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Series XV · Advanced

Research Analyst

The gateway certificate for equity research careers.

Educational content only. VIA Capital does not provide buy/sell calls, tips, or personalized advice. Always do your own research.

Questions

100

Duration

120 min

Pass mark

60%

Negative marking

25%

Exam fee

₹1,500 + GST

Validity

3 years

Why this certification matters

SEBI requires research analysts and their associated persons to hold this. It is also the module most requested for equity research and investment banking support roles.

Who should take it: Equity research analysts, independent research providers, and associated persons preparing research reports.

What you get after clearing it

  • Mandatory for SEBI-registered research analysts
  • Covers valuation, financial statements and industry analysis
  • Strong signal for equity research and IB analyst applications
  • Pairs naturally with financial modelling skills

Where it takes you

Equity research associateBuy-side / sell-side analystCredit research analystInvestment banking analyst support

Research desks value this plus a modelling sample; freshers with both get interviews.

Research analyst roles in India scale strongly with modelling quality and sector expertise.

Explore finance careers

How VIA Capital preparation works

One clear path. Built for students, and built for discipline.

  1. Step 1

    Read

    Slide through the study book chapter by chapter.

  2. Step 2

    Practise

    Chapter questions with answer and explanation.

  3. Step 3

    Chapter tests

    Beginner and advanced tests for each chapter.

  4. Step 4

    Full mock sets

    100-question papers in a real exam screen.

  5. Step 5

    Review

    See every mistake and why, then improve.

Why prepare with VIA Capital

Student first

Simple screens, small steps, no clutter.

Every answer explained

If you get one wrong, you learn why.

Help on every question

Report anything confusing, our team fixes it.

Honest

Independent practice. We never claim to be NISM or promise a pass.

Practice pass · NISM Series XV

Everything you need to prepare, in one pass

  • Digital study book, read chapter by chapter
  • Chapter-wise questions to understand every chapter
  • Chapter tests, beginner and advanced
  • Full mock sets as questions are added
  • Answer and explanation for every question
  • Real exam screen with timer and question palette

Why we charge a small amount

This is not the NISM exam fee. It helps us run the platform: our research team writing and checking questions, keeping explanations accurate, and the technology behind the study book and exam screen.

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One simple package

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11 days access · one series · incl. taxes

Try 10 questions free Start studying

The official NISM exam fee is paid separately to NISM.

6 week study plan

  1. Week 1

    Market and economy

    Macro indicators, sectors, business cycles.

  2. Week 2

    Financial statements

    P&L, balance sheet, cash flow and how they connect.

  3. Week 3

    Ratios and quality

    Profitability, leverage, working capital, earnings quality flags.

  4. Week 4

    Valuation

    DCF, relative multiples, sum of parts, sensitivity.

  5. Week 5

    Regulation and ethics

    SEBI RA Regulations, disclosures, conflicts of interest.

  6. Week 6

    Mocks

    Timed mocks with negative marking discipline.

Exam-day tips

  • Build one DCF in Excel yourself, concepts stick permanently after that
  • Ratio formulas must be recall-fast, they appear as numericals
  • 25% negative marking, guess only when you can eliminate two options

Full syllabus · 15 chapters

Matches official NISM curriculum · checked 30 September 2026
  1. 1Chapter 1Introduction to Research Analyst Profession
    1. 1.1Primary role of a Research Analyst
    2. 1.2Primary responsibilities of a Research Analyst
    3. 1.3Basic principles of interaction with companies and/or clients
    4. 1.4Important qualities that are desired in a Research Analyst
  2. 2Chapter 2Introduction to Securities Market
    1. 2.1The basics of securities markets
    2. 2.2The securities market terminologies
    3. 2.3The structure of securities markets with a discussion on primary and secondary markets
    4. 2.4The various market participants and their activities
    5. 2.5Various securities market transactions, products and processes
    6. 2.6The dematerialization and rematerialization of securities
  3. 3Chapter 3Terminology in Equity and Debt Markets
    1. 3.1The terminologies related to Equity Markets
    2. 3.2The terminologies used in the Debt Markets
    3. 3.3Various types of Bonds and describe their features
    4. 3.4The terminologies used in the Commodities Markets
  4. 4Chapter 4Fundamentals of Research
    1. 4.1Investing activity
    2. 4.2The role of research in the investment activity
    3. 4.3The nature of Technical Analysis approach to securities research
    4. 4.4The nature of Fundamental Analysis approach to securities research and E-I-C analysis, top-down and bottom-up approaches of fundamental analysis
    5. 4.5The nature of Quantitative Analysis (Econometrics approach) to securities research
    6. 4.6The nature of Behavioral Finance approach to Equity Investing
    7. 4.7The nature of Fundamental Analysis approach to commodity research covering aspects of supply, demand, seasonality, geopolitical developments, macroeconomic conditions, government intervention, Inventory levels etc.
    8. 4.8Case Studies
    9. 4.9Box Items, Historical Events
    10. 4.10Impact on Commodity Market on Equity Market
  5. 5Chapter 5Economic Analysis
    1. 5.1The basic principles of microeconomics
    2. 5.2The basic principles of macroeconomics
    3. 5.3Various macroeconomic variables
    4. 5.4The Role of economic analysis in fundamental analysis
    5. 5.5The nature of secular, cyclical and seasonal economic trends
    6. 5.6Various sources of information for economic analysis
  6. 6Chapter 6Industry Analysis
    1. 6.1The role of industry analysis in fundamental analysis
    2. 6.2The Industry Definition
    3. 6.3Industry cyclicality
    4. 6.4Market sizing and trend analysis
    5. 6.5Secular trends, value migration and business life cycle
    6. 6.6The industry landscape
    7. 6.7The key industry specific drivers for various industries and Industry KPIs
    8. 6.8Why analysts should pay attention to the regulatory aspects of businesses
    9. 6.9The elements of taxation pertaining to the knowledge required for research analyst
    10. 6.10Various sources of Information for carrying out industry analysis
  7. 7Chapter 7Company Analysis, Business and Governance
    1. 7.1The role of company analysis in fundamental research
    2. 7.2The businesses and business models
    3. 7.3The significance of pricing power of a business and its ability to sustain power
    4. 7.4A company’s competitive advantages or points of differentiation over the competitors
    5. 7.5The SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
    6. 7.6The importance of quality of management, independent directors and good governance standards
    7. 7.7The risks to a business
    8. 7.8The importance of knowing the history of credit rating of a company and how the rating has changed over time
    9. 7.9The Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) analysis of a Company / Business
    10. 7.10Various sources of Information for carrying out company analysis
  8. 8Chapter 8Company Analysis, Financial Analysis
    1. 8.1The importance of studying the historical performance of a company and as a good indicator for future performance of the company
    2. 8.2The consolidated and stand-alone results of a company and know how to use them in the analysis
    3. 8.3The basics of “Balance Sheet” of a company
    4. 8.4The basic concepts related to “Profit and Loss statement” of a company
    5. 8.5The need to study the historical equity expansion (equity dilution) trends of a company and how it impacts the existing shareholders
    6. 8.6The Cashflows of a company
    7. 8.7The Notes to Accounts
    8. 8.8The important points to be kept in mind while looking at a company’s financials
    9. 8.9The importance of Reading audit report to understand the quality of accounting
    10. 8.10The financial statement analysis using ratios
    11. 8.11The commonly used ratios used in financial analysis
    12. 8.12The computation of Dupont Analysis
    13. 8.13Why the analysts need to study a company’s history and ways in which they can use such knowledge to cautiously look into the future prospects of the company
    14. 8.14The importance of peer comparison in understanding the relative standing of a company among its peers
    15. 8.15The need to track the history of equity expansion, dividend and earnings history and past corporate actions of a company as part of the analysis and ownership and insiders’ sales and purchase of stocks in the past
  9. 9Chapter 9Corporate Actions
    1. 9.1The philosophy of various corporate actions
    2. 9.2Dividend
    3. 9.3Rights Issue
    4. 9.4Bonus Issue
    5. 9.5Stock Split
    6. 9.6Share Consolidation
    7. 9.7Merger and Acquisition
    8. 9.8Demerger / Spin off
    9. 9.9Scheme of arrangement
    10. 9.10Loan restructuring
    11. 9.11Buy back of shares
    12. 9.12Delisting of shares and relisting
    13. 9.13Share swap
  10. 10Chapter 10Valuation Principles
    1. 10.1The difference between Price and Value
    2. 10.2The reasons for carrying out valuation of businesses
    3. 10.3The sources of value in a business (earnings and assets)
    4. 10.4Various approaches to valuation
    5. 10.5The Discounted Cash Flows (DCF) model for business valuation
    6. 10.6Introduce the relative valuations
    7. 10.7Various earnings based valuation matrices
    8. 10.8Various assets based valuation matrices
    9. 10.9The relative valuations (trading and transaction multiples), sum-of-the-parts valuation and other valuation parameters in new age businesses
    10. 10.10The Sum-Of-The-Parts (SOTP) Valuation
    11. 10.11The other valuation parameters in new age economy and businesses
    12. 10.12Capital Asset Pricing Model
    13. 10.13Explain the objectivity of valuations
    14. 10.14List some of the important considerations in the context of business valuation
  11. 11Chapter 11Fundamental analysis of commodities
    1. 11.1The supply demand dynamics of commodities
    2. 11.2The major producer and consumers of commodities
    3. 11.3Currency and dollar index impact on commodities
    4. 11.4The correlation between international markets and domestic markets
    5. 11.5Crop reports, weather reports (for Agri Commodities)
    6. 11.6Inventory data, production & consumption trends
    7. 11.7The macroeconomic indicators affecting commodity prices
    8. 11.8The impact of government policies and geopolitical factors on the commodity markets
    9. 11.9Hedging in Commodities
  12. 12Chapter 12Fundamentals of Risk and Return
    1. 12.1The concept of return on investment
    2. 12.2Simple, annualized and compounded returns
    3. 12.3Various risks that are seen in investments such as inflation risk, interest rate risk, business risk, market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, call risk, reinvestment risk, political risk and country risk
    4. 12.4Calculation of measuring risk
    5. 12.5The concept of Market Risk (Beta)
    6. 12.6The importance of sensitivity analysis
    7. 12.7The concept of Margin of Safety
    8. 12.8Equity returns v/s bond returns
    9. 12.9Calculation of Risk adjusted returns: Jensen’s Alpha, Sharpe ratio and Treynor’s ratio
    10. 12.10Various behavioural biases that influence investments and investment returns (loss- aversion bias, confirmation bias, ownership bias, gambler’s fallacy, winner’s curse, herd mentality, anchoring and projection bias)
    11. 12.11Some quotes (market wisdom) from Investment Gurus
    12. 12.12Measuring liquidity of equity shares
  13. 13Chapter 13Qualities of a good Research Report
    1. 13.1Discuss the qualities of a good Research Report and know the rating conventions
    2. 13.2Know the advantages of checklist based approach to the Research Reports
    3. 13.3Understand the constituents of the checklist with the help of a sample checklist
  14. 14Chapter 14Legal and Regulatory Environment
    1. 14.1Regulatory framework of Indian financial markets
    2. 14.2Important regulations in Indian securities markets
    3. 14.3Code of Conduct prescribed for Research Analysts
    4. 14.4Management of conflicts of interest and the disclosure requirements for Research Analysts
    5. 14.5The surveillance mechanism of Exchanges: ASM and GSM
  15. 15Chapter 15Technical Analysis
    1. 15.1The concept of Technical Analysis
    2. 15.2Charts in Technical Analysis
    3. 15.3The Dow Theory
    4. 15.4The Market Trends
    5. 15.5Chart Reversal Patterns
    6. 15.6Consolidation Patterns
    7. 15.7Support & Resistance
    8. 15.8Trendlines & Channels
    9. 15.9Technical Indicators

Source: NISM curriculum page. Chapter names and order follow NISM; sub-topic numbering (1.1, 1.2) is added by VIA Capital for easy reading. NISM may revise its curriculum; always confirm on nism.ac.in.

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NISM Series XV flashcards

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Level 6

Company analysis and reading financial statements

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Level 5

Valuation intuition and risk

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NISM Series XV: questions people ask

What is NISM Series XV?

It is the Research Analyst certification, mandatory for anyone issuing public research reports or investment recommendations on securities.

Who should take this exam?

Equity research analysts, independent research providers, and associated persons in research roles.

What is the passing score?

60 out of 100 marks (60%). There is 25% negative marking. The exam includes case-based questions.

Is this official NISM material?

No. These are independent practice questions. Refer to the official NISM workbook before the exam.

What changed in the 2026 exam pattern?

From Jan 20, 2026, Series XV includes 80 standalone MCQs + 5 case-based sets, a new Technical Analysis module (15 marks), and a Commodities section (5 marks).

How many questions are in the NISM Series XV exam?

NISM lists 100 questions for 100 marks, to be answered in 120 minutes.

What is the passing score for NISM Series XV?

You need 60% (60 of 100 marks) to pass.

Is there negative marking in NISM Series XV?

Yes. 25% of the marks for a question are deducted for each wrong answer, so guessing has a cost.

Who should take NISM Series XV?

Equity research analysts, independent research providers, and associated persons preparing research reports.

How do I prepare for NISM Series XV on VIA Capital?

Follow the five steps: read each chapter, practise questions, pass the chapter tests, take the full mock tests, then sit the final practice exam. Your progress is saved to your account.

Where do I register for the real exam?

Only on the official NISM website, nism.ac.in. VIA Capital is an independent preparation platform and cannot book or conduct the NISM exam.

Ready to test yourself?

100 questions · 120 minutes · 25% negative marking. First 10 questions free, then full papers with the practice pass.

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  1. 1

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  2. 2

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