Under the Fixed Fee model prescribed by SEBI for Registered Investment Advisers (RIAs), what is the maximum annual fee that can be charged to a client family?

[ A ]Maximum ₹50,000 per individual client.

[ B ]Maximum ₹2,50,000 per annum per client family.

[ C ]Maximum ₹5,00,000 per annum with SEBI pre-approval.

[ D ]Maximum ₹1,25,000 per annum across all services provided to the client family.[ CORRECT ]

Takeaway

Under SEBI's Fixed Fee model for Registered Investment Advisers, the maximum fee that can be charged is ₹1,25,000 per annum, applied across all advisory services delivered to that client family combined.

Derivation

SEBI's IA Regulations give RIAs a choice between two fee models: an AUA-linked percentage fee (capped at 2.5% p.a. of assets under advice) or a Fixed Fee model with an absolute rupee ceiling. The Fixed Fee ceiling is set at ₹1,25,000 per client family per annum, covering the totality of advisory services rendered — an RIA cannot charge separate ₹1,25,000 fees to each family member or for each financial goal to circumvent the cap. This 'per client family' framing (not per individual) is the specific detail the exam probes, since candidates often assume the cap applies per person rather than per household unit.

Why the others fail

A — Maximum ₹50,000 per individual client.

₹50,000 is below the statutory maximum; while an RIA could choose to charge less, the regulation permits fees up to a higher ceiling than this figure.

B — Maximum ₹2,50,000 per annum per client family.

₹2,50,000 does not match the enacted SEBI ceiling — the actual statutory fixed-fee cap set by SEBI is ₹1,25,000 per annum per client family.

C — Maximum ₹5,00,000 per annum with SEBI pre-approval.

SEBI's Fixed Fee model has a hard statutory ceiling with no discretionary case-by-case waiver process allowing advisers to exceed it via pre-approval.