh in trading losses. We appeared for her with contract notes, call recordings, and WhatsApp chats.
The tribunal held that unauthorised trading was established and allowed the claim in full: ₹7 lakh with 7% interest from the date of application, within one month.
A wrong NAV on the app (BSE, October 2023). An investor saw a mutual fund NAV of ₹2,323 instead of ₹94.86 on the firm’s app and sold. He had expected about ₹35.97 lakh and received about ₹1.11 lakh.
His complaint travelled through the BSE complaint portal to arbitration.
The tribunal noted that the NAV shown was admittedly wrong and said a trading member must provide reliable infrastructure. It awarded ₹1.5 lakh for hardship but refused the ₹35.97 lakh, which it called an unreal price.
Awards that went the broker’s way (NCDEX, February 2022). Appellate tribunals dismissed two appeals by a Mumbai couple against awards of ₹2.11 crore and ₹1.31 crore in the broker’s favour.
The tribunal found the September 27, 2019 castor seed trade was a rollover on the client’s instruction, backed by a voice recording and emails, and not a fresh unauthorised trade.
Arbitration cuts both ways, and the evidence on file decides it. Call recordings, contract notes and emails carried the weight in all four cases.
If your own complaint has stalled, our guide on how to file complaint in NSE shows the route to arbitration.
Has SEBI Passed Any Orders Against Motilal Oswal?
SEBI orders are the formal regulatory record. We found five between January 2025 and March 2026, and any SEBI penalty against Motilal Oswal typically follows an inspection of compliance or reporting lapses.
The table gives only the date, the type, and the amount for each.
Settlement orders close a case without the firm admitting or denying the findings. Penalty orders come after an adjudicating officer reviews an inspection.
| Date | Type of order | Amount |
|---|---|---|
|
January 30, 2025 |
Adjudication order, penalty | ₹7 lakh |
| June 9, 2025 | Adjudication order, penalty |
₹3 lakh |
|
August 12, 2025 |
Adjudication order, penalty | ₹11 lakh |
| September 18, 2025 | Settlement order |
₹34.85 lakh |
|
March 17, 2026 |
Settlement order |
₹1,00,000 |
No orders found beyond these five as of October 12, 2026.
What each order was about, the inspection findings, the firm’s replies, and the arbitration record sit on one dedicated page. It pairs with our guide on how to file complaint against Motilal Oswal if you have a live dispute.
Knowing what the record shows is one thing. Checking it yourself, for this firm or any other, is what protects you.
Lost money on trades you never placed?
We pull your contract notes and call records, match them against SEBI’s broker rules, and draft the complaint that goes to the exchange.
How to Check Any Stock Broker Before You Trust It?
You do not have to take any blog’s word for this, ours included. The same four checks work on every broker in India, and each takes a few minutes.
Run them in this order, because each one builds on the last.
- Run a SEBI registration check online on SEBI’s intermediary search, using the firm’s name and registration number. Confirm the status is live and the category matches the service you want.
- Open the complaint figures that NSE and BSE publish for the broker. Read the latest full year and divide by active clients.
- Search SEBI’s enforcement orders for the firm’s name. Read the dates and subjects, not just the headlines.
- Read the firm’s own grievance disclosure on its website. See whether it names a complaint email and a compliance contact.
Plenty of readers want a quick first look at an unfamiliar name before they start those four checks. Our SEBI registered site detector on the homepage handles that first pass, and the four checks then confirm what you see.
Warning Signs to Watch for With Any Broker
These signs apply to every broker, including the one you use today, and none of them points to Motilal Oswal in particular.
Three deserve a second look the moment you spot them. Check your own account against each.
- Trades you did not place. Compare every contract note and trade confirmation with what you actually ordered. Raise any mismatch in writing the same day.
- Pressure to add funds. A broker can ask for margin. Urgent calls to top up your account without a written margin statement need a pause and a question.
- No reply to complaints. If your written complaint gets no acknowledgement, the broker’s grievance channel is not working for you.
When a broker stays silent, the matter does not end there. A SCORES SEBI complaint puts your grievance on SEBI’s system, where it goes to the broker, and SEBI tracks the reply.
What to Do if You Have a Problem With Your Broker?
Write to the broker’s grievance desk first and keep proof that you sent it. If the answer does not fix the problem, our page on how to file complaint against stock broker walks you through each stage from that desk up to the exchange.
Keep every contract note, ledger, call recording, and screenshot from the first day.
Those papers decide how strong your case looks later.
Conclusion
Treat this page as a map of one firm’s public record, not a ruling on whether Motilal Oswal is reliable.
You judge that from the record and from what you see in your own account.
Every broker, big or small, carries a record, and what matters is whether that record matches what you see in your own account.
Run the four checks before you open an account, and run them again when something feels off.
Keep your contract notes, put every complaint in writing, and act while the dates are fresh.
Report. Recover. Stay Fraud Free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use a sebi registered company search on SEBI's intermediary site, with the firm's name or INZ000158836. Check that the status is live and note the validity date. What counts for a dispute is the status on the day of your trade, so save a screenshot.
Impersonators borrow brand names, and the firm's own disclosure warns about misuse of its name. Check the caller or app against the grievance email and registration numbers the firm publishes. Never pay into a personal account.
Not directly. The firm's own disclosure says mutual funds and PMS come through group companies, which hold their own numbers, such as INP000000670 for Motilal Oswal Asset Management Company. The same disclosure says disputes over distribution activity fall outside the exchange investor redressal forum and arbitration.
Not by itself. A penalty or settlement resolves a specific lapse, and the firm keeps operating unless SEBI suspends or cancels its registration, which is a separate and stronger action. Read each order's subject and date, then check the registration status.
Sometimes, and it depends on your evidence. Exchange arbitration is open to clients whose complaint stays unresolved, and the outcomes for this broker sit on our dedicated record page. Past results do not predict yours, so build your paper trail early.
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