What are the services offered by stock brokers?
Stock brokers offer services such as buying and selling on behalf of investors. They also provide advisory services. If stock brokers are also registered as a portfolio manager, they can offer PMS services. Some of the bigger brokers also publish their own research reports which are available at a cost for investors.

What to expect from a stock broker? What are your rights?
A stock broker is obligated to give you prompt and efficient service, make timely payment and give delivery of shares. He is required to execute your orders on the stock exchange with utmost sincerity and exercise due diligence. He is also obligated to issue you contract notes indicating your transactions for the day. Insist on this. Always be aware of your rights.

What are your obligations?
As an investor, it is your obligation to carry out necessary due diligence before purchasing or selling shares. Due exercise care and caution and not be misled by rumors and hearsay. Make timely payment to your stock broker in case of purchase of shares and give deliveries to him well before pay-in in case of sale of shares by you. This is important otherwise your positions may be auctioned or closed out and you may have to suffer heavy losses.

What to do in case of a dispute?
If there is a dispute between you and your stock broker, bring the facts of the case immediately to the notice of stock broker. Follow it up with written complaints if the same is not resolved within reasonable time. If still nothing is done, write to the investor grievance cell of the stock exchange of which he is the member with all the facts of the case and necessary documents. Follow it up. You can also write to SEBI if your complaint is not resolved. It is possible for you to write your complaints online. You may get the relevant details from the websites of stock exchanges ( www.nseindia.com, www.bseindia.com and of SEBI which is www.sebi.gov.in.