New Delhi, Aug. 13 -- The number of Sebi-registered investment advisors (RIAs) is shrinking rapidly. Their number is down to just 970 from 1,300 a few years ago, according to Sebi data. Of these only 400 are active, industry sources say.

The main reasons for this are the huge compliance burden for RIAs and a lack of willingness among Indians to pay for professional financial advice. Sebi has been taking steps to ease the qualifying criteria and encourage more people to apply for an RIA licence, but for now they are a dying breed.

That's unfortunate, because generating returns is only part of an RIA's job. The other part, equally if not more important, is keeping their clients on track to meet their goals by instilling financial discipli...