With a view to strengthen the conduct of investment advisers (‘IAs’) governed by the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013 (‘IA Regulations’), SEBI has, by way of a circular dated December 27, 2019, issued the following measures to be complied with by IAs with effect from January 1, 2020: (i) IAs are now prohibited from providing a free trial for any of their products/ services to prospective clients without considering the risk profile of such clients, (ii) IAs can provide investment advice only after completing the risk profile of the client and obtaining consent of the client on completed risk profile, (iii) IAs cannot accept part payments for any product/ service. Further, IAs are now required to accept fees strictly through banking channels only, and not by way of cash deposits, and (iv) IAs are required to display status of complaints on their website/ mobile apps.