Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Wednesday announced that the market regulator will launch a new UPI verification mechanism for secured payments by investors in capital market transactions. This comes amid growing concerns over cyber fraud.
‘SEBI Check’
The SEBI chairman announced the initiative on June 11, stating that the regulator will introduce ‘SEBI Check’, a tool designed to help investors confirm the authenticity of UPI addresses in real time. Addressing a press conference, he said, “This is part of our broader commitment to bring enhanced transparency and security to retail investors.”
The new system will go live on October 1, 2025 and will enable investors to validate the UPI handles of SEBI-registered intermediaries before making payments. This will ensure that payments are sent only to trusted and verified entities.
The framework, he added, will apply to all SEBI-registered entities involved in fund collection. The markets regulator will soon issue a circular detailing the operational process.
Per the proposed mechanism, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will work with banks to allocate UPI handles and banks will make the necessary system changes to integrate the tool. Tuhin Kanta Pandey said, “The change will be for the intermediaries and not investors.”
SEBI’s ‘Valid’
SEBI also announced the launch of ‘Valid’ which will offer market intermediaries a UPI address to collect funds from clients such as payments to brokers, mutual funds, research analysts, investment advisers, and others. The UPI payment mechanism will go live from October 1, 2025.
The UPI IDs of the regulated entities will include the handle name ‘@valid’ combined with the bank name, to ensure easy identification by investors. Also, a green thumbs up icon in a triangle will be marked, to show the legitimacy of the transaction.