NISM INVESTMENT ADVISOR LEVEL ONE

I. Introduction to Indian Financial Market        

• Understand the macro-economic parameters of Indian Economy
• Understand the features of Indian Financial Markets
• Know the structure of Indian Financial Markets
• Understand the role of the participants in the Indian Financial Markets
• Know the role of various Regulators regulating Indian Financial Markets (In brief)

II. Securities Market Segments

• Understand the nature, functions and types of issues in Primary Markets
• Know the role and function of Secondary Markets
• Understand the various types of various Corporate Actions

III. Mutual Funds 

• Understand the meaning and features of a mutual fund
• Know the key terms and concepts associated with mutual funds
• Know the regulatory framework for mutual funds
• Know the various types of mutual fund products
• Understand the taxation of Mutual Fund Products
• Know the investment options in mutual funds
• Know the processes associated with investing in mutual funds
• Understand the uses and processes of conducting systematic transactions
• List the benefits of investing with mutual funds

IV. Investment Products

• Understand the various types of small savings instruments
• Understand the various types of fixed income / debt instruments
• Know the various types of alternate investments
• Know the concept of direct equity as an investment option

V. Managing Investment Risk

• Know the concept of Risk
• Know the Common Types of Risk
• Understand the ways of measuring risk

VI. Measuring Investment Returns

• Understand the concept of return
• Understand the various return concepts
• Understand the concept of compounding
• Know the computation of Real rate of return vs. nominal return
• Know the computation of Tax adjusted return
• Understand the concept of Risk-adjusted Returns 

VII. Concept of Financial Planning

• Understand what constitutes financial planning
• Know the need for financial advisory services
• Understand the scope of financial advisory services
• Understand the business model for the delivery of financial advice to client
• Understand assets, liabilities and net worth
• Understand the preparation of budget
• Know the financial planning delivery process

VIII. Asset Allocation and Investment Strategies

• Know the various Asset classes
• Learn about Portfolio construction
• Understand the concept of Practical asset allocation and Rebalancing Strategies
• Know the need for portfolio monitoring and re-balancing

IX. Insurance Planning

• Understand the need for insurance in personal finance
• List the requirements for a risk to be insurable
• Understand the role of insurance in personal finance.
• Know the various steps involved in Insurance Planning
• Know the types of Insurance Products
• Understand about the Life Insurance Products
• Understand about the Non-Life Insurance Products
• Understand the life insurance needs analysis (Human life approach, Needs approach)

X. Retirement Planning

• Understand the retirement planning process
• Understand and estimate retirement corpus
• Determine the retirement corpus
• Learn about the various retirement products and their features

XI. Tax and Estate Planning

• Understand Income tax principles
• Understand Tax aspects of Investment products
• Learn about the Wealth Tax Act and its implication for clients
• Know about Estate Planning

XII. Regulatory Environment and Ethical Issues

• Understand the provisions of the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013
• Understand the overall framework of the regulatory system
• Learn about the roles of regulators: MoF, MCA, SEBI, RBI, IRDA, PFRDA
• Understand the role of Self regulatory organizations
• Understand the provisions of PMLA, 2002
• Know the codes of conduct by SEBI, AMFI, etc
• Know the ethical issues in providing financial advice
• Understand investor complaint redressal mechanism