We tell people to check our ARN on almost every page of this site, and I suspect most never do. It feels awkward, like doubting somebody to their face. So here's the thing worth saying: the registers are public precisely so nobody has to take anybody's word for it, and checking is not an accusation. It takes about two minutes and it's the single cheapest protection available to you.
The two things people confuse
There are two separate roles in mutual funds and they are not interchangeable.
A distributor holds an ARN, issued after passing an examination and registering with AMFI. A distributor can help you invest, submit transactions on your behalf, and service the folio. They're paid a commission by the fund house out of the regular plan's expense ratio, not by you.
An investment adviser is registered with SEBI as an RIA, and is paid a fee by you for advice. Different registration, different rules, different way of getting paid.
We are the first one. We're distributors, not investment advisers, which is why we don't offer to plan your entire financial life for a fee and why we say so on every page. Somebody doing both without the right registration is the thing to be careful about.
How to check an ARN
AMFI publishes a searchable list of registered distributors. You can look up by ARN number or by name, and it's free.
What you're confirming is that the number exists, that it matches the name you were given, and that the registration is current. Ours is ARN-145870. Look it up rather than believing this sentence, which is rather the point of the exercise.
Two details worth noticing. An individual distributor and a firm are separate registrations, so check the one you're actually dealing with. And an ARN that has lapsed is not the same as one that never existed, but neither is somebody you should be handing paperwork to.
How to check an RIA
SEBI publishes a list of registered investment advisers, with registration numbers and validity. Same process, same two minutes.
If somebody is charging you a fee for advice, this is the register that matters, and the absence of a registration there is a serious matter rather than a technicality. Fee-charging advice without SEBI registration is not a paperwork gap; it's a person operating outside the regulatory framework designed to protect you.
Worth knowing: an ARN is not an RIA registration and does not permit fee-based advisory. Anyone showing you an ARN while charging an advisory fee is showing you the wrong document.
Four things worth treating as warnings
None of these is proof of anything by itself. All of them are reasons to slow down and check the register.
A promised return. Nobody can promise what a market-linked investment will do. Not a distributor, not an adviser, not a fund house. A figure presented as certain is the clearest signal available to you, and it should end the conversation rather than start one.
Money asked for in their name. Your investment payment goes to the fund house, and redemptions come back to the bank account registered on your folio. A distributor or adviser asking you to transfer money to their own account, for investment, is asking for something that has no legitimate version.
Reluctance to give the registration number. It takes one line in a message. Hesitation there tells you more than any brochure will.
Urgency. Offer closing, limited window, decide today. Legitimate investments are open tomorrow, and our page on new fund offers covers the most common version of manufactured urgency.
The check that matters even more
Beyond the register, there's one structural thing worth confirming, and it protects you regardless of who you deal with.
Your money should never sit with the person advising you. Investment payments go from your bank account to the fund house. Units are recorded against your PAN by the registrar. Redemptions go back to the bank account registered on your folio, which should always be yours.
As long as that chain holds, the worst a distributor can do is give you poor guidance. When it breaks, everything else becomes possible. So the practical question is not just "are they registered" but "does any of my money pass through their hands", and the answer should be no.
Check the email and mobile on your folios while you're at it. Statements should come to you directly from the registrar, not forwarded by anybody, as our guide on updating folio details explains.
What registration does and doesn't guarantee
Worth being clear, because a register is not a quality rating.
An ARN confirms somebody passed an examination and registered with AMFI. It doesn't tell you they're good at the job, that they'll answer your calls, or that their suggestions will suit you. Plenty of registered distributors are indifferent, and registration says nothing about that.
What it does confirm is that they operate inside a framework with rules and a complaints route. Somebody unregistered is outside all of it, and if things go wrong there's no mechanism to appeal to. That's the difference, and it's a large one.
So treat the check as a floor rather than a recommendation. Registered is the minimum; whether they're any use to you is a separate judgement you make over time.
And if you're already invested through somebody
Do the check anyway. It's not retrospective doubt; it's confirming what you already assume.
If the registration is fine and the money never passes through them, you've spent two minutes and can stop thinking about it. If something doesn't check out, you've found it now rather than later, and moving a folio to a different distributor is a defined process that doesn't involve selling anything.
Pull a consolidated account statement while you're looking, so you know exactly what exists and who is attached to it. Our guide on finding old mutual fund investments covers how, and most people turn up at least one folio they'd forgotten.
The same check for a platform or app
An app is not exempt from this, and the question is slightly different.
Find out which entity is actually registered and in what capacity. Some platforms operate as distributors, some as advisers, and some route you to a third party while the brand you see does neither. The name on the app is not always the name on the register.
The structural check still applies and still matters most. Money should move from your bank account to the fund house, and back to your bank account. A platform holding your money in between, in a pooled account of its own, is a different arrangement from one that does not, and it is a fair thing to ask about before you commit anything.
Do it for us too
I mean that literally. Myfolios is an AMFI-registered mutual fund distributor, ARN-145870, working since 2014, and you should verify that on the AMFI register before investing through us rather than because of anything on this page.
A firm that minds being checked is telling you something. A firm that suggests it is telling you something else. Get in touch if you'd like to talk, and check the number first.
