Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) announced on October 1 that the initiatives on Validated UPI Handles and SEBI Check are live and available for investors. The regulator expects that these initiatives will significantly enhance investor protection by curbing fraudulent money collections by unregistered entities.

The UPI IDs of Sebi-registered investor-facing intermediaries will now carry the exclusive “@valid” handle,  issued by NPCI, along with category-specific suffixes. This will enable investors to easily identify legitimate entities. Sebi advises all individual investors to actively use the structured and exclusive “@valid” handle to make payments to SEBI-registered investor-facing intermediaries. 

The major brokers, covering over 90% of investors, along with all mutual funds, have already adopted the "@valid” UPI handle. Introduced as an additional payment option for investors, this facility complements existing payment modes. 

Key features of ‘@valid’ Handle:

i. Exclusive "@valid" Handle: The handle will feature a unique and exclusive identifier, "@valid", combined with the name of the self-certified syndicate bank. The new UPI ID will also include the special suffix, such as .brk for brokers and .mf for mutual funds, for easy identification of the registered intermediary type.

ii. Visual Verification: A distinctive “thumbs-up inside a green triangle” icon will appear when making payments through the “@valid” UPI handle, confirming transaction authenticity. At the same time, its absence serves as a caution to investors that they are making payments to unauthorised entities. 

ii. Distinctive QR Code: A specially designed QR code, featuring the “thumbs-up” logo at its centre, enables convenient and error-free transactions. The presence of this QR code assures investors that payments are being made to Sebi-registered intermediaries.

Sebi has developed a new functionality called “SEBI Check”. Through this functionality, investors, irrespective of whether they are making payments through the @valid handles or other modes of bank transfer (like NEFT, RTGS, IMPS), can independently verify and confirm the authenticity of the bank account details and UPI IDs of Sebi-registered intermediaries. This can be done with the help of the bank account number and IFSC code or a @valid UPI ID of an entity, by visiting the SEBI Check platform or the Saarthi app of Sebi.