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Understanding SEBI's new UPI rule for intermediaries

Understanding SEBI’s new UPI rule for intermediaries

SEBI’s New Structured UPI Framework for Investor Payments

To enhance investor protection, the Securities and Exchange Board of India has made it mandatory for all SEBI-registered investor-facing intermediaries to implement an exclusive, structured and validated Unified Payments Interface (UPI) address with an @valid handle and other distinctive markers for easy identification by investors. The rule came into effect on October 1, 2025.

As per the new structure, the UPI address must have the following:

  1. A readable and relatable username chosen by the intermediary
  2. A mandatory suffix that identifies their category such as .brk for a stock broker, .mf for a Mutual Fund.
  3. An @valid handle combined with the name of the self-certified syndicate bank.
  4. A visual cue in the form of a thumbs-up icon inside a green triangle for easy identification.
  5. A QR code prominently featuring the thumbs-up icon inside a green triangle
The @valid handles will be given by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) exclusively for payment collection by SEBI registered intermediaries.
The regulator has also implemented a verification feature called SEBI Check that allows investors to confirm an intermediary’s UPI ID and associated details before making a payment. Through this functionality, investors – whether transacting through UPI or bank transfer (NEFT, RTGS, IMPS etc) – can independently verify and confirm the authenticity of the bank account details and UPI IDs of SEBI registered intermediaries with the help of the bank account number and IFSC code or @valid UPI ID of the entity
Investors can access SEBI Check by visiting https://siportal.sebi.gov.in/intermediary/sebi-check or via SEBI’s Saarthi app. Investors can see a detailed video on the new provisions here.

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Understanding SEBI's new UPI rule for intermediaries

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Understanding SEBI's new UPI rule for intermediaries

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Understanding SEBI's new UPI rule for intermediaries
Understanding SEBI's new UPI rule for intermediaries

Our Investment Philosophy reflects what we, as an organisation, believe will generate a good return on equity investment for our investors in the long term. It dictates our goals and guides decision making. Alpha (a) is a term used in investing to describe an investment strategy's ability to beat the market. Alpha is thus also often referred to as excess return or the abnormal rate of return in relation to a benchmark, when adjusted for risk. Essentially, it means doing better than the crowd without taking disproportionate risk.

Understanding SEBI's new UPI rule for intermediaries
Understanding SEBI's new UPI rule for intermediaries
Understanding SEBI's new UPI rule for intermediaries
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Collecting superior information

Analysts and portfolio managers strive to collect superior information about the business and the management of the company. They try to generate superior earnings forecast and the balance strength of the company and the industry, thereby trying to ‘beat the market’ on information edge. This is an important source of alpha for an investor. However, over the years, retaining the information edge has become more difficult and expensive. With a whole lot of investors trying to collect superior information, how can an investor be sure to continuously have accurate and material information about the companies, ahead of others, all the time?

Even if you don’t have material information earlier than the crowd, you can still generate better outcomes if you are able to process this information better. Investors develop models and algorithms with enhanced predictive powers to forecast the next move. Fund managers who invest based on some pure formal analytical models are quantitative managers. Here, the goal is to try and beat other investors based on the sophistication of procedures or analytics. The analytical edge can be quite useful until it gets copied by many, and then it may stop generating superior returns.

As the name suggests, this edge is achieved by superior behaviour in reacting to the inputs available to maximise alpha. Modern finance assumes people behave with extreme rationality. However, researchers in behavioural finance have shown that this is not true. Moreover, these deviations from rationality are often systematic. Behavioural managers try to exploit situations where securities are mispriced by the market because of behavioural factors. At Bajaj Finserv AMC, we endeavour to combine the best of these edges.

For the fixed income market, the most important aspect is the quality of the asset. Our focus is to create an investment universe of borrowers who have the ability to service and pay back the debt. We evaluate whether there is adequate cover and understand the covenants wherever applicable on securities. Next comes liquidity management. Here, we use tools to monitor liquidity and duration of the portfolio. It is important to conduct the stress tests regularly to understand portfolio liquidity risk. Returns have to be evaluated under the lens of risk-adjusted return

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FAQs

Does the new UPI address mandate affect existing investments?

No, your existing investments will stay as they are – the move is only applicable for fresh investments initiated after the UPI IDs come into effect.

The investors can choose their preferred mode of payment, such as UPI, IMPS, NEFT, RTGS, or Cheques. If an investor opts to use UPI for the payment to registered intermediaries, then they must do so only using the new UPI IDs allotted to registered intermediaries.

Investors need to keep following things into consideration:

  1. The UPI ID should properly show the name of the intermediary, followed by the short abbreviation of their category for example “brk” for Brokers, “mf” for Mutual Funds to the left of the “@” character.
  2. On the right side of the “@”, the new and exclusive handle “@valid” should be present, followed by the bank name.
  3. On the confirmation screen, the app should show a white thumbs-up icon inside a green triangle.
  4. The QR code generated using the utility will have a white thumbs-up icon inside a green triangle. It will also display the UPI ID just below the QR code.

 

No, the new UPI IDs are only for intermediaries to obtain, and investors can continue to use their existing UPI IDs.

The secure validated UPI ID of intermediaries will use the same banking channel as the earlier generic UPI handles. In case of any technical difficulty, investors are requested to approach their respective bank.

More about the mandate

Intermediaries such as brokers, mutual funds, depository participants, investment advisers and others who collect payments directly from investors must use a structured UPI ID format that is verified and clearly identifiable. Investors, however, remain free to use any payment mode they prefer. If they choose UPI, they will use the new validated UPI ID to ensure they are paying the authorised intermediary.

The move will help investors easily identify legitimate SEBI-registered market intermediaries and make secure payments.

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