You’ll see the phrase “incidental advice” on our Disclosures page, and it probably reads like dry regulatory language you can skip past. It’s worth two minutes, though, because it actually explains something useful: exactly what kind of help you’re getting from us, and what the boundaries of that help are.
Incidental advice vs comprehensive advice, in plain terms
In India, there are broadly two ways someone can legally help you with your money, per SEBI’s own regulatory framework:
A SEBI-registered Investment Adviser (RIA) can give you comprehensive financial advice — across your full financial life, not tied to any specific product they sell, usually for a direct fee.
An AMFI-registered Mutual Fund Distributor (MFD), which is what we are, can offer what’s called “incidental advice” — helping you choose among mutual fund schemes based on your goals and risk profile, as part of facilitating a transaction. It’s advice, but it’s specifically tied to the products we distribute.
Neither is “better” in the abstract — they’re different services, regulated differently, suited to different needs.
What this actually means in practice, for you
We’ll always ask about your risk profile first. Before recommending anything, we work through your goals, timeline, and comfort with risk. That’s not optional small talk — it’s the regulatory foundation that makes our recommendation valid at all.
Our recommendations stay within what we distribute. For mutual funds, that’s our own AMFI registration. For AIF and PMS, that’s access through Centracity’s separate empanelment. We won’t (and legally can’t) give you comprehensive advice across your entire financial life the way an RIA would — we’re specifically helping you choose within the products available to us.
We’re compensated by the fund house, not by a direct fee from you. This is standard for MFDs — commission comes from the AMC when you invest through us, not as a separate bill to you. Worth knowing plainly, since it’s a fair question to ask any distributor.
We won’t call ourselves financial planners. You’ll notice we’re careful with language on this site — “helping you choose the right funds,” not “financial planning” or “investment advice” as standalone claims. That’s not us being falsely modest. It’s an accurate description of what we’re actually licensed to do, within the bounds of incidental advice.
Why this boundary is actually a good thing to know about
A distributor who’s vague about this distinction — who implies they’re giving you comprehensive financial planning when they’re actually working within the bounds of incidental advice — isn’t being fully transparent with you. Knowing exactly what kind of help you’re getting, and from whom, means you can make a better decision about whether it’s the right fit, and know when it might be worth pairing our help with, say, a fee-only RIA for the parts of your financial life outside mutual funds, AIF, and PMS.
We’d rather you understand exactly what we do than assume we do more than we’re licensed to.
In practice, most mariners’ situations fit comfortably within what incidental advice can properly cover — mutual funds, plus AIF and PMS access through Centracity, addresses the bulk of what most people need. Where it might genuinely fall short is more complex territory: real estate structuring, comprehensive estate planning, or advice spanning products well outside what any MFD distributes. Knowing that boundary upfront means you’re not left guessing later whether something important got missed simply because it wasn’t ours to cover.
As an AMFI-registered Mutual Fund Distributor (ARN 185676), our recommendations are limited to mutual fund schemes, made only after a proper risk-profiling conversation. See our Disclosures page for the full regulatory detail, or get in touch if you have questions about what we can and can’t help with.
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