NISM Series VII (SORM) study guide
NISM Series VII (SORM) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The NISM-Series-VII: Securities Operations and Risk Management Certification Examination (commonly shortened to NISM Series VII or SORM) is one of the certification examinations offered by the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), a public trust established in 2006 by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the regulator of the securities markets in India. NISM lists the examination under the Operations category of its certification examinations, alongside the NISM-Series-VI: Depository Operations Certification Examination, and it also offers a Securities Operations and Risk Management CPE/eCPE programme for continuing professional education. Candidates typically sit this examination to demonstrate knowledge of back-office and middle-office processes in Indian securities markets: trade confirmation and settlement cycles, clearing corporation and depository interfaces, funds and securities pay-in and pay-out, collateral and margin handling, corporate actions, reconciliations, and the operational risk controls and regulatory obligations that surround them. It suits employees of brokers, clearing members, custodians, depositories, registrar and transfer agents, and asset management companies, as well as graduates targeting operations roles. Preparation should start from the official NISM workbook and syllabus for this series, which define the assessment structure and learning outcomes. Work through settlement and risk-management mechanics in sequence, practise computation-style items on margins, obligations and reconciliation breaks, and finish with timed mock tests. Topics on this exam: Securities Operations and Risk Management. The NISM Series VII (SORM) study guide has 1 section and about 439 words.
01Securities Operations and Risk Management (SORM)
Series VII covers everything after an order is matched: clearing, settlement, depository movement, margin collection, client-asset segregation and the risk controls run by a broker's back office. Questions are process- and number-driven, so know who acts, on which day, and who absorbs the loss when something fails. NSE and BSE equity trades settle on T+1 (phased rollout, completed by end-January 2024); a T+0 beta exists separately for a limited set of scrips. The clearing corporation - NSCCL, ICCL or MCCL - interposes itself through novation , so the member's counterparty is the CC, not the original buyer or seller.
439 words, about 2 minMore study resources for NISM Series VII (SORM)
- Practice questionsUnder the SEBI (Stock Brokers) Regulations, a trading member must segregate client securities from its own securities.
- FlashcardsT+1 settlement. Trade date plus one business day settlement cycle used for Indian equities; pay-in and pay-out occur on the next working day after trade execution.
- Cheat sheetSettlement cycle for Indian equities: T+1 (trade date plus one business day); pay-in of funds/securities precedes pay-out on the same settlement day.
- Key termsRolling Settlement (T+2). A settlement cycle in which a trade executed on day T is settled on the second business day after the trade date.
- Study planMap the full SORM syllabus into a one-page topic tree covering market participants, clearing corporations, depositories, and intermediaries.
- Common mistakesCandidates memorise one cycle from a study note or from older material and reuse it everywhere; the exam deliberately tests the exceptions (T+1 equities, T+0 optional, repo and G-sec conventions, FX and ADR legs).
- Exam-day guideNISM exams are typically scheduled through the NISM certification portal or an authorised test provider.