Stock Brokers

How To Become a Stock Broker in India?

How To Become a Stock Broker in India

Becoming a stock broker in India involves navigating a highly regulated and intricate financial ecosystem where precision and compliance are essential. Stock brokers play a crucial role as intermediaries in the securities market, facilitating transactions between investors and stock exchanges.

Their responsibilities extend beyond executing trades; they must also thoroughly understand market dynamics, financial instruments, and investment strategies. The profession requires a strong foundation in financial concepts and a keen awareness of the regulatory landscape, ensuring that all activities align with the stringent standards of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

In addition to a robust knowledge base, aspiring stock brokers must acquire specialized certifications and licenses, as mandated by SEBI. These certifications validate their expertise and ensure they are equipped to operate within India’s highly regulated financial framework.

 This article provides a detailed roadmap covering the educational qualifications, necessary certifications, and procedural steps required to build a successful career as a stockbroker in India, enabling you to navigate the complexities of the financial markets with confidence and competence.

Understanding about Stock Broker

A stock broker can be a person or an organization that buys and sells stocks on behalf of clients. It acts as an intermediary between the client and the market and executes sale and purchase orders. Stockbrokers are experts in the dynamics of the securities market. In return for executing sale and purchase orders, stockbrokers earn commissions. Stockbrokers also conduct research and provide detailed analyses to their clients, helping them to invest their money wisely.

Let’s Understand the Functions of Stock Brokers

Stock brokers perform several functions that form a crucial part of the securities market. They are as follows:

1. To Execute Trades

Stock brokers execute the client’s sale and purchase orders in different types of securities, such as stocks, bands, and other financial instruments, as directed by the client.

They ensure accurate and efficient trading in the market. They route the order to the appropriate market for execution, ensuring optimal pricing and timely completion of trades for the clients.

2. Market Research and Analysis

Stock brokers conduct in-depth market research and prepare market intelligence reports. These reports and many other analyses help clients make informed choices about investing.

3. Advisory Service

The brokers offer advisory services to clients, suggesting investing strategies according to their risk tolerance, investment objective, and duration of investment. They help them select the right stocks or other financial instruments for investment to maximize profit and minimize risks for the client.

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4. Compliance

Stock brokers adhere to several regulations the SEBI and other relevant authorities laid out, ensuring safe and ethical trades in the market.

What are the Types of Brokers?

Below are the types of brokers in India such as:

1. Traditional or Full-time Brokers

These brokers provide a wide range of services and charge a hefty amount. Their services include securities trading, investment advice, retirement planning, management of investment portfolios, taxes on capital gains, etc. They are highly expert professionals who have undergone rigorous training and tough examinations.

2. Discount Brokers

These online brokers provide inexpensive services to their clients in the comfort of their homes. The clients place their orders on their platforms through the internet. However, they don’t offer the same level of expertise as traditional brokers; hence, the profitability through these brokers is comparatively lower than that of traditional brokers.

3. Jobbers

Jobbers are brokers who are authorized to execute their sale and purchase orders directly in the markets but cannot execute any trade on behalf of others. They are not licensed to trade on behalf of any other investors and incur commissions from them. They quote two prices, the buy price quote and the sell price quote, and the gap between them is their profit margin.

4. Arbitrageurs

Stockbrokers of this type purchase securities from one stock market at a low price and sell them in other markets at a higher price, thus earning profits.

Steps to Become a Stock Broker

Unlike discount stock brokers, traditional stock brokers need to meet tough qualification levels that demand immense expertise in the market. The steps to become a stockbroker are:

1. Fulfil the Qualification

The first step to becoming a stock broker is to fulfil the following qualifications:

  1. He should be an Indian citizen by nationality.
  2. He should be above the age of 21 years.
  3. He should have passed his 10+2 Higher Secondary College.
  4. Persons with a Bachelor’s degree in finance, economics, etc.

2. Obtain Certifications

A person willing to be a broker must pass required exams such as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) General Securities Representative Exam and the National Institute of Securities Market’s (NISM) certificate examination in India.

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3. Obtain SEBI Registration

An application is to be made for SEBI Registration. Without SEBI registration, no broker can operate legally in the stock market. For this, one must meet the financial requirements below about the net worth and deposits for different segments. The net worth and deposit requirements for different segments are:

Capital Market Segment

  • Trading Membership (TM) requires ₹85 lakhs in cash.
  • TM & Self Clearing Membership (SCM) requires an additional ₹15 lakhs in cash, totalling ₹100 lakhs.
  • TM & Clearing Membership (CM) needs a combined deposit of ₹135 lakhs.
  • Professional Clearing Membership (PCM) requires ₹50 lakhs.

Futures & Options Segment

  • Trading Membership (TM) needs ₹25 lakhs in cash.
  • TM & Self Clearing Membership (SCM) and TM & Clearing Membership (CM) require ₹75 lakhs.
  • Professional Clearing Membership (PCM) requires ₹50 lakhs.

Currency Derivatives Segment

  • Existing Trading Membership (TM) requires a combined deposit of ₹10 lakhs.
  • New Trading Membership (TM) requires ₹15 lakhs.
  • TM & Self Clearing Membership (SCM) and TM & Clearing Membership (CM) for new members need up to ₹70 lakhs.

Commodity Derivatives Segment

  • Trading Membership (TM) requires a minimal non-cash deposit of ₹0.5 lakhs.
  • TM & Self Clearing Membership (SCM) and TM & Clearing Membership (CM) need ₹50.5 lakhs.
  • Professional Clearing Membership (PCM) requires ₹50 lakhs.

Debt Segment

  • Existing Trading Membership (TM) must meet Base Minimum Capital (BMC) requirements.
  • New members in TM & Self Clearing Membership (SCM) and TM & Clearing Membership (CM) require up to ₹10 lakhs.

However, achieve your stock broker license by meeting stringent qualifications, obtaining the necessary certification and securing SEBI registration to operate legally across multiple market segments.

It can be further understood with the help of the below table:  

SegmentType of MembershipCash NSE (₹ in Lakhs)Non-Cash NSE (₹ in Lakhs)Cash NSE Clearing (₹ in Lakhs)Non-Cash NSE Clearing (₹ in Lakhs)Total (₹ in Lakhs)
Capital Market SegmentTrading Membership (TM)8585
 TM & Self Clearing Membership (SCM)85150100
 TM & Clearing Membership (CM)852525135
 Professional Clearing Membership (PCM)252550
Futures & Options SegmentTrading Membership (TM)2525
 TM & Self Clearing Membership (SCM)25252575
 TM & Clearing Membership (CM)25252575
 Professional Clearing Membership (PCM)252550
Currency Derivatives SegmentExisting Members – Trading Membership (TM)2810
 Existing Members – TM & SCM28252560
 Existing Members – TM & CM28252560
 New Members – Trading Membership (TM)21315
 New Members – TM & SCM218252570
 New Members – TM & CM218252570
 Professional Clearing Membership (PCM)252550
Commodity Derivatives SegmentTrading Membership (TM)0.50.5
 TM & Self Clearing Membership (SCM)0.5252550.5
 TM & Clearing Membership (CM)0.5252550.5
 Professional Clearing Membership (PCM)252550
Debt SegmentExisting Members – Trading Membership (TM)Base Minimum Capital (BMC)*
 Existing Members – TM & SCMBMC*11
 Existing Members – TM & CMBMC*11
 Professional Clearing Membership (PCM)11
 New Members – Trading Membership (TM)BMC*
 New Members – TM & SCMBMC*1010
 New Members – TM & CMBMC*1010
 Professional Clearing Membership (PCM)1010
  • TM = Trading Membership
  • SCM = Self Clearing Membership
  • CM = Clearing Membership
  • PCM = Professional Clearing Membership
  • BMC = Base Minimum Capital requirement as per Exchange circular no-827

After fulfilling the above criteria, one has to apply for registration before the SEBI. The documents to be attached to the application are:

  • ID proof
  • Proof of educational qualification such as the financial graduation certificate, etc.
  • Certificates from FINRA and NISM.
  • Bank statements fulfilling the financial requirements as stated above.
  • Business Plan.

Obtaining essential certification from FINRA and NISM enhances your investment advisory services and ensures compliance and expertise in guiding client’s financial decisions.

Application & Admission Fees for Applying for SEBI Registration

While applying for SEBI registration, certain application and admission fees must be paid. They are summarised in the table below:

Fee TypeDescriptionAmount (₹)
Application Processing FeesOne-time processing fee for the application.10,000 + Applicable Tax
Admission FeesOne-time fee (not applicable for Alpha Category). 
 For all segments (except “exclusive Commodity” and “exclusive Debt segment”).5,00,000 + Applicable Tax
 For the Exclusive Debt segment.1,00,000 + Applicable Tax
 For the Exclusive Commodity segment.50,000
 If the applicant applies for Cash, Futures & Options (FO), Currency Derivatives (CD), and Commodity (COM) segments collectively.50,000

Operational Requirement by SEBI

After making the application, one must meet the operational requirements guided by the SEBI. They are as follows:

A. Insurance brokers

Applicants must have enough office space, equipment, trained staff, and IT infrastructure to apply for an insurance broker license. They also need to have enough staff to match the insurance policies they offer.

B. Stockbrokers

According to SEBI guidelines, stock brokers must have the infrastructure to carry out their activities, including enough office space, equipment, and staff. They also need to have experience trading or dealing in securities.

C. Brokerage firms

Brokerage firms must invest in technology infrastructure to support trading operations, such as trading platforms, risk management systems, and data feeds. They also need to ensure their systems comply with SEBI’s technology requirements. SEBI will verify whether all the requirements are met and, if necessary, conduct an inspection. After verifying and ascertaining that all the requirements are met, SEBI will approve the registration.

The stock broker must comply with all the SEBI regulatory requirements, including maintaining books like the Transaction register (Sauda book), Ledger per client, General ledger, Journals, Cashbook, etc.

Conclusion

Being a stock broker demands a high level of expertise. It involves tough examinations and high-stakes duties later. A stock broker is supposed to navigate complex regulatory requirements regularly. They are dealing with the dynamic market and prompt application of knowledge and experience to maximize profit maximizing challenging jobs.

Nevertheless, as difficult as it seems for a stockbroker, so are the benefits a stockbroker enjoys from it. It is a highly financially rewarding job. Not only does a stock broker earn from the commission by trading for others, but he also prospers through his expertise by trading. Ready to take the first step towards becoming a stock broker in India? Visit our website www.enterslice.com  and acquire the necessary certification and obtain SEBI registrations to meet operational requirements.

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