New Delhi, Aug. 19 -- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) recently floated a consultation paper to facilitate ease of doing business for registered investment advisers (RIAs) and research analysts and address "practical challenges" in the current framework.

Though fee-based advisory regulations were first introduced in 2013, the RIA model has struggled to gain pace. The number of RIAs has actually declined from about 1,300 a few years ago to 967 now.

But is the drop in numbers all negative? "The drop reflects the exit of non-serious players who only offered trading calls. The drop is welcome in that sense," said Renu Maheshwari, co-founder of Finscholarz, member of Sebi's intermediary advisory committee, and chairperson of...